Bill Peet

You may not know his name, but certainly you know one or two of his books. If nothing else you'll be familiar with his artwork and animations done for the likes of Walt Disney.

I've wanted to give him some focused attention for some time, the more familiar I became of his work. For the longest time, the only title I ever associated him with was The Wump World, which I was introduced to when I was in law school. (Odd story, that.) I started paying more attention to the name when I started looking into books that Disney films were based on and I realized that he had quite a connection to the Classic Disney empire! A remarkable man. A remarkable talent! I simply cannot and will not do him justice in this post, but at the very least I can introduce him to you!

From what I can tell, Bill Peet wrote and illustrated 36 stories for children and participated in the making of at least 12 full length animated feature films as well as several short films. I think the movie that most shows off his particular style is, without a doubt, 101 Dalmatians. I am no longer able to watch it without appreciating the artistry and comparing it to his children's books. Peet created the entire storyboard for 101 Dalmatians as well as for The Sword in the Stone.

His stories for children are frequently fantastical, often told in rhyme, and can easily be identified on sight as belonging to him. He had a very unique style.

Peet began drawing very early on in life. He particularly enjoyed drawing animals which I suppose made him a perfect match for Walt who loved presenting animals to children through film. (That said, they were apparently both brilliantly creative with strong opinions which frequently caused clashes between them.)

Peet wasn't much of an scholar (failing all of his classes except for phys ed, apparently) and so he pursued art courses through Arsenal Technical High School in Indiana. It was there that he met his wife, Margaret. Eventually he received scholarships to go to John Herron Art Institute, also in Indiana, and graduated from there. Post-graduation he heard that Disney was hiring and sent them some samples of his work. Peet made it through a one-month audition process (no pressure there!) and was hired on. He worked on earlier Disney films, such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and also worked on war films during World War II. He left the Disney company after quarreling with Walt over The Jungle Book. After that he began writing and illustrating children's books. (We have been in the process of collecting his children's books for the majority of this year and I hope to share some of our finds in a post tomorrow.)

Peet said once that he learned to tell children's stories simply by doing so - to his own children first and foremost. He honed his skills on his own family and I think that just makes him pretty wonderful right there! (Not to mention the fact that his stories are very entertaining and appealing to adults as well.) I rather consider him a lesser known Suess who should absolutely be more well-known than he currently is!

Peet lived to be 87 years old, leaving behind an illustrated autobiography and good, meaty stories to delight the masses. (You can read Janet from Across the Page's review of Bill Peet's autobiography HERE.)

Here is a list of his book titles, as collected from Wikipedia:

1. The Ant and the Elephant
2. Big Bad Bruce
3. Bill Peet: An Autobiography
4. Buford the Little Bighorn
5. The Caboose Who Got Loose
6. Capyboppy
7. Chester the Worldly Pig
8. Cock-a-doodle Dudley
9. Countdown to Christmas
10. Cowardly Clyde
11. Cyrus the Unsinkable Sea Serpent
12. Eli
13. Ella
14. Eleanor the Elephant
15. Farewell to Shady Glade
16. Fly Homer Fly
17. The Gnats of Knotty Pine
18. Goliath II
19. How Droofus the Dragon Lost His Head
20. Hubert's Hair-Raising Adventure
21. Huge Harold
22. Jennifer and Josephine
23. Jethro and Joel Were a Troll
24. Kermit the Hermit
25. The Kweeks of Kookatumdee
26. The Luckiest One of All
27. Merle the High Flying Squirrel
28. No Such Things
29. Pamela Camel
30. The Pinkish, Purplish, Bluish Egg
31. Randy's Dandy Lions
32. Smokey
33. The Spooky Tail of Prewitt Peacock
34. The Whingdingdilly
35. The Wump World
36. Zella, Zack, and Zodiac

The more we read of Peet, the more we like him. The more we read, the more entertaining the films on which he worked. If you haven't yet made the introduction, waste no more time! Get thee to a library and snatch up every title you can find! I can't help but think you'll be delighted. I know we are and will continue to be for many years to come.