By As much as I love the amazing animation of all the new Disney movies, nothing beats old school Disney illustrations from the classics we all know and love.
While it’s always fun checking out the latest toys in the Disney Store and Toys R Us, as a collector and hardcore Disney fan, it’s important not to forget about your local thrift store or car boot/yard sale in your hunt for those treasures to add to your collection. One day while I was browsing at my local car boot sale, I spotted this Walt Disney Parade Fun, Fact, Fantasy, and Fiction book set from 1970, and while it may not be in the most pristine condition, I just had to have this set. Who could honestly resist old hardcover books with vintage Disney illustrations and that old book smell?
This set consists of four books: Fun Favourites, Adventures in Fact, Fantasy on Parade, and Great Moments in Fiction.
The books come in a red cardboard sleeve with a parade of Disney characters on the front. It may be difficult to find a sleeve in good condition now but I don’t think a damaged sleeve takes anything away from the set, if anything it just shows how much Disney has been loved throughout the years.
Fun Favourites
The title of this book sums up the book quite nicely as it is a collection of fun favourite short stories with illustrations. This book contains 25 fun short stories including:
- The Jungle Book
- The Seven Dwarfs Find a House
- Mickey Mouse’s Picnic
- Uncle Scrooge, Lemonade King
- Perri
- Davy Crockett and Mike Fink
- Pigs in Pigs
- Scamp
- The Flying Gauchito
- The Life of Donald Duck
- The Runaway Lamb
- Thumper
- Chip ‘n’ Dale at the Zoo
- The Little Red Hen – A Swinging Fairy Tale
- The Gingerbread Man – A Swinging Fairy Tale
- Chicken Little
- Duck in Boots – A Swinging Fairy Tale
- The Golden Goose – A Swinging Fairy Tale
- Donald Duck, Prize Driver
- The Country Cousin
- Donald Duck, Private Eye
- Lucky Puppy
- The Practical Pig
- The Brave Mice and the Magic Cheese
- The Brave Mice and the Invisible Menace
Adventures in Fact
Now this book is a little more educational as it is a collection of interesting facts. There are twelve sections with twelve interesting topics to learn about. Of course some sections will not have up-to-date information anymore, particularly the science sections, but there some that are simply timeless and interesting such as The History of Disneyland
The twelve sections include:
- Our Friend the Atom – by Heinz Haber
- Ranger Woodlore’s Nature Hikes – The Busy Bee
- The Migration Mystery
- Nature’s Better Built Homes
- It’s Tough to be a Bird
- Fishes of the Tropical Atlantic
- The History of Disneyland
- Sancho the Homing Steer
- Fishes of the Indian and Pacific
- The Art of Animation
- Japan
- Thailand
Fantasy on Parade
This book goes back to the fun and contains a collection of fantasy short stories. This book contains 20 short stories including:
- Pecos Bill
- Paul Bunyan
- Windwagon Smith
- John Henry
- The Reluctant Dragon
- Tales of Zorro
- Mickey and the Beanstalk
- Little Hiawatha
- Through the Picture Frame
- The Story of Timothy’s House
- The Case of the Light-Fingered Fiddler
- The Emperor’s New Clothes
- The Steadfast Tin Soldier
- Further Adventures of Peter Pan
- Rumpelstiltskin
- Lambert the Sheepish Lion
- The Little Match Girl
- The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep
- The Musicians of Bremen
- 20,0000 Leagues Under the Sea
Great Moments in Fiction
This book contains a collection of stories that are adaptations of Disney motion pictures and screenplays. This book contains 8 stories including:
- The Aristocats
- Blackbeard’s Ghost
- Westward Ho the Wagons
- The Love Bug
- The Great Locomotive Chase
- The Happiest Millionaire
- The Ugly Dachshund
- Kidnapped
This Walt Disney Parade book set from 1970 is fantastic as a display piece and is also fantastic for the wonderful stories it contains. These books would look excellent on any bookshelf and would be perfect for the nursery. These books would also be excellent for reading to your little ones for bed time because they would take them back in time into the world of classic Disney and other classic tales. If you would to add these books to your collection, this set can still be easily found on both Amazon and eBay for a very reasonable price. Happy reading!