Title: Walt Disney, Creator of Magical Worlds Glen Cunningham
Author: Charnan Simon Due date: November 20, 2008
Genre: Nonfiction/Biography/Chapter book
Approximate Reading Level: ages 10-11
Cover Image (if available):
Summary: This chapter book tells the story of the life of Walt Disney, and how he came to create such characters as Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy, the amusement park DisneyLand, and such animated features as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Fantasia, and Bambi. Walt Disney was born on December 5, 1901 in Chicago Illinois but lived in Missouri for most of his childhood. He had very early interests in art and was encouraged by his mother and older brother to pursue his talent. Walt eventually started a small company called Laugh-O-Grams but when it went out of business he headed to Hollywood to try again. In 1939, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first full-length animated musical feature, made more money than any other movie in Hollywood. During the next few years, Walt Disney Studios completed other animated classics such as Pinocchio, Fantasia, and Bambi. In 1955, Walt Disney's dream of an amusement park came true as Disneyland Park opened. His worldwide popularity was based upon notions that have come to be almost synonymous with his name: imagination, optimism, creation, and self-made success.
Implications for Teaching: Walk Disney can be presented to students within an introduction to creative writing. Given that many, if not most of children are familiar with different cartoon characters, the teacher can explain to the students that they are going to create an animated cartoon character to write their own story about. They will be told that this animated character can anything they want it to be, e.g., a talking elephant, a happy tree who talks to everyone who walks by, a turtle who can move faster than a car, an so on. As an introduction to this assignment, the teacher asks if anyone has ever heard of Walt Disney, then reminds the students of all the characters he has created or, in part, inspired, some of which they may be familiar with. The teacher then spends a few minutes discussing the biography of Walt Disney while using the chapter titles and actual photos within the book to help tell the story as they flip through.