First there was Grover’s Bad, Awful Day. It received critical acclaim from many friends, family, and co-workers, so I set out to do one more Sesame Street rewrite. I found the perfect book, too: Bert & The Broken Teapot. There was something about the image of Bert standing in Luis’s shop holding a brown paper sack that screamed “I have to make this about Luis thinking Bert is delivering drugs!” and then another picture of Big Bird holding what appeared to be a flask. It was perfect.
Unlike the Grover story which was a bunch of observations thrown together, this one is a bit more of a cohesive story… and I’m of course using that term loosely.
Now before you go calling me out on ruining a beautiful children’s story, know this: I cherish Sesame Street very much. I grew up on Big Bird and even to this day I enjoy watching Sesame Street episodes or video clips with Johnny. Yes, Elmo and Abby’s takeover of the show has soured things a bit for me, but I am a huge fan of Jim Henson and the Muppet universe and all of these timeless characters. Anyway, I don’t want you to think I am making fun of Sesame Street. I hold these characters very dear to my heart.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy. I certainly laughed maniacally to myself as I wrote it.
Did you watch Fraggle Rock? They had a similar book published about a year after this one called Wembley and the Soggy Map. Just replace Bert with Wembley Fraggle, David with Gobo Fraggle, and the broken teapot with one of Gobo’s homemade maps which Wembley accidentally ruins by spilling a radish shake all over it.