Muppet Babies' Classic Children's Tales
From Muppet Wiki
| Written by | Louise Gikow |
| Illustrator | Tom Brannon and John E. Barrett |
| Published | 1990 |
| Publisher | Macmillan Publishing Company |
| Series | |
| ISBN | 0765197308 |
Muppet Babies' Classic Children's Tales is a large format book containing photos by John Barrett of the Muppet Babies photo puppets in their versions of classic nursery rhymes and fairy tales. It is interesting to note that although the characters appear somewhat true to their origins in Miss Piggy's dream sequence from The Muppets Take Manhattan, the group includes Baby Animal, who only appeared in puppet form in A Muppet Family Christmas, and Baby Skeeter, who was introduced in the animated Muppet Babies series and never appeared in puppet form on film.
Each photo is accompanied by text from the featured story, surrounded by illustrations by Tom Brannon. Each one contains a rat, possibly meant to be a Baby Rizzo.
The book is based on photographs taken for the Muppet Babies Storybook Calendar 1990. The quality taken in putting together each photo and its presentation, from lighting and color palettes, set construction to costumes, and right down to the tiny details, is reminiscent of what Mike Frith was doing in the 1980s on such projects as the Miss Piggy Calendars.
Contents
- "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" by the Brothers Grimm - Piggy as Snow White, and Kermit, Fozzie, Gonzo, Rowlf, Scooter, Skeeter, and Animal as the Seven Dwarves at the woodland cottage.
- Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson - Kermit as Jim Hawkins and Gonzo as Long John Silver in a treasure cave.
- The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling - Animal as Mowgli in the jungle with exotic animals.
- Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates by Mary Mapes Dodge - Scooter and Skeeter skating by a windmill.
- Robin Hood by Paul Creswick - Kermit as Robin Hood, Piggy as Maid Marian, Rowlf as Friar Tuck, Scooter as Alan-A-Dale, and Fozzie as Little John.
- Alice's Adventures In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll - Piggy as Alice, Gonzo as the Mad Hatter and Fozzie as the March Hare.
- Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi - Gonzo as Pinocchio.
- "Hansel and Gretel" by the Brothers Grimm - Kermit as Hansel and Piggy as Gretel.
- The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum - Kermit as the Scarecrow, Gonzo as the Tin-Man, Piggy as Dorothy and Fozzie as the Cowardly Lion.
- King Arthur and His Knights retold by Sidney Lanier - Kermit as Arthur, Piggy as Guenevere, with Skeeter and Gonzo.
- Heidi, by Johanna Spyri - Piggy as Heidi with two sheep in the mountains.
- Peter Pan, by J. M. Barrie - Kermit as Peter Pan, Piggy as Wendy, Scooter as John and Animal as Michael.
