25 Of My Favorite Sesame Street Memories is a lovely, lavishly illustrated essay that's pretty much what is says on the label: wistful funny essays about 25 great moments in Sesame Street history.
Guy Smiley has a huge & rather odd resume. Among the shows he's hosted are one in which a baby has to pick out its grandmother among an old lady and a mustachioed man & dog with wigs on, one in which all the correct answers are "Triangle," & the "Here Is Your Life" series of reunion specials. Anyone & anything, from an oak tree to Forgetful Jones had their own "Here Is Your Life" special, but my favorite was the one for Sneaker, an old, worn out, red Chuck Taylor lost in the back of a closet until the day Guy Smiley decided he deserved a tribute. Sneaker was visited by his designer, his shoemaker, his owner (represented by her bare feet & legs rolled up like she's expecting a flood in her closet), & his left counterpart (who was bought by a sculptor & bronzed as part of an abstract statue).
In the end, Sneaker found himself lonely after reliving his memories, & wasn't looking forward to an eternity at the back of the closet. That's when Oscar shows up & offers to add Righty to his rotten sneaker collection… but not before he receives a complimentary memory book & official Guy Smiley ankle bracelet!
Sneaker makes the list mostly because gutting the soles of my old Chucks & gluing two halves of a ping pong ball onto the tongue is on my eternal to-do list.
(Thanks, Justin!)
