June 9, 2010

A Fun Read for Vacation

I think we’ve read every book by Bill Peet. We love his drawings, and his stories are clever and funny. While on vacation this week, I read his autobiography. It’s not a typical autobiography because he illustrates every page about his life.

Before focusing completely on his children’s books, Bill worked 27 years as an illustrator for Disