I am Jim Henson celebrates the Muppets and more

You know you’re in for a treat when the first text you see is on the inside front endpaper, in voice balloons hovering over a small illustration of Statler and Waldorf, two elderly hecklers from The Muppet Show.

“I like the book fine so far,” Statler says.

“It hasn’t started yet,” replies Waldorf.

“That’s what I like about it!” comes Statler’s quick-fire response.

Author Brad Meltzer began his series of biographical picture books, labelled Ordinary People Change the World, in 2014 by describing the lives of Amelia Earhart, Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein and Rosa Parks.

The square-shaped hardcover books are colourfully illustrated by Christopher Eliopoulos and have gone on to include Lucille Ball, Jackie Robinson, Helen Keller, Martin Luther King Jr., Jane Goodall and George Washington.

I Am Jim Henson is the latest in the series, to be followed this fall by I Am Sacagawea and I Am Gandhi.

“Oh, good. You’re here,” the author, in the guise of Jim Henson, begins once we flip past the two hecklers and the title page.

“What’s the fun of a story if you don’t have anyone to share it with?”

What indeed? Henson’s story is definitely worth sharing, especially with the millions of children (and former children) for whom the characters he created became trusted friends.

I myself spent many happy hours with my sons in front of the television, watching Sesame

Street and talking about Big Bird and Mr. Hooper and Oscar the Grouch. Even when those sons were in their teens, we enjoyed the antics of the Swedish Chef and Fozzy Bear, Rowlf and Animal on The Muppet Show.

Using Henson’s actual dialogue whenever possible, Meltzer gives us a first-person account of his youthful fascination with film and art and puppets, describing Henson’s determination to become a puppeteer and to get his work on television. He talks about Kermit the frog and quotes lyrics from Joe Raposo’s groundbreaking song, It’s Not Easy Being Green. And he talks about the teamwork that went into the creation of the Muppets and the television shows that continue to leave a mark on children around the world.

The cartoonish digital art that graces these pages makes it easy for children of all ages to pick out their favourites from those TV shows, and Eliopoulos adds to the fun by depicting Henson with a full beard even in his childhood years. Two pages at the end of the book include several photos, including one of “young Jim as a snake charmer” using homemade props.

Henson’s dream of entertaining people and bringing them together through puppetry and television is a continuous thread throughout this book, but so is the man’s belief that “there’s good in all of us.”

The message seems particularly relevant these days: “Sure, we’re all different,” Henson, who died in 1990, tells us. “Some of us have beards, or no hair, or blue fur, or green flippers. / But goodness lives within each of us. / That’s an idea that should never get old. / Believe in the good of the world. / Create something new. Share what you love. / … And never stop being kind.”

I am Jim Henson

By Brad Meltzer Illustrated by Christopher Eliopoulos Dial Books, 40 pages, $19.99 Ages 6 to 10