Blackberry Surprise (Walt Disney's Winnie the Pooh and his Friends)

Blackberry Surprise (Walt Disney's Winnie the Pooh and his Friends) based on stories by A. A. Milne, illustrated by Atelfer Philippe Harchy

This is a short derivative Winnie the Pooh book. It is always a bit suspicious when a book is credited to an author that died decades before.

The Princess and the Frog: A Surprise Guest

The Princess and the Frog: A Surprise Guest by Natalie Amanda Leece, illustrated by Studio IBOIX and Walt Sturrock

Book is a spin off from a movie based on a book based on a fairy tale. Just about nothing here is related to the original tale. Instead, it is mostly a conflict between a jazz musician alligator and a dog. It is quite bad.

Cinderella: A Royal Friend

Cinderella: A Royal Friend by Lisa Ann Marsoli, illustrated by Disney Storybook Art Team

Cinderella helps work with orphans. One girl accidentally ends up in a dressmaker area because everyone else thinks she belongs. She takes advantage of it at first, but later repents and still gets a dress in the end.

Mulan: Khan to the Rescue

Mulan: Khan to the Rescue by Calliope Glass, illustrated by Disney Storybook Art Team

Mulan's horse leads her to the apple tree where Mulan helps rescue grandma. 

Aladdin: The Desert Race

Aladdin: The Desert Race by Catherine Hapka, illustrated by Disney Storybook Art Team

Jasmine has a fast horse, but it will only go for her. The ruler wants Aladin to race instead. Aladdin gets genie to be the "horse". Jasmine races in disguise. Aladdin and Jasmine both beat the "bad guy". However, Aladin is disqualified. There are bits of humor, in this predictable knock off.

Frozen Big Golden Book

Frozen Big Golden Book by Bill Scollon, illustrated by Disny Storybook Artists

This is a fairly good telling of the Frozen movie. It actually has a real story rather than the garbage that is in most of the Disney movie adaptations.

Santa's Toy Shop

Santa's Toy Shop (Disney) (Little Golden Book) by Al Dempster, illustrated by Walt Disney Studios

Santa is very busy all year and never gets a chance to play with all the toys. Mrs. Claus gives him the idea to play with the plan to play with toys at the final house he delivers to. It ends with the hook that he may choose to play at any kids house. It is a very simple story that is drawn out a bit longer than it needs to.

Peter Pan

Peter Pan by Disney Enterprises, Inc.

This is a small hardcover book credited to "Disney Enterprises" with no visible author and a $1 price on the back. I was not expecting much from it. On that scale, it did exceed expectations. It tells the story of Peter Pan. He fights Captain Hook (who ends up in a the mouth of a Crocodile at the end.) It is not bad, but it isn't good either.

Forever Young: A Memoir

Forever Young: A Memoir by Hayley Mills

Hayley Mills came to fame as a child actress for Disney. Her father was a British actor and she was cast in a small role in one of his movies. Disney saw this and wanted to cast her in Pollyanna. This involved a contract and moving to America. She had a positive experience with Disney and became quite famous with other movies like Parent Trap. Her money was placed in a trust fund for her to access when she was 21. However, by the time she was old enough to access it, she discovered that the tax authorities claimed almost all of it. She launched a large lawsuit, with many appeals, but ultimate failed. She did more "serious" acting as she got older. She went on a date with George Harrison, and later married a man that was her parent's age. The memoir pretty much ends with her in her 20s. That is how we remember her, even though she is nearly 80 now. There are also discussions of her mother's problem with alcoholism and some of the other challenges of growing up in Hollywood. It is also interesting that her career had a very different turn than the actress that got cast as Lolita. For better or worse, actors get associated with their roles. She also felt glad her fame was not as obsessive as that of the Beatles. She feels that having parents in the business was helpful to her experience.

The Rescuers

The Rescuers by Walt Disney Company (based on Rescuers and Miss Bianca by Margery Sharp)

The rescuers are mice that go on a mission to save a human girl. The girl has been kidnapped by a some diamond thieves who use her because her small size enables her to go into the mine. The thieves find the big diamond and try to sneak it out in the girl's teddy bear. However, she trips, and the mice and girl end up with it and they get away. There are some fun parts like a "bird" airline. The story works as a whole, but there seem to be some jumps of logic in the details. (Why does the thief hide it in a stuffed animal? And why did it rely on a single trip for the case to be solved?)

