An earnest but lopsided Christian reading of the birth and growth of Sesame Street.
A revisionary, religious analysis of a beloved children’s TV show.
Over the course of 46 seasons on the air, the popular PBS (and now HBO) show Sesame Street has imparted gentle lessons about tolerance, patience, and optimism to countless children and given great help to parents and teachers along the way. In this often engaging nonfiction debut, Dreibelbis refers to it as “one of the most significant television programs of all time,” and aims to make the case that the core teachings of Sesame Street map onto those of Christianity with nearly one-to-one fidelity. He takes readers through a lucid, engaging recounting of the show’s origins as the “brainchild” of educational-TV documentary producer Joan Ganz Cooney; her husband, Tim Cooney; and Lloyd Morrisett, the vice president of the Carnegie Corporation. He tells with understated skill how Joan Ganz Cooney learned about Jim Henson and worked to sell him on the idea of lending his talents to the new show. After relating humorous details of the first meeting between the laid-back Henson and corporate network representatives, Dreibelbis quotes a Cooney interview in which she flatly admitted: “We would not be around if not for the Muppets.” All of this makes for a very enjoyable entertainment-industry history along the lines of Michael Davis’ Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street (2008). However, Dreibelbis puts his own spin on the story by overlaying some biblical parallels that might have surprised the Cooneys and their colleagues (such as “There may be a parallel between Doubting Thomas and Sesame Street’s Big Bird and his good friend Snuffleupagus”). At one point, for example, the author unconvincingly links the concept of targeting the show at economically disadvantaged children to a biblical reading that asserts that “Jesus Didn’t Hang Around With the Cool Kids”; he also tries to compare the show’s emphasis on healthy living to dietary discussions in the Book of Daniel, and so on. Readers who come to the book for an anecdote-rich history of their favorite TV show will find it more rewarding reading than those who come to the book looking for religious inspiration.
An earnest but lopsided Christian reading of the birth and growth of Sesame Street.Pub Date: Aug. 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5127-5113-0
Page Count: 168
Publisher: Westbow Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.
The legendary booze-addled metal rocker turned reality-TV star comes clean in his tell-all autobiography.
Although brought up in the bleak British factory town of Aston, John “Ozzy” Osbourne’s tragicomic rags-to-riches tale is somehow quintessentially American. It’s an epic dream/nightmare that takes him from Winson Green prison in 1966 to a presidential dinner with George W. Bush in 2004. Tracing his adult life from petty thief and slaughterhouse worker to rock star, Osbourne’s first-person slang-and-expletive-driven style comes off like he’s casually relating his story while knocking back pints at the pub. “What you read here,” he writes, “is what dribbled out of the jelly I call my brain when I asked it for my life story.” During the late 1960s his transformation from inept shoplifter to notorious Black Sabbath frontman was unlikely enough. In fact, the band got its first paying gigs by waiting outside concert venues hoping the regularly scheduled act wouldn’t show. After a few years, Osbourne and his bandmates were touring America and becoming millionaires from their riff-heavy doom music. As expected, with success came personal excess and inevitable alienation from the other members of the group. But as a solo performer, Osbourne’s predilection for guns, drink, drugs, near-death experiences, cruelty to animals and relieving himself in public soon became the stuff of legend. His most infamous exploits—biting the head off a bat and accidentally urinating on the Alamo—are addressed, but they seem tame compared to other dark moments of his checkered past: nearly killing his wife Sharon during an alcohol-induced blackout, waking up after a bender in the middle of a busy highway, burning down his backyard, etc. Osbourne is confessional to a fault, jeopardizing his demonic-rocker reputation with glib remarks about his love for Paul McCartney and Robin Williams. The most distinguishing feature of the book is the staggering chapter-by-chapter accumulation of drunken mishaps, bodily dysfunctions and drug-induced mayhem over a 40-plus-year career—a résumé of anti-social atrocities comparable to any of rock ’n’ roll’s most reckless outlaws.
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-56989-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2009
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