Monday, June 27, 2011

Bill Peet’s Magical Kingdom

Kevin Coolidge

Another horn here, just a bit more shading there, and can’t forget the smoke. It’s just not a dragon without a wispy tendril of smoke. Done! Is it time yet??? Just a few minutes more and it will be my turn. I hope Capyboppy is there. I haven’t read that one yet. It’s always out, but I can always read Chester the Worldly Pig again…

I grew up in rural Pennsylvania, and my little school didn’t have a library, but we did have weekly visits from the bookmobile. I always looked forward to the little green and white van crammed with books, and one of my favorite authors was Bill Peet.

Bill Peet was a doodling, daydreaming boy. He was born in Grandview, Indiana, a very small town on the banks of the Ohio River. He did all the things a boy in a small town was expected to do. He chased frogs, and jumped in haystacks. He ran through fields, and played in the woods, suffered through class, and dreamed of the future.

Drawing was the perfect indoor hobby during cold Indiana winters, but life was much too serious during the Great Depression to be dreaming of an art career. So Bill signed up for algebra, history, Latin, and physical education, and failed everything but physical education. It was a dreary time for him, until the day he ran into a boy he’d known in grade school. He encouraged Bill to take art classes.

“I got some credits in art,” he said, “and I can hardly draw at all. But you’re really good, Bill. Art would be a breeze for you.”

Bill dropped some academic courses and added some art classes, earned his credits, learned a little math and English, and was awarded a scholarship to the John Herron Art Institute in Indianapolis. His dream of making art a career suddenly seemed more realistic.

Bill loved art school, and won several cash prizes for paintings, but it wasn’t a regular income. One day a friend handed him a brochure from the Walt Disney Studios. They needed artists. Though he wasn’t interested in cartooning, it wasn’t a time to be choosy.

He was given a one month tryout, and even though he was warned about leaving the buttons off of Mickey’s pants, he ended up working on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Bill went on to work on several Disney classics including Pinocchio and Fantasia. He advanced to a full-fledged story man on Cinderella and Alice in Wonderland, and even wrote the screenplay for The Hundred and One Dalmatians.

While still at Disney studios, Bill Peet had his first children’s book published, Hubert’s Hair-Raising Adventure, about a much too proud lion. Soon he had five books in print, and Peet decided that after one last project for Disney, he would make his break and devote all his time to writing and illustrating children’s books. Jungle Book was it.

Kipling’s story with such a wealth of characters to develop, led to many exciting animation possibilities. There was Baloo, the playful bear; Kaa, the sly python; and the scheming Bengal Tiger, Shere Khan. But when it came to select voices for the characters, Walt Disney glowered and fumed and demanded another actor, and Bill Peet finally left Disney studios.

Bill went on to create over thirty children’s books that continue to be valued by teachers, parents, and librarians, because they are loved by children. At last his childhood ambition was realized. These books made reading fun for me, and fostered a love of reading that continues with me today, and my love of books has grown beyond my expectations…

Doodling? Or Daydreaming? Drop me an email at from_my_shelf@yahoo.com and let me know. Miss a past column? Don’t despair! They’re all here http://frommyshelf.blogspot.com Hobo the cat also dreamed of a future beyond his reach. Read about it in “Hobo Finds A Home” about a cat who wanted more…

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