Sesame Street

I'm aware that most kids and grownups find the Cookie Monster amusing. I don't.

Consider the book Cookie's Guessing Game About Food. Just look at the cover for a moment (as you can certainly judge this book by it) and try telling me with a straight face that the Cookie Monster doesn't set a wretched nutritional health and food etiquette example for our children, and does so under the disgustingly disingenuous guise of "educational entertainment".

Children have enough trouble as it is learning show more appropriate table manners without being poorly influenced seeing the Cookie Monster stuff eight cookies into his mouth simultaneously in one dangerous chomp that could potentially cause his choking to death. Worse, compare the cover to the example set on page seven of this, frankly, terrible Sesame Street board book where the Cookie Monster is pictured chowing down twenty (I counted) cookies into his gullet as if he's engaged in some solitary "who can eat the most cookies" contest, competing only against himself. Is it any wonder, then, that the Cookie Monster suffers from morbid obesity with this binge eating habit of his? And yet Sesame Street, shamefully, exploits the sugar addiction of this poor creature because children (and some adults apparently) think it's funny the way they think Charlie Sheen's addictions are funny. Not a very WINNING attitude to have regarding addiction, is it?

I don't appreciate the subliminal subtext of Cookie's Guessing Game About Food, either. If you have the book, take another glimpse at page seven. If you take both hands and cover up the arms and legs of the Cookie Monster, you'll see that his torso is in the subtle (but unmistakable) shape of an upside-down light bulb. One of those energy wasting, climate changing incandescent light bulbs, to be exact, rather than a fluorescent bulb. Way to go, Sesame Street! Subliminally implanting in the impressionable minds of our innocent youths the promotion and promulgation of immoral light bulbs that are DESTROYING OUR PLANET! Is this the kind of environmental ethos we want our children unconsciously exposed to every time they merely look at the Cookie Monster? Isn't seeing an eating disorder and sugar addiction in action every time they look at him egregious enough already? And think of all the adults you know who think that global warming is a crock. I'd hypothesize they watched Sesame Street as children and adored the Cookie Monster most of all its characters, even more so than the character liked most by kids who turned out normal, Big Bird.

I suspect, flipping through the pages of Cookie's Guessing Game About Food, and witnessing the uber-abnormally "bugged out" eyes of the Cookie Monster, that there's another white substance besides benign sugar in those abundant batches of chocolate chip cookies that the creators of Sesame Street long ago got the Cookie Monster hooked on.

I obviously cannot recommend this book. It's too sad, and maybe it's just me, I don't know, but seeing the Cookie Monster so abused and exploited by creative puppeteers and so-called "child entertainers" who should simply know better, makes me MAD!! show less

Family is all about love. Every kind of family is rendered here: the traditional nuclear family, grandparents, single parents, chosen family ("Some family is chosen, in groups or in pairs. / You want them as your family. They want you as theirs").

Reading this with my 4yo, she was extra chatty and interactive as she recognized characters from Sesame Street - Cookie Monster, Elmo, Bert & Ernie, Abby, Julia, Oscar, and more.

This book actually reminded me of Dr. Seuss's "Oh, the Places You'll Go". Because, frankly, college or high school graduates are the PERFECT audience for this book. It's all about life and what will happen--but keep on keeping on.

Fans of Sesame Street will smile at references to "counting your blessings" with the Count as an illustration. Or friendships and you have Bert and Ernie. Having laughter? You guessed it--Elmo. Seriously, this book is sweet. I just don't see kids getting it as much show more as adults. show less

This book is great for teaching kids or adults just learning sign language a few of the basics. It covers the numbers, alphabet, animals, common household objects, and everyday actions giving you pictures on how to sign them. It also uses the characters from Sesame Street so kids have something familiar to draw them into the book.
My daughter LOVES this book. She is only two but she likes the characters and bright colors and is even learning some of the signs by me doing them with her. She show more sees what the characters are doing and recognizes it as something she does every day then asks me a question about it to find out more. I love it because it is teaching her to be an active learner by asking questions about her environment.
I think this would be a great addition to any classroom. Kids who were learning sign language could use it as a quick and interesting way to learn some of the basic signs. Or, if you allow students to get books during times where they have nothing else to do, it would be a great way for them to pick up something new and interesting. You could also use it if you had a person in your class who used sign language to help the whole class embrace the child and learn something from their world. show less