Disney Books

I'd like to read this book, but I have seen the movie, which is one of my favorite movies of all times. I don't think Adam Banks deserved to get hurt. It was also nice that Charlie gave up his spot for adam. I will not tell anything more cause I don't want to give it all away.

I bought this a few weeks ago from market place. The book wasn't in the best of condition but the book was great! Tons of non movie scenes. I recommend this book if you liked the movie.

D2: MIGHTY DUCKS ARE BACK! is a very good book--mostly for boys or girls aged nine to twelve because there are a few tough words to understand if you are under nine. Although this book was written in 1992 and later turned into a Walt Disney movie, it's truly a fabulous book.

D2: MIGHTY DUCKS ARE BACK! is about a group of twenty teenagers who play ice hockey at the Junior Goodwill Games in Los Angeles. Coach Gordan Bombay is in a world of sponsors and business. Bombay only cares about Team USA's sponsor, hendrix, and trying to impress the board members of Hendrix.
I enjoy Julie "The Cat" Gaffney, the goalie from Bangor, Maine, because she's a great goalie and she has a nice personality. Jordan Horowitz, the author, wants you to get into hockey. I was surprised how much hockey is mental and not physical.

Los Angeles is a perfect setting for this book although California has a mild temperature. Downtown walls are covered with graffiti and skilled teenagers playing schoolyard hockey. Team USA decides to play these juveniles and actually learn from playing them. They learned how to play like Team USA.

I truly recommend this book although it hasn't won a single award. Jordan Horowitz' style of writing is adventurous but exciting.

Team USA is led by Adam Banks and Charlie Conway, longtime hockey stars. USA fans are shocked when Banks gets checked by Olaf Sanderson from the Vikings of Iceland. Banks tries and proves to Coach Bombay that he can play. He says to Coach Bombay that scouts are watching and he just has to play.

Jordan Horowitz was inspired by the 1980 Team USA Olympic win over Russia and so he wrote this book. This book is like most hockey books by Matt Christopher. I've read all of Matt Christopher's hockey books and D2: MIGHTY DUCKS ARE BACK! is much better. D2: MIGHTY DUCKS ARE BACK! is more suspenseful and exciting. I am comparing Christopher and Horowitz because they are both very good sports, although Christopher has written many more books.

Horowitz writes with an athletic edge, because he must know a lot about sports. H eknows what he's writing about. he knows kids will enjoy his books. That's what I love about him.
I was surpised how much hockey is mental and not physical. Even though I have not played much hockey myself. I learned this from the book and hopefully you will, too.

I loved this book!!! If you liked the movie, you'd love this book. There's parts that aren't even in the movie!!! It also throughly explains the "Things that make you go hmm..." in the movie.

The ducks are back!, and with more spunk then ever. They are going to the jounior goodwill game in L.A. where they encounter troubles with Coach Bombay, and meet the dreded Iceland team. Can the ducks go for the gold while trying to figure out what happened to Coach Bombay?

My nine year old daughter loves books about Tinkerbell and all her friends. She absolutely devours them as soon as I get them. What a boost for her imagination!

We own all of this series! Started reading them when my daughter was 4 (she just turned 5 now), and they are age appropriate. Not too scary and always a happy ending. One book only takes us about 4-5 nights worth of reading together. The longer ones are good too "Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg" and "Fairy Haven and the Quest for the Wand", but they are a little bit scarrier than the short books (more appropriate for ages 5-7 I would think).

Opinion: I liked this book more than The Trouble with Tink, but not as much as I liked Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg and Vidia and the Fairy Crown though. Lily is much better than I imagined her to be and so is her story. Lily's friend Iris is funny and sensitive, making the story have a deeper meaning than just what you're expecting. This made the sory mean more to me.

Summery: Lily is on a walk, she told her "friend" Iris she was looking for possum ferns just to get away from her. Although she does see a possum fern, she also finds a strange seed. Being a garden talent fairy, Lily can't help but plant it. Since Iris dosn't have a garden, Lily decides to let Iris help her out. But, although Lily and Iris would be heart broken to uproot the plant, they might not be able to help it. Although all the garden talent fairies are trying to defend her, Queen Clarion and the other fairies want it uprooted now! But, the garden talant fairies and Tinker Bell can't outnumber the rest of the fairies, so they might lose, especially if Vidia can help it. Vidia hates this "vile" plant. But is it really what they thought it was? This will ever puzzle them by the mysterious plants likeing and life cycle.

Reporter's Opinion: I thought that this was one of those books that you can't put down no matter what! I really couldn't put it down, so I read it all in one night! I was a really, really great book!

Summary: Lily is one of the best Garden-talent fairies in all of Pixie Hollow. When she was walking in the forest, she found a seed that she never heard of. She decided to plant it in her garden. The next day after she planted it, all of Pixie Hollow smelled bad because of it. The next day, it let off pink pollen that made everyone and everything in Pixie Hollow pink and sneeze. The fairies and sparrow men were about to cut it down, but Lily said to let it live one more day. That evening, it grew fruit. She tried it, and it was delicious. Lily told the fairies and sparrow men to try it, and they all loved it! After you pi a fruit, another one comes in it's place. Lily asked her Garden-talent fairy friend, Iris what kind of tree it was. Iris looked in her book and it was an Ever Tree. All of them were destroyed, but now they know that there is one left. Everyone comes to get fruit from it. It was a good plant after all!

I have read The trouble with Tink, the Berry battle and I think this one is my favorite of the 3!! all are great books though.
They have really done the Fairy series right with THESE books.
I loved the magic Fairy dust created, BUT they stepped up and just made it better! The characters are people you really connect with, and fall in love with. YOu gain a better understanding of the talents. They make sense and seem to have more of a purpose. The fairy world just got brighter.
If you were not a fan of Levine's fairy dust, I do reccomend giving these books a try. It is an improvement!
The illustrations are great too! with the Help of Disney artists, the pictures are a pure delight!

I am very glad that I ordered this book. It has very detailed illustrations to help me get a handle on drawing my fairys.

This step-by-step drawing book illustrates ten different characters -- the fairies Beck, Bess, Fira, Lily, Prilla, Rani, Tinker Bell and Vidia; the sparrow man Terence; and Queen Clarion. Best for older elementary-school to early high-school kids, it has easy-to-follow illustrations but goes into lots of intricate detail. Budding artists can use it to create full figures as well as portraits, each in four steps. The sections for Tinker Bell, Rani, Beck, Fira and Vidia also show how to draw portrait details such as shoulders, hair and eyelashes. Throughout the book, sidebar sketches display details such as noses, lips, eyes, clothing and wings, and show both proper and improper techniques. The book itself is printed on quality gloss paper stock, and nicely illustrated with soft floral backgrounds and leafy borders.

One final note: The female figures here all share the impossibly tiny waists common in cartoons and, for that matter, fashion illustration, but they don't have exaggerated bustlines or hips. And though the faces have plenty of personality -- Vidia bears a striking resemblance to Meg, from Disney's "Hercules" -- there's no cleavage, and none of the skirts or dresses shown are very high cut.

This is the best book of drawing Fairies I have ever seen. My three granddaugthers are all seven years old and they were able to drawing the fairies.

Nice book. A little complex for kids under 10.

it shows u how to draw the fairys heads and then a separate pic of their full bodies. and it has some tips to show u how individual fairys are drawn like tinks cheeks always look like this - not this and so on . great for little artist :)

This is a great book, very entertaining, and even in my own pile of over 60 books on Disney, it stands out as being the only book that focuses strictly on their live action subject. The author breaks down each film he covers, listing title, cast and crew, synopsis, and a review (he does a great job at this). He includes behind the scenes information and comments from original participants I have never seen published anywhere else. The only thing is is lacking is it has very few pictures, and and it needs some more interviews with the principle screenwriters, actors, directors, and such. While it does not cover all the live films, overall it is very comprehensive considering the library of live action films from Disney is much bigger than most people realize. It is also currently the BEST and most COMPLETE book on this specific subject. I am grateful at having found this book, and look forward to any future releases from the author or an expanded version of this book.

