The Great Cookie Thief

Written by	Emily Perl Kingsley
Illustrator	Mike Smollin
Published	1977
Publisher	Western Publishing
Series	A Golden Shape Book

The Great Cookie Thief is a 1977 Sesame Street storybook based on an Old West sketch that was shown as early as a 1971 episode.

The book opens in a saloon, where the residents are talking about their collective problem, the great cookie thief, who is stealing all the cookies from the bakeries in the area. While staring at the wanted poster of the thief, they realize the feller standing next to it looks just like him.

The sheriff pushes a saloon patron to take a closer look, and the messenger reports that the feller in question has the same googly eyes. Not convinced, the sheriff sends him back to compare the fur, which is the same shaggy blue. On a third inspection, the messenger notes they both wear the same black hat. And the fourth look reveals a red bandanna on each of them.

When they accuse him of being the thief, Cookie Monster counters that he does not have the same moustache, and he promptly draws one on the poster. Seeing the difference, the residents breathe a sigh of relief, until Cookie Monster removes his hat, revealing cookies stashed underneath.

Other versions

• A one-panel version of the tale appears in The Sesame Street Dictionary, where the town is identified elsewhere in the book as Sesame Gulch.
• This book was adapted in the video Three Sesame Street Stories.
• In 2012, Callaway Digital Arts Inc. adapted the title as an app for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch.
• The Pyramid Belt Co. made a belt buckle that pictured Cookie Monster as "The Great Cookie Thief".

See also

• The Cookie Thief

External links

• From Paper to iPad: The Evolution of the Great Cookie Thief by Sesame Workshop archivist Susan Tofte, October 16, 2012