I am Walt Disney

Graphic novel title: I am Walt Disney
Author: Brad Meltzer
Illustrated by: Christopher Eliopoulos
Dial Books for Young Readers
Copy-write: 2019 by Forty-four Steps Inc.
Illustrations copy-write 2019 by Christopher Eliopoulos.
Part of series: Ordinary People Change the World
36-page story plus 2 pages showing time line of Walt Disney
ISBN: 978-0-7352-2875-7
Reviewed by: Allen Klingelhoets

Walt Disney was born in Chicago on December 5, 1901. “I am Walt Disney” tells how he moved with parents to Marceline, Missouri in 1906. Then he moved to Kansas City in 1911. Walt was always creating artwork as child. He even decorated his home barber shop with pictures. When he was seven years old, he had his first sale: neighbors bought some of his sketches.

One day his art got him in lots of trouble. This was before he moved to Kansas City. His parents had gone into town leaving Walt and his sister alone. Walt used tar to paint on the side of his parent’s house. It was Walt’s first big art display.

The story of “I am Walt Disney” is told through eyes of Walt. He is drawn as person about eight with trade mark mustache.

Drawing was Walt’s happy place. When someone made a club house Walt was the one who decorated it.

Walt would spend hours as child scribbling in the margins of text books, entertaining others by making the pictures “move” when you flipped the pages.

The book tells how in 1919 met Ub Iwerks, Walt started to work for a company that made advertisements before movies. These ads included something that was starting back then .... Animation.

Ub Iwerks eventually helped Walt Disney create a character named Mickey Mouse.

The book tells how Walt’s first films were mainly advertisements. Walt tried to start company to film an idea about a little girl who can enter her own dreams - a mix of live action and animation. Walt thought films name would be “Alice’s Wonderland”.

The film seemed like a good idea. Walt started his own company.

It was a failure. The company went bankrupt. Walt was only twenty-one years old.

Walt never let bankruptcy get him down.

Determined as ever, he moved to California.

His big break came from a woman named Margaret Winkler, one of the most successful animation distributors in the country.

Ub Iwerks came to help with the animation. Then in 1926 renamed Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio to Disney Studios.

In 1928 Walt created Mortimer Mouse. Walt’s wife Lillian whom he married in 1925 thought Mortimer was horrible name and came up with the name Mickey Mouse.

Using a bed sheet as a screen, the studio test a new cartoon and added music. It was the historic “Steamboat Willie” which changed the future of animation. On November 18th, 1928, it premiered at The Colony Theatre in New York. The audience loved “Steamboat Willie”.

The real secret of Mickey’s success were the animators. Ub Iwerks and so many others brought Mickey Mouse to life. Walt says – From the start people loved our little mouse- they related to him. The world could feel scary. But in Mickey Mouse audiences found a character that could take them to a happy place.

Plus, there was a secret that the animators knew. Walt was Mickey. And Mickey was Walt. Both fearless and resourceful.

The book goes on to tell how Walt found the person that would do the voice for Donald Duck.

How also in 1934 had idea for feature film “Sleeping Beauty”. How company did not know if audiences would watch cartoon for two hours.

The answer was a resounding “Yes!”

“Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” premiered in 1937. Pinocchio in 1940, Dumbo in 1941, Bambi in 1942, Cinderella in 1950, Peter Pan in 1953.

The book also explored ideas that would lead to creation of Disney Land. The goal was to build the happiest place on earth. The book also tells how ventured into television with ”The Mickey Mouse Club” and still making movies like Winnie the Pooh.

Walt was also proud to have built The California Institute of Arts- a college dedicated to building community of artists. Today, Cal. Arts trains the next generation of creators in art, design, film, music, theater and dance. Some of the people that attended Cal Arts were:

Glen Keane, Don Cheadle, Sofia Coppola, Andrew Stanton, Tim Burton, Pete Doctor, Brad Bird and Peter Sohn.

Walt Disney passed away on December 15th, 1966.

This is another book in the series that inspired “Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum”. It is biographical story.



Allen Klingelhoets