If you want more books to consider on the subject of live Disney films, I reccommend the following books for sale at Amazon: "The Wonderful World of Disney Television" by Bill Cotter; "The Disney Films" by Leonard Maltin; "The Disney Studio Story" by Richard Hollis and Brian Sibley; "The Wonderful World of Disney Animals" by Disney's chief movie animal trainer William Koehler; "Walt, Backstage Adventures with Walt Disney" by Charles Shows; "One of Walt's Boys" by Harry Tytle.

People have delighted in Disney's "live-action" films for decades. This book describes their production. You'll greatly enjoy learning about your many, many old favorites.

I was terribly disappointed with this book, which promised so much and delivered so little. While well-written, the prose is lackluster and frequently misses its focus. Although film reviews are often insightful, plot descriptions are sometimes limited to a single sentence. But the biggest disappointment of all is the lack of photographs. What fan of Disney live-action films wouldn't delight in a book featuring pictures of these films in production. Instead, the few pictures I found were grainy, out-of-focus snapshots, mostly of buildings used as backdrops. Few, if any of the people involved in any of the films are featured. Further, although many of Disney l ive-action TV films are discussed, not one of the serials featured on the Original Mickey Mouse Club rates so much as a passing mention. Pass this one by.

John West's book offers an inside view of the film studio that chose to be different and became one of the nation's largest entertainment empires. The Disney difference was not just in content, but in how the studio was run. In the days when Walt was alive, the emphasis was on the script and on creativity, resulting in an esprit de corps among writers that no other studio could match.

West brings objective balance to previous critics of Walt Disney's operational style as well as critics of Disney films. West reveals a man more complex, and therefore more real, than his critics have portrayed. Stories by members of the Disney corps describe a man both tough and fair, tempestuous, but also willing to let the battle drop, frugal, but almost always willing to put the creative vision ahead of cost concerns. West adroitly uses the right word for the right job in a manner that subtly shades his arguments and helps the reader see the finer distinctions he is making with regard to Disney's character.

Disney was a man of the people, not given to the usual pretentious behavior of Hollywood executives. As a result, his heroes-like those in earlier Frank Capra films-were the little people, given a rare moment in life to show their courage, which always derived from their principles rather than from rising to meet someone else's expectations of what a hero should be. Disney the man cherished those beliefs in his own dealings with people, having, as West shows, an elastic view of his employee's talents, willing to let them move in directions where they had not had a chance to prove themselves because he saw the desire within.

When Walt died, the studio floundered for almost two decades. One of the big changes that led to the decline at Disney Studios came because the new executives were strictly businessmen, not men of creativity. Not understanding the creative process as Walt had, they no longer placed the primary emphasis on the writer and the story, but tried in simplistic ways to mimic the family-values content of previous Disney material without recognizing that good stories are never written by committee. Although Walt shaped scripts in consort with his writers in a highly patriarchal fashion, he was a consumate creator himself-something the later suits at Disney were not-and he always left the final incorporation of his vision or revision with the original writer of the screenplay.

Though Disney Studios has recovered from its perilous decline, it's executives might fine-tune their newly recovered success by reading this book and by realizing that the Disney difference was not just content, but an operational style that let writers see their own vision through from origination to the final shooting copy of their script.

A good book for wannabe filmmakers, but an even better book for established film executives.

This book does have some pictures, but it isn't a "coffee table" picture book. It is full of interviews with the people involved in the production of these films, that you can't find anywhere else. It contains lots of information and insight that you won't find in other sources. My favorite parts are the sections on Zorro, Davy Crockett, and the films of Hayley Mills. If you really want to learn about the best of early Disney live action, This is the book!

another 'worth the money' disney product. loved it! bought this as a christmas present for my 3yr old g'dghtr. watching her 'read along' outloud was too funny. i actually got this as a help-mate for bedtime because neither she or her 7yr old sister ever want to go to bed let alone fall asleep w/in minutes. this worked out great..first read the story to them (books are adorable) and then pop in the cd and they can 'listen' to it again. worked like a charm and no more "please..just one more story??!!" i highly reco this product and getting her the little mermaid next for her february bday :)

It has all my daughters favorite princess songs. She loves it.

My daughter (4) loves these read it yourself books. The box (packaging) it comes with isn't very sturdy though, and we have had to find alternate holders to store the CD in. Would have preferred the cd to come with a case, rather than a clip in to the box cover.

