Book Review: The Disney Book, A Celebration of the World of Disney

Book Review: The Disney Book, A Celebration of the World of Disney

I wanted my first post to be about this wonderful book I came across in a small bookstore in a town I was working in about three months ago. The Book is entitled The Disney Book; A Celebration of the World of Disney. It was written by Jim Fanning and published by DK in 2015. It cost me €23.99 here in Ireland. I didn't set out to purchase this amazing book, however when I came across it while looking for a story book for my baby nephew one morning I absolutely HAD to have it!

The most beautiful and interesting thing about this book for me are the rare images it contains. It has so many unique story board sketches from Snow White and other classics which are lovely to see as well as an early sketch drawn by Walt himself as a young man in his sister's school book. When you first open the book it comes with an original 35mm filmstrip from Disney Pixar's Brave. I must be completely honest here, Brave is not a favourite of mine, however it is a pretty cool item to have in any Disney fan's collection, so I really think it was a sweet little touch that the publishers included it.

The Book begin's with some super interesting history on Walt's beginnings and his time making Silly Symphonies and how he came to create everybody's favourite Mouse with Designer Ub Iwerks. There are individual sections throughout the book about all of the Disney classics and how they were made, the artistry that went into making them and the audience reception upon their release. The book is very thorough however, so it doesn't just give you information on the standard Disney animated films, there's a really in depth look at the live action films made by Disney too, including of course Mary Poppins, my personal favourite! I really loved the parts that were dedicated to discussing the animator's and imagineer's work and how it varied and was unique to each film.

The final sections of the book are about Disney branding and merchandising and also the impact the Disney brand has had on the world of entertainment, including a lengthy section about Disney theme parks which I found very interesting and unique to this particular book.

All in all, this book was a terrific buy. I think if you wanted to know more about Disney as a whole, in particular about Disney history, it's a must-read item. 5 out of 5 from me!