Abby Cadabby Joins Sesame Street

There’s a new muppet on Sesame Street, and naturally there’s an uproar to herald her arrival. Abby Cadabby is the first female muppet to join the cast in 13 years, and unlike any of the other muppets on the show, Abby is a girly girl. She’s pink with fluffy pigtails, dainty fairy wings and a “training wand” that she uses to perform mostly botched magic. According to her official bio, she’s a 3-year old fairy-in-training who just relocated to Sesame Street from Fairyside, Queens.

Today, the Boston Globe ran a column, Will a fairy muppet be a good role model for girls? Joanna Weiss raises some interesting points about Abby versus Zoe, but seems to feel lukewarm about her overall. In contrast, my kids happened to catch Abby’s debut on Sesame Street on Friday. They haven’t watched Sesame Street in a while (much to my disappointment), but my little one was sick and was requesting her favorite — Elmo — and my older one (benevolent ruler of the TiVo) aquiesced.

Now, similar to the Globe columnist’s observation, my two-year-old was entertained by Abby, but not enough to distract her from her beloved Elmo. However, my four-year-old, who barely tolerates Elmo was totally captivated by Abby. Time will tell, but for now, she’s back into Sesame Street, which suits me fine. The unique thing about Sesame Street is the incredible diversity, and it’s been a long standing oversight that there isn’t a character who is really comfortable being feminine. And, as a matured tomboy myself, I think it’s OK for my daughters to get the message that it’s great to be a girl.

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