A perfect gift and sound experience for young children with original voices from the movies!

Simple stories told in simple ways to initiate children about sharing and caring, with Christmas as a reference for "holiday season" only.

The voice characterizations are fantastic and very appealing (Russi Taylor is top-notch as the recreation of Cinderella's God-Mother); the music (traditional Xmas music) is really "background", subdued and nice enough to set the mood.

Three colourful books with exquisite Disney illustrations tell the stories with the printed text of the narration!

AND... there's even a NEW character named after ME, François, I must humbly say!

So, who could ask for anything more?

This bargain-priced boxed set of three full color Disney books with one Read-Along CD contain a brand-new Cinderella story called SO THIS IS CHRISTMAS.
The new story takes place before Cinderella meets the Prince. The stepmother orders her to prepare a grand party for the mysterious Countess LaRue, who turns out to be ... well, I don't want to give it away!
Two classic Princess stories round out the set, Beauty and the Beast in ONE MAGICAL CHRISTMAS by Karen Krieder and The Little Mermaid in CHRISTMAS UNDER THE SEA by Paula Sigman.
All the stories are performed by the great Disney voice actors including Jodi Benson, Paige O'Hara, Jennifer Hale, Robbie Benson, Joanne Worley, Russi Taylor, Corey Burton, Rob Paulsen, Sam Wright, Roy Dotrice, Brian Cummings, Linda Gary and many others,
A great Disney set at a great price!

Love it, great music. more advanced than the average high school piano player, but if you love it enough it'll make you practice more. I got this a while ago and now i'm in my second year in college and still play it :-)

I think this is a great piano book. The song selection is great - it includes both up tempo songs as well as ballads. The arrangements are different from the original songs, which makes it both more fun and more challenging. These arrangements have a very jazzy feel. It's an intermediate level book, which is great for someone who hasn't played in a while or is looking to brush up on their skills. I would highly reccommend this book for any disney music fan.

Usually, you don't come across sheet music that's accurate, but with Jim Brickman's "The Disney Songbook," you don't have to worry about that. I am very satisfied with this product and it makes a great gift for any piano player that likes disney and Jim Brickman's stylings. Jim Brickman approved the arrangements himself! It really IS the matching sheet music to the "Disney Songbook." You won't be let down!!! :)

Jim Brickman's "The Disney Songbook " for the piano is awesome. The songbook doesn't look over whelming to play. The song book consists of "Beauty & the Beast", "Mary Poppins Medley", "Cruella De Vil", "Beautiful", "Reflection", "When I see an Elephant Fly", "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah," "Baby Mine", "Can you feel the Love Tonight", "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes:, "Some Day My Prince Will Come", "I'm Amazed", "When you Wish Upon A Star" plus bonus songs of "Bare Necessities" and "Colors of the Wind". Jim has done a great job so that piano players will be able to handle the songs. These songs bring back so many memories to everyone, it is a must to have if you play the piano.

Jim Brickman is an awesome pianist and he always has really great songbooks. I've been looking for a Disney songbook but all of them have been really easy, and this one is advanced. I recommend trying out all of his music because all of it is contemporary but has a classical egdy feel to it.

Disney is often considered to be the premiere house for animation. Yet in the course of creation, there will always be ideas that were rejected, or didn't gel, or just fell apart. Luckily, Disney kept everything - good, bad or unused, and created a bounty for the animation historian. This book allows a peek behind the creative process. We are familiar with what made it to the screen, but Solomon shows us what didn't make it. A combination of a history of Disney successess and failures, and a portfolio of hidden artwork, this book is a trove of Disney information that is usually overlooked. It is interesting, following the release of Fantasia 2000, to look back at actual work prepared for Walt's original idea of re-releasing Fantasia annually with different pieces, creating more than just a film, but an experience. Economics and logistics kept this from happening, and only 60 years later did a new attempt at this vision appear. There is so much more that did not make it, beause of money, lack of story, politics or more, and most of the parts rightfully finally get their day in the sun (some of the work should stay buried, but that's few and far between). A fascinating look at "the rest of the story."

