Mindy Johnson

I really wished I liked this book more than I did. I was very interested in reading about the women who worked at Disney during its early years, and while that's part of the book, it often seems to get lost behind a general history of Disney animation. The focus doesn't seem to be on the people, especially the women, and that's a shame, as I think they deserve more notice.

The book is also a giant, oversized book, and I'm not sure why. It makes it awkward to read, and I would think it was show more done so that it could showcase some gorgeous Disney artwork, but almost all of the pictures in the book are smaller than full page size, so it feels like the book could have been in more normal dimensions. show less

I've loved Tinker Bell as a Disney character for a long time, but I didn't know much about her development. I'm familiar with the Peter Pan stage play (I've been involved in a production of it for local community theatre) but that portrays Tink as a point of light. Reading about how the Disney artists created a design for her animated version was a lot of fun. I especially enjoyed seeing the different artist interpretations of her, and watching her grow and change into the fairy we all know show more today. show less

This a series of short biographies of women who were involved in various aspects of Disney Studios and its successes, covering the time period from the 1920s to the 1950s. Several of these women were the first to do certain things, like head a "major department in animation" (Hazel Sewell, for the record). Some had arguably minor roles at Disney Studios but accomplished other impressive feats, like flying airplanes during World War II (Elizabeth Chambers, for the record).

With about 20 mini show more biographies, this book has a lot of information to process. My niece and I read it together over several weeks, finishing a few biographies at a time. We both enjoyed it very much and learned some new facts and trivia from it.

While the majority of the women in this collection are white,* the book does highlight many different ways of being -- from physical (e.g., Kae Sumner who was over 6 feet tall) to the various talents they could offer (e.g., musical vs. story-telling vs. colorist and more). A clear throughline is having to overcome various issues (typically, being a woman in a largely male-dominated world).

Inspirational quotes are peppered throughout the book and oftentimes sum up some of the things that had to be overcome for these women to succeed. For instance, "Though others might say or do something wrong, Great Girls continue to dream and stay strong." and "With ideas, talent, and hard work, too, there's no limit to all Great Girls can do!" These quotes are each given a full page with illustrated backgrounds/borders, and honestly would make lovely posters on their own.

Speaking of illustrations, the ones here are simply gorgeous and done by a current Disney artist herself. The full-color illustrations are bold, striking, eye-catching, and engaging with just a touch of whimsy. Occasional black-and-white sketches also highlight a specific feature being discussed in the text. And, each biography also starts with a black-and-white photograph of the subject.

The book ends with a timeline of events regarding Disney Studios projects and a quick overview of the animation process. I think a table of contents at the beginning or an index at the end would have been helpful but, alas, neither are included.

*The only exceptions being Gyo Fujikawa, a Japanese-American designer, illustrator, and author, and Berta "Bea" Tamarago, a Cuban-American inker, animator, and translator. show less

This is a huge coffee table book, filled with illustrations of Disney animators' work at all stages of the process. It details the history of how women were initially employed as inkers and eventually moved into painting cels and finally animating. Interesting to learn how the paints and colors used changed over time, back when all of this work was done by hand. I got my copy free with Disney Rewards points, as the program was shutting down.