Western Publishing " For a list of Little Golden Books , see the category . " Western Publishing was a large publishing company based in Racine , Wisconsin , with editorial offices in both New York and Los Angeles . The company no longer exists . Mattel bought Western in 1982 , then sold it off in 1984 . Under new ownership , the company was renamed Golden Books Family Entertainment and focused on children ' s books . Golden Books Family Entertainment was bought out by Random House in 2001 . Most people aren ' t familiar with the name Western Publishing , because it published under a number of different names . Western ' s publishing lines included Golden Books , Whitman Publishing , and Golden Guide . It also published comic books , as Dell Comics , Gold Key Comics and Whitman Comics , and produced a comprehensive line of Golden . In the early 1990s , Golden Books Family Entertainment also released a line of CDs and cassettes under the name Golden Music . Western ' s most famous line , the Little Golden Books , began publishing in 1942 . Many of the " Sesame " titles have been kept in print in various forms by Random House and Dalmatian Press . Little Golden Books . In 1942 , Western Publishing began its line of , which is still running today under Random House . Little Golden Books are 24 - page storybooks with large full - color illustrations on each page . The illustrations dominate each page , often including the book ' s text within the artwork . Their distinctive size ( 8 " x 6½ " ) and golden spine make Little Golden Books instantly recognizable . The first set of 12 books , published in October 1942 , included " The Poky Little Puppy " and " The Little Red Hen " . As of 2005 , 15 million copies of " The Poky Little Puppy " have been sold . Western began publishing Little Golden Books based on licensed characters in the late 40s with a line of Walt Disney books , including " Dumbo " , " Uncle Remus " and " Peter and the Wolf " in 1947 , followed by " Snow White " , " Bambi " , " Pinocchio " and " The Three Little Pigs " in 1948 . Warner Brothers joined the line in 1949 with " Bugs Bunny " and " Bugs Bunny ' s Treasure Hunt " , followed by " Bugs Bunny ' s Birthday " in 1950 . " Sesame Street " joined the line in the early 70s , beginning with " The Together Book " ( 1971 ) , " The Monster at the End of This Book " ( 1971 ) and " Bert ' s Hall of Great Inventions " ( 1972 ) . " The Monster at the End of This Book " was an instant bestseller - - in its first year of publication , the book sold two million copies . According to a 1973 Children ' s Television Workshop newsletter , " this figure , according to publishing sources , is an all - time one - year sales record for a single book . " The " Sesame Street " line continued through the 1970s with " Oscar ' s Book " ( 1975 ) , " Big Bird ' s Red Book " ( 1977 ) , " Cookie Monster and the Cookie Tree " ( 1977 ) , and " Grover ' s Own Alphabet " ( 1978 ) . The four 1979 titles - - " Ernie ' s Work of Art " , " The Four Seasons " , " The Many Faces of Ernie " and " The Amazing Mumford Forgets the Magic Words ! " - - are essentially comic books , with all of the text appearing in word balloons . In his autobiography " The Wisdom of Big Bird " , Caroll Spinney recalled looking at a Little Golden Book : " Surrounding a list of other Little Golden Books titles was a border fashioned from a curving musical staff . Dancing along with the musical notes were Minnie and Mickey Mouse , Donald and Daisy Duck , Snow White and Dopey , Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam - - and Big Bird and Oscar . These were " my " characters , perfectly cartooned , dancing with my favorite cartoon characters from childhood . . . ' My God ! ' I said . ' I ' ve gotten up there with Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse ! ' " " Sesame Street " Little Golden Books were published continuously through the 1980s and 1990s , with at least one new title ( and often two or three ) published almost every year . Titles included " I Think That It Is Wonderful " ( 1984 ) , " The Day Snuffy Had the Sniffles " ( 1988 ) , " Big Bird Visits Navajo Country " ( 1992 ) , " From Trash to Treasure " ( 1993 ) , and " Another Monster at the End of This Book " ( a sequel to the 1971 book , featuring Grover and Elmo ) ( 1996 ) . In the mid - 90s , Little Golden Books published a small line of and " " books , including " Kermit , Save the Swamp ! " ( 1992 ) , " Fozzie ' s Funnies " ( 1993 ) , " Baby Fozzie Visits the Doctor " ( 1995 ) , " Muppet Treasure Island " ( 1995 ) , " Miss Piggy , Queen of Hearts " ( 1997 ) , " Ho - Ho - Ho , Baby Fozzie " ( 1997 ) , and " Fozzie ' s Fabulous Easter Parade " ( 1998 ) . There were also two " Big Bag " books - - " Chelli and the Great Sandbox Adventure " ( 1996 ) and " Chelli Tells the Truth " ( 1997 ) . When the Tickle Me Elmo doll became the surprise hit of Christmas 1996 , the Little Golden Books cashed in the following year with a batch of Elmo titles - - " " , " Elmo Loves You " and " The Bunny Hop " - - as well as " Big Bird ' s Ticklish Christmas " . In another 1997 book , Golden Books combined two of their publishing powerhouses in " The Poky Little Puppy Comes to Sesame Street " . The last " Sesame Street " Little Golden Books - - " Big Bird ' s Baby Book " , " Elmo ' s New Puppy " , " Elmo ' s Tricky Tongue Twisters " and " First Steps " - - were published in 1998 . Many of the " Sesame " Little Golden Books have remained in print in various forms . Random House reprinted several titles under the " " imprint in 1999 , and Dalmatian Press has reprinted some as board books and paperbacks . One popular title , 1997 ' s " Elmo Loves You " , was reprinted by Random House in 2000 as a Jellybean Book , and in 2002 as a board book , then by Dalmatian as a shaped board book in 2005 and a paperback in 2008 . In 2001 , to celebrate the upcoming 60th anniversary of the first Little Golden Books , Random House began publishing a line of Little Golden Books Classics , beginning with reprints of six books . " The Monster at the End of This Book " was reissued as a Big Little Golden Book in 2004 , and " Another Monster at the End of This Book " will join the Little Golden Books Classics line in August 2009 . Whitman Tell - A - Tale Books . Another of Western ' s book lines was the , which were published from 1945 to 1980 . Tell - A - Tale Books were smaller than Little Golden Books ( 6¼ " by 5½ " ) , with thicker covers . The illustrations in these books were even more dominant - - the cover art extends all the way around to the back cover , and the art on the inside covers blends into the first and last pages . Tell - A - Tale Books were 28 pages long , slightly longer than Little Golden Books . The first " Sesame Street " Tell - A - Tale Book , " Sherlock Hemlock and the Great Twiddlebug Mystery " , was published in 1972 . It was written by Revena Dwight and illustrated by Roger Bradfield , the same team who had produced the first " Sesame " Little Golden Book , " The Together Book " . Sherlock Hemlock also starred in the next Tell - A - Tale Book , " The Invention of Paper " ( 1975 ) , which was based on the recurring " Sesame Street " sketches with Ernie as a Caveman King . The third Tell - A - Tale Book , " How to Be a Grouch " ( 1976 ) , was Muppeteer Caroll Spinney ' s only children ' s book . The book offers a comprehensive look at Spinney ' s views on the character , including a page called " Learn To Be Miserable " : " Getting new trash makes me happy , but I don ' t like being happy ! Being happy makes me miserable , and I love being miserable ! So that makes me happy - - which makes me " miserable ! " " Other Whitman Tell - A - Tale titles included : " The Count ' s Poem " ( 1978 ) , " Ernie ' s Telephone Call " ( 1978 ) , " Grover ' s Own Alphabet " ( 1978 ) , and " The Up and Down Book " ( 1979 ) . Golden Tell - A - Tale Books . In 1980 , Western Publishing started another book line , Golden Tell - A - Tale Books , which would replace the Whitman books . That year , " Monsters Come in Many Colors ! " was published in both the Whitman Tell - A - Tale and Golden Tell - A - Tale Book lines . " Big Bird Follows the Signs " was another 1980 Golden Tell - A - Tale title , followed by " First Times " and " Sesame Street ABC " in 1986 . First Little Golden Books . The Tell - A - Tale line made another transition starting in 1983 , with the introduction of the First Little Golden Books . These books were slightly smaller than the Tell - A - Tale Books ( 6 " by 5½ " ) , and they were 24 pages long . They also had the Little Golden Books gold spine , which made the connection between the smaller and larger books more recognizable . A few of the Tell - A - Tale Books were reprinted under the First Little Golden Books imprint , including " The Count ' s Poem " and " First Times " . The " Sesame " First Little Golden Books also included : " I Can Dress Myself " ( 1983 ) , " Count to Ten " ( 1986 ) , " Big Bird ' s Busy Day " ( 1987 ) , " Alice ' s First Words " ( 1989 ) , " Shake a Leg ! " ( 1991 ) , " Grover ' s Mommy " ( 1994 ) , and " Natasha ' s Daddy " ( 1994 ) . The line also included one Muppet book , " Sweet & Silly Muppet Poems " ( 1992 ) , and two " Muppet Babies " titles : " Muppet Babies , Be Nice ! " ( 1993 ) and " Let ' s Play Peek - A - Boo ! " ( 1996 ) . The last " Sesame " First Little Golden Book was " Elmo Says . . . " ( 1998 ) . Golden Book Video . A collection of videos known as Golden Book Video presented limited partial - animation adaptations of Golden Book titles . Illustrations from the books were displayed , accompanied by a full voice cast , and with stylized , limited animation effects . Quite a few " Sesame Street " books were adapted for these videos in 1985 , released as " Three Sesame Street Stories " and " Five Sesame Street Stories " . Both videos were later combined into " Eight Super Sesame Street Stories " in 1990 . The videos were not officially Children ' s Television Workshop or The Jim Henson Company productions , but were mentioned in the copyright notices , and Emily Perl Kingsley was involved with the adaptation of the books . The only Muppet performers heard were Frank Oz , Caroll Spinney , Richard Hunt and Fran Brill . Other main Muppet characters were usually characterized by the narrator describing their dialogue . The were renamed for the videos and voiced by one of the above performers ( for example , Maria was renamed Dolores and voiced by Fran Brill ) . Occasionally a somewhat minor Muppet character would be recast ( for example , Slimey was voiced by a different actor and renamed " Squiggly " , and Fran Brill voiced Rodeo Rosie ) . Unlike other " Sesame " videos or even book - and - audio sets , the usual " Sesame Street " background music cues by Joe Raposo were not used . Instead , stock tracks from the Associated Production Music library were utilized . None of the distinctive " Sesame Street " songs were featured , either . Other Western Publishing products . In 1981 , Western released several " Sesame Street " activity sets featuring Put & Play reusable vinyl adhesive play pieces . These included books with a rear storage flap for pieces , laminated boards , bagged fold - out scenery boards , Put & Play Space Puppets with mix and match clothing , and the board games Put & Play Match - A - Color Game and Match - A - Shape Game . The Put & Play product line also included Walt Disney and other favorite subjects . In 1982 , the company also released the You ' re A Grouch ! card game .