Over the years, Disney has given us 40 major animated features, but along the way, there are those that we never have seen. The art that always seems to instill ideas, the creations that are considered not creative enough, or those that were cut for various reasons. Here, Charles Solomon has pretty much ventured into the greatest journey of his life: The Disney Archives!!(Imy career in animation hoped to one day lead me to these hallowed halls). Here, he poured over hundreds or thousnads of drawings and much more, finding out everything from animated short ideas, to feature length movies. Solomon unearthed such concepts as "The Emperor's nightingale (showing wonderful pastel and watercolor prints), to shorts from Hans Christian Andersen (some art that was mentioned but not shown was the inspiration for the "Fantasia 2000" segment of "The Steadfast Tin Soldier"). There are even countless Mickey, Goofy and Donald shorts that were not made (such as one with Goofy called "How to Be a Cowboy"). In the realm of feature films, there are two incredible stories. The first centers around an idea Walt Disney had to join with another studio to make a telling of Hans Christien Andersen's life story, with interstitials from animation to live-action and back again. An unknown artist did FANTASTIC(it deserves caps) watercolor conceptuals, bu the project fell apart soon afterwards. The second story focuses ona joint venture between Walt and oil painter Salvador Dali. The numerous concepts were made and a short 8 second film reel was developed before it was shelved. There was even the story of the rooster "Chanticleer," which was probably in pre-production on and off since after World War II up til the time of "The Jungle Book." Tons and tons of artwork were made, but a story consensus could never be reached, and the project was never again to see the light of day. The greatest chapter to me is one that deals with the numerous planned segments that were to follow on the possible success of "Fantasia." However, "Fantasia" never came about (not until 60 years later), and over the years, countless ideas were tried, from baby ballets, to even bringing back the pegasus characters from the "Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony" segment. There's even soem information on the "Clair De Lune" segment that was cut before the final release (it was 100% completed too!). I would hope that Disney woudl rerelease this book. It has shown me a lot in what went in to many ideas for the animators, and it is also an infallable reference to me.

If you're like me, everytime you see the newest Disney picture, you can't help but wonder, "What are they working on now?" Well, this book might answer some of that longing (at least you'll know what they're -not- working on). Although it only spans the years when Walt himself was alive, we are shown enough of the Disney might-have-beens to fill our dreams for a while. To be honest, I didn't read most of the text (so many books; so little time), but that didn't keep me from thoroughly enjoying the book, since more than 2/3 is pictures anyway. The captions are well-written and informative--probably for people like me who don't read the text so that we can get the main points anyway. It's really fascinating to see how ideas are developed and why they get scrapped even though the artwork is so terrific. A chapter on wartime Disney was very entertaining--seeing what Disney did to balance the desire to make a political statement with their particular brand of family entertainment. I recommend this book to anyone interested in art styles and the development of animation or films of any kind.

This gloriously illustrated book is a must for anyone who loves animation, especially Disney animation. The wealth of projects that were never produced is almost as rich as those that were. I especially love the illustrations from the "Ride of the Valkyries" segment that was not included in "Fantasia," and the characters from an unproduced "Chanticleer." The text is also full of interesting information. Get it and enjoy.

I was lucky enough to find a copy of this out-of-print book and I am really glad that I did. This book is packed with drawings created by Disney artists that were working on projects that were never put into production. Along with the drawings are the stories of the projects and in most cases, the reason why they were never completed.

I was especially interested in the material that was considered for the original Fantasia. I recently saw Fantasia 2000 and during this feature they talked about some ideas that were considered and discarded for Fantasia 2000. I found it particularly interesting to see that some material originally considered for Fantasia was actually used for Fantasia 2000 and other material considered for Fantasia was also considered for Fantasia 2000, but still not used.

I recommend this book to anyone (who is lucky enough to find a copy) who is interested in Disney animation and some of the material that might have come from the studio that never made the grade.

The only improvement that could be made is the coupons in the back of the book could have expiration dates a little later in the following year. I purchased this book in January of 2000 for a trip in Febuary and the coupons touted as saving up to $1000 expired in December of 1999. Other than that the book is very eazy to understand and will be very useful in our upcoming trip.

We used this book on our trip and saved *much* more than the cost of the book by using the coupons inside.

