The following article was written by fifth-grader Miles Rollins, with the help of his dad, Quinn Rollins. Many thanks to Miles and Quinn for their contribution!
As a Muppet fan who’s also a father, one of the things I try to find balance with is how to teach my sons to love the Muppets without necessarily brainwashing them, or forcing them to love the Muppets the same way that I do. A big part of that is that I want them to know about the genius of Jim Henson, and that he was someone who used his talents to make a difference in the world. To that end, I picked up the kids biography Who Was Jim Henson, by Joan Holub. It’s part of a series of biographies, all of which have bobble-headed covers, and all written at about a fifth grade level. Since I own a fifth grader, I asked Miles if he’d be interested in reading and reviewing it for Tough Pigs. This is the result.
There was this guy, and he made some Muppets. Good. No, I’m just kidding. WAUGH-HA-HAAA!
Before reading Who Was Jim Henson, I knew that Jim Henson created the Muppets. I knew that he was the performer for Kermit, I knew that my dad was a big fan, and that he was dead. Jim Henson, not my dad.
My dad brought home the book Who Was Jim Henson, and I was interested in it, so I wanted to read it. I wanted to know what Jim Henson was like. This book answered some of my questions. Here are three new things I learned about Jim:
1) Jim had a brother named Paul who died in a car accident when Jim was nineteen. I thought that was interesting, and sad. Jim’s life with puppets was already starting to be successful, and Paul’s short life was already over.
2) After Jim was married and had kids, they moved to a big house. He let his four kids doodle and draw on the walls, because he thought it was creative. I would like to draw on the walls too sometimes. I thought Jim would be a fun dad to have, except that he would be gone all the time. Jim traveled a lot, so he had a couple of different houses—one wherever he was working and another for his family.
3) One of the most interesting things was how they filmed the song “The Rainbow Connection” in The Muppet Movie. Because they didn’t have computers to make special effects, they had to have Jim in an underwater tank like a submarine, and he had a TV with him so he could see what he was doing. That made Kermit’s swamp look cool and more real—I think Jim thought it was a good idea.
One thing I thought could be better was the illustrations in the book. The drawings were black and white, which was okay. But in the drawings, you have real people drawn to look real, next to Muppet characters that look too much like cartoons. On page 43, there’s a picture with Rowlf where the human looks way real, with details like wrinkles on his face, but Rowlf looks like a cartoon character.
After reading the book, I still had some questions. Questions like “How does Big Bird’s OTHER arm work?” and “Why did he die so young?” I mean, it says that he got sick and stuff, but… I wonder how he got sick, or why he got sick. It makes me sad. He died too young. He could have done so much more.
I think that Jim Henson’s ideas were very amazing. The Muppet Show’s jokes and stuff, and how he could do things like Kermit on a log in The Muppet Movie, and the scene with the bikes in The Great Muppet Caper, using wires above them to keep them supported, and people pulling the bikes—just the ideas that make the Muppets look real. I mean, you can’t just put a Muppet on a bike and let it go.
Reading this book made me feel creative. Very creative. Jim was very creative too. Even after he was an adult, he was still drawing cartoons and was very artistic. He’d doodle weird creatures, or change them; I mean, Kermit is a frog, but he doesn’t really look like a frog. And Gonzo, Gonzo, especially Gonzo. He’s a Whatever!
I’d recommend Who Was Jim Henson to other kids who like the Muppets, even though there are things about it that are different than other Muppet books. It might surprise them to learn new things about the Muppets, and make them more interested in learning more.
…so that’s it. The next generation of Muppet fans, learning and writing about Jim Henson. There were other things he asked me about while reading the book, and it opened up a dialogue about life and death, creativity and work, parents and children, and why I was such a fan of Jim Henson myself. It was an interesting experience as a Muppet fan and a father. There will be more to come.
Miles’ alternative cover for “Who Was Jim Henson?”
Click here to put a Muppet on a bike and let it go on the ToughPigs forum!
by Miles and Quinn Rollins
