Getting Ready to Read

Getting Ready to Read is a 1986 Sesame Street direct-to-video compilation.
The video promotes reading skills with various Sesame inserts, along with a new framing sequence where Big Bird operates his own "Reading Hotline."
==Segments==
Picture	Segment 	Description
 	FRAME 1 	Big Bird has started his own “Reading Hotline”. Sam (a regular visitor) and his cat, Rocky, arrive to his stand, wanting to know what his box says. Big Bird reads it as “CAT FOOD” and teaches Sam to learn what it says instead of having to come to him all the time.
 	Muppets 	Grover talks about the word walk. He is accompanied by styrofoam letters that form the word walk, and they keep walking back and forth.
 	FRAME 2 	Ferlinghetti Donizetti fills in for Big Bird on a call before telling the viewer about rhymes. However, he overdoes it and can't stop!
Note: A portion of this scene appears in Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey
 	Muppets 	
 	Cartoon 	In rhyme, a man points out animals who stole and/or ruined his clothing.
 	Muppets 	Instead of cookies, Cookie Monster recites a poem about galoshes -- or at least he tries.
 	FRAME 3 	A monster caller (Martin P. Robinson) asks Big Bird what rhyming has to do with reading. He puts him on hold as he calls Maria into his nest to ask the same question. As she demonstrates it, the monster caller gets fed up with waiting, hangs up and enters the nest himself, unnoticed. Big Bird tries to talk to the caller, but sees he’s gone and tells the monster next to him he must’ve gotten tired of waiting, causing the monster to faint.
 	Muppets 	"Fat Cat"
 	FRAME 4 	Big Bird answers another call and helps Pammy learn to read by using the word ending “OP” to make new words.
 	Muppets 	"The "OP" Family Song"
 	Cartoon 	HEN / PEN / TEN / MEN
 	FRAME 5 	Oscar the Grouch has set up his own reading hotline and tells his caller to learn to read by watching “Grouch TV.” The static on the channel fades away and reveals...
 	Muppets 	...Slimey and his band, "Earth, Rain and Mud", perform "Gimme Mud."Introduction and closing scenes cut
 	FRAME 5 cont'd	The caller tells Oscar how much they hated the song and Oscar tells Slimey he has a hit!
 	Muppets 	Cookie Monster sounds out the word FOOD, then eats it.
 	Muppets 	Same Sound Brown shows Farley that "That's What Reading's All About."
 	FRAME 6 	Two Honkers try to get Big Bird’s attention, but since he’s on the phone he asks the viewer to use the skills they learned to help the Honkers sound out their word (HONK).
 	Cartoon 	B ... US! We're on the bus!
 	Muppets 	Two-Headed Monster: RUN
 	FRAME 7 	Sam and Rocky come back with various boxes of food, not to learn how to read, but to show off their reading skills. Tired, Big Bird decides to field one more call, which he gets Maria to answer again.
==Releases==
Image:Origreadytoreadvhs.jpg|1986Random House Home Video
Image:Noimage-big.png|1986Random House Home Video88316ISBN 0394883160
Image:Video.gettingreadytoread-originalcover.jpg|1992Random House Home Video88317Reissue cover
Image:Gettingreadytoread.jpg|1996Sony WonderLV 51259ISBN 1573305553
Letters Reading UK Video Collection VHS.jpg|1987The Video CollectionDouble feature with Learning About Letters
File:LearntoRead.jpg|1994The Video Collection
Image:Dothealphabet-disney.jpg|1997Walt Disney Home VideoDouble feature with Do the Alphabet
Readytoread HVN VHS1.jpg|Berjaya HVN
Gettingreadytoreadasianvcd.jpg|1998Berjaya HVN cat. no 150009
Gettingreadytoread Japan VHS.jpg|Sony
Readytoread Taiwan VHS.jpg|Ladder Publishing
==Notes==
*The video was re-titled "Learn to Read" for a 1994 UK release by The Video Collection. A new title card with the revised name was inserted into the animated opening sequence. The original title and opening were retained for the 1997 UK release by Disney Video.
==Muppet Cast==
*Linking Footage:
:Big Bird, Sam, Rocky, Pammy, Oscar the Grouch, Old MacDougal, Mr. Honker, Honker, Ferlinghetti Donizetti
*Inserts:
:Ernie, Bert, Cookie Monster, Kermit the Frog, Grover, Farley, Same Sound Brown, Two-Headed Monster, Bip Bippadotta, Anything Muppets, Slimey
==Cast==
*Starring Caroll Spinney as Big Bird and Oscar
*Jim Henson's Muppets:
**Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, Fran Brill, Martin P. Robinson, Kevin Clash, Pam Arciero
*Maria: Sonia Manzano
==Credits==
*Writers: Sara Compton
**Tony Geiss, Joseph Bailey, Ray Sipherd (archive material)
*Songs by Joe Raposo, Jeffrey Moss, Cheryl Hardwick, Sam Pottle, Sara Compton
*Directed by Jon Stone
__NOWYSIWYG__
Category:Sesame Street Video