This is the best guide I have come across for Walt Disney World and the Orlando area. I had purchased several different books in 1999 when we took our first trip. I am purchasing this book again for our upcoming trip. Each park and it's attractions are covered in detail with helpful Power Trip info that helps make the most of your time. In addtion there are several other Orlando attractions that are covered in this book with detail covering Universal's parks and Sea World.

The book also reviews many hotels including Disney's, critiquing each in detail. Includes pricing and some of the ameneties, tips on the best times to travel to Orlando in relation to crowds, weather, and how to negotiate the best packages and pricing.

The candidness of the author and reviewers of the parks contained within this book are remarkable and really helped us plan our trip using our limited time to the best of our advantage.

I highly recommend this book as one to use to plan your Orlando vacation.

I think this book is great for fun family vacations. I have used it myself. My family had the best time. We knew where everything was and how to find it. This guide is easy to read and gives great directions. It shows maps great detailed maps of anywhere you want to go. Buy this book. Your family and you will have the best time!

We used this book on our vacation and saved *much* more than the cost of the book by using the great coupons inside.

I love this book. It has ideas for REAL families. Sometimes you flip through books and magazines that have decorating and organizing projects for some fictional family that must have way too much money, way too much time, and kids who don't behave like real kids. This is a very down-to-earth, realistic book of projects that are doable, affordable, and work for real people.

That being said, I really wish this book was in regular paperback or hardcover, not spiralbound. I hate that I have to worry about the pages tearing out. I expect to have this book a long time and I don't look forward to when the pages will inevitably start to come off the spirals. Please, FamilyFun, make the bindings of your books more practical!

I received this book for Christmas and I've already used it three times. My two year old son loves that he can be a "big boy" and do things all on his own (get his own snack, put his toys back in the right boxes, etc.). We're heading out today to get some more supplies today!

I wanted to see the projects in this book before I bought it. Unfortunately, no book stores had it in stock. So I decided to buy it anyways. I'm so glad I did. It has lots of projects, how-to's and just loads of information. I think to myself, why didn't I think of that idea. It's really going to help me and my family get organized and ideas for redecorating!

I purchased this book when we bought our first home. I have made many of the projects to fit our home and decorating style. The projects are easy, fun, and EXTREMELY useful!! Some of the ideas I have used with my 7 and 5 year old relatives as crafts that serve a decorative and practical purpose - they love to use what they made. Even my husband likes this book!

This is a great compilation of the projects that are in the Family Fun magazines. From outdoor fun to creative decorating for kid's rooms. I bought this for my wife as a present and she loves it and my 2 year old son packs it around with him constantly.

How to Draw Disney's Mulan was a fun look into the art of animation. Foster gives a detailed lokk at both the story and drawing techniques. Very enjoyable

Just like one girl could make the difference to China's future, some little details made this book excellent. Since I used paints to re-create the characters, the color palattes were great to help me mix the right colors. But the single distinguishing feature that made this "how to draw" book better than the others I've used were the little notations scattered on everypage that highlighted the keys to each characters. My Mushu was ready to jump off the page and fight the Huns!

This book was truly amazing...but instead of giving directions on how to draw the character...it gives you pictures on each step on the character...it also gives you advice when you draw a certian part of the character...so instead of a classic 1 2 3 step book...you actully learn how to draw the characters...this nothing like I've seen before...It may seem hard, but it really isn't...when I was done...my drawing really looked like Mulan. I reccomeng this book if you love Mulan and want to have fun drawing.

This book is a wonderful how-to book for drawers. It shows how they made the characters from simple shapes and goes into detail about costumes and more. I aspire to become a Disney animator someday and this book helped improve my drawing techniques. It is surely worth your buying, be you a kid or an adult. -S.K.S.

Wow!!! I was amazed by the quality of the drawings I made from this book. I'm 13, and Mulan is my favorite movie. I tried drawing the characters from memory, but I'm not much of an artist, and they turned out badly. Then I ordered this book (from Amazon.com, I might add) and suddenly the cast started leaping out of my pencil! A great how-to with two pages devoted to each of the main characters, this book has pencil sketches and full-color illustrations to help you along. It is even crammed with hints from the animators!How to Draw Disney's Mulan can guide even the most amateurish artist from choosing the right materials to painting the background, with wonderful results. GET THIS BOOK TODAY!