cover image It's Not Easy Being Green: And Other Things to Consider

It's Not Easy Being Green: And Other Things to Consider

Jim Henson, The Muppets Jim Henson, And Friends The Muppets. Hyperion Books, $16.95 (208pp) ISBN 978-1-4013-0242-9

More like a book of aphoristic verse than a commemorative volume, this book collects quotes from the late Henson, as well as his characters, family members, friends and collaborators. Cheryl Henson, Jim's daughter and a current director of the Jim Henson Company, notes that some of the material comes from previously unpublished letters and personal notebooks. Henson advocates a following of one's own rainbow-""I think if you study-if you learn too much of what others have done, you may tend to take the same direction as everybody else""-and taking one's own time in doing so. (""No time is wasted time,"" says Cantus Fraggle.) Though some thoughts border on treacly (""When I was young, my ambition was to be one of the people who made a difference in this world...It's a wonderful life and I love it""), most-especially those in the voices of Kermit and others-contain insight into Henson's unique life and work.