Tangled: Rapunzel's Story

Tangled: Rapunzel's Story by Tennant Redbank, illustrated by Disney Storybook Art Team

Rapunzel is locked away with a witch who uses her hair to preserve her life. A thief comes in and she wants to escape. they have an adventure, but the witch tries to get her back. She falls for the thief and discovers that she is a princess. It is the regular story told in a disney way.

Beauty and the Beast: Belle and the Castle Puppy

Beauty and the Beast: Belle and the Castle Puppy by Barbara Bazaldua, illustrated by Studio IBOIX,Marco Colletti,Elena Naggi

Belle gets a puppy. The ottoman is jealous and does some bad stuff, getting the puppy blamed. The puppies try to fight off wolves. Belle comes in time to wave some fire and get the wolves away. Now Beast respects the dogs and lets them stay. It has dogs, so it will attract kids, but it is not much of story. Would Belle really have an experience like this with Beast still in beast form?

Enchanted Tales: Follow Your Dreams

Enchanted Tales: Follow Your Dreams adapted by Andrea Posner-Sanchez

Belle gets in trouble using the magic wand. She finally gives the excess cows away and all is good. In the second part, Aurora does something with a horse. The kids kept pushing away this book because they said they didn't like it. Then they said it was good. It isn't good. The stories are based on DVD stories, but seem to be missing some parts of the story.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: A Big Surprise

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: A Big Surprise by Melissa Lagonegro, illustrated by Artful Doodlers (Originally published as Snow White's Secret)

Snow White decides to help out the dwarfs by secretly cleaning their house and making them food. They are grateful. They assume each other did it, but don't suspect the recently married princess. It is a simple Disney princess story.

Numbers Are Everywhere: Sophia the First

Numbers Are Everywhere by Thea Feldmann, illustrated by Character Building Studio and Disney Storybook Art Team

This is a phonics book that counts from one to four. It is only for kids that really like Sophia the First.

The Case of Missing Sparkle-izer

The Case of Missing Sparkle-izer by Bill Scollon (Author), Loter, inc. (Illustrator)

This book shows little icons for some words to make it "easy to read". However, these icons are mostly for the characters that are hard to tell apart. (I haven't even seen some in other books.) The book also seems too long for the story. The sparkleizer is missing. They need to find it. They end up discovering that the dog took it. It is fairly generic and too long.

Disney Princess Little Golden Book Favorites (Disney Princess)

Disney Princess Little Golden Book Favorites (Disney Princess) by Michael Teitelbaun,Sue DiCicco,Teddy Slater,Ric Gonzalez,Ron Dias,Karen Kreider,Darrell Baker

This collection has three books:

The Little Mermaid

Beauty and the Beast

Aladdin

The stories seemed very familiar - probably because we have these adaptations of Disney stories in other collections. It is a long read.

Sleeping Beauty: Aurora and the Helpful Dragon

Sleeping Beauty: Aurora and the Helpful Dragon by Barbara Bazaldua, Studio IBOIX and Gabriella Matta

They find a small dragon. The dragon tries to be like other pets, but keeps getting into trouble by breathing fire. At night, there is big storm and some others can't find their way back. The dragon climbs to the top of the tower and breaths fire, helping them to find their way back home. The dragon was able to be helpful by using its abilities. There is a lot of formula here.

A Berry Brave Troop (Disney-Pixar's A Bug's Life)

A Berry Brave Troop (Disney-Pixar's A Bug's Life) by P. Kevin Strader, Illustrated by Kenny Yamada, Charles Landholm and Yakovetic

Adapted from book published in 1998 by Advance Publishers. A boy bug takes a girl scout troop out camping. Some grasshoppers come to the area and kidnap the pet aphid. They attack the grasshoppers and get home. It is a very moralistically confusing story.

The Little Mermaid: A Special Song

The Little Mermaid: A Special Song by Lisa Ann Marsoli and Disney Storybook Art Team

A mermaid has a great voice, but is playing cymbals instead of singing. Ariel takes her to do explorations and other things that she was scared of. Later Ariel loses her voice before the big performance and this mermaid has to perform. It is a very tite version of modern "overcome fears" values.