First published 2021
This companion to the documentary "Street Gang" reveals how Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett built Sesame Street from civil rights ideals. Author Trevor Crafts gained access to archives and presents 150 behind-the-scenes photographs by David Attie. The images capture Jim Henson, Frank Oz, and Matt Robinson working with Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, Bert and Ernie during the show's earliest seasons. Crafts explores how Cooney partnered with Sesame Workshop co-founder Morrisett, director Jon Stone, and Muppet creator Henson to transform children's television. The book documents how this group of artists, educators, and freethinkers built a program around equality, education, and inclusion. Their work created a show that has maintained these values for over fifty years, making its ideals available to children worldwide.
Genres: biography, history, 20th-century, education, 21st-century, equality, activism, american-history
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: behind-the-scenes, documentary
Setting: Sesame Street
Period: 1960s, 1970s
211 pages · Kindle Edition · Abrams Books