Victoria Saxon

This is a collection of brief, lukewarm adaptations of Disney feature films, a lot of them being direct-to-DVD sequels. The stories hold little interest for me, so I made a game of trying to track down the original sources for them, since this collection is published without any creator credits, which I always find annoying and rather slimy.

The copyright notices on the verso page generally point at some storybooks that were published at the time the movies were released. But when I was able show more to locate and look inside some of those books I found that the versions presented in this collection tended to be abridged. It uses the exact same pictures -- though some are omitted, for space I suppose -- but the scripts are fairly consistently cut down or fiddled with. I've included comparisons of first sentences below when I was able to find them.

A Bug's Life: The Quest for the One Big Thing

This tedious counting story has one ant finding a tasty treat that she wants to bring back to the anthill, and she recruits one new friend every page to help until they reach the number twelve. Most of the other stories in here seem like adaptations, but I don't remember anything like this from the film, though it has been decades since I've seen it. Boring.

So while not an adaptation of the movie, it is rather an adaptation of the book A Bug's Life: The Quest for the One Big Thing (1998, ISBN 0786831987), with story by Lou Fancher and paintings by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher. The illustrations are straight out of that book, though Fancher's script has been abridged and altered throughout.

Opening line of the original book: "In late summer, Princess Dot waited eagerly for the circus bugs to return to the ant colony for the harvest."
Opening line of this version: "Princess Dot was eagerly waiting for the circus bugs to return to the ant colony for the harvest."

Atlantis: The Lost Empire - The Final Stand

The climactic battle of the movie is recounted. It's all slam-bang action without any context as to who the characters are beyond a shallow good vs. evil interpretation. I think I saw the movie when it came out, but I don't remember for sure and this does little to remind me.

Source book: Atlantis: The Lost Empire - The Final Stand (2001, ISBN 073641083X), adapted by Tennant Redbank, illustrated by Judie Clarke, Samantha Clarke, and Caroline Egan.

The Tigger Movie: Family of Tiggers

This is a loose adaptation of the three-minute "Round My Family Tree" song sequence by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman that happens in the middle of the movie, wherein Tigger imagines all the wonderful things his Tigger ancestors must have done throughout history. It's mostly amusing, though the sexy, long-legged female Tiggers in miniskirts are a little disturbing.

Source book: The Tigger Movie: Family of Tiggers (2000, ISBN 0786832649), written by Victoria Saxon, illustrated by Josie Yee.

Opening line of original book: "Afternoon sunlight lit up the Hundred-Acre Wood when Owl invited Tigger and Roo for tea."
Opening lines here: "Afternoon sunlight lit up the Hundred-Acre Wood. Owl had invited Tigger and Roo for afternoon tea in his tree house."

Dinosaurs: Aladar's Story

Another movie I saw long ago and have mostly forgotten. I can see why, based on this nothing little story about walking to water.

The Little Mermaid II: An Icy Adventure

A simple but serviceable adaptation of the movie. Not sure why the sub-title was changed, nor was I able to find the original source from which this version may be drawn.

Toy Story 2: Buzz's Story

An adaptation of the 1999 film, the illustrations are lifted from the book Toy Story 2: Buzz's Story (1999, ISBN 0786832339), which was adapted by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld with concept art by Judith Holmes Clarke, drawings by the Disney Storybook Artists, design by Susan Saroff, and painted by John Alvin. The script is abridged and significantly altered from Zoehfeld's.

Opening line of the original book: "I could see the potential for trouble."
Opening line here: "I could see trouble coming."

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh: Three Friendly Tales
Bare-bone adaptations of the "Pooh Gets Stuck," "Rabbit Gets Lost," and "Bounce, Tigger, Bounce" sequences from the film. The same illustrations were also used in Winnie the Pooh CD Storybook: The Many Adventure of Winnie the Pooh / Piglet's Big Movie / Pooh's Heffalump Movie / The Tigger Movie by Karen Comer, but the text is very different.

Chip N' Dale: A Nutty Visit to the Zoo
Inspired by the Donald Duck animated short film, "Working for Peanuts" (1953): Directed by Jack Hannah; Story by Nick George and Roy Williams
Illustrations directly taken from the Little Golden Book Chip n Dale at the Zoo (1954, 1974): Title page info: Told by Annie North Bedford, Pictures by the Walt Disney Studio, Adapted by Bill Bosche from the motion picture "Working for Peanuts"
images at https://www.ebay.com/itm/274395786111

FOR REFERENCE:

Contents:
• A Bug's Life: The Quest for the One Big Thing / written by Lou Fancher, illustrated by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher (originally published 1999, ISBN 0786831987)
• Atlantis: The Lost Empire - The Final Stand / adapted by Tennant Redbank, illustrated by Judie Clarke, Samantha Clarke, and Caroline Egan (originally published 2001, ISBN 073641083X)
• The Tigger Movie: Family of Tiggers / written by Victoria Saxon, illustrated by Josie Yee (originally published 2000, ISBN 0786832649)
• Dinosaur: Aladar's Story / adapted by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld, illustrations by Judith Clarke, Brent Ford, John Alvin (2000, ISBN 0786832592)
• The Little Mermaid II: An Icy Adventure / unknown
• Toy Story 2: Buzz's Story / adapted by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld
• A Goofy Movie: Cross-Country Chaos
• Mickey Mouse: The Sorcerer's Apprentice
• Monsters, Inc.: The Big Boo Rescue
• 102 Dalmatians: Going to the Dogs
• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh: Three Friendly Tales
• Chip 'n' Dale: A Nutty Visit to the Zoo
• Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure - One of the Pack
• Mickey Mouse: Brave Little Tailor
• Aladdin: The Return of Jafar - Iago to the Rescue
• Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World - A Princess Pleads for Peace show less

Kanga and Roo play an "I Spy" game, finding shapes around their home and in Rabbit's garden. A bit dull if you don't have a toddler pointing out shapes on the page along with Roo.

Though Pooh appears on the cover, this is a rare Pooh book that doesn't have Pooh, Tigger, or Piglet inside, just Kanga, Roo, Eeyore, Rabbit and Christopher Robin. It's like an original Star Trek episode with only Uhuru, Chekhov, and Sulu.

(My Pooh Project: I love Winnie the Pooh, and so does my wife. Having a show more daughter gave us a chance to indoctrinate her into the cult by buying and reading her every Pooh book we came across. How many is that? I’m going to count them this year by reading and reviewing one every day and seeing which month I finally run out. Track my progress here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/23954351-rod-brown?ref=nav_mybooks&she... ) show less

Fun little story, told by Tigger, and this is why I'm having reservations about it: it's written exactly like Tigger talks... with funny words and misspelling ("saber-toof tigger", "gymnastickal", "sandywiches" etc).
Okay to read aloud to little kids, not so great for first readers.

The book was entertaining and taught the reader to not judge a book by its cover. The character interaction between Remy and Linguini was a roller coaster from friendship to jealousy and conflict then to reconciliation and back to friendship. It was a great journey for such a short story (as compared to the length of the film version).

Definitely for a Disney themed story time or for a kindergarten/ young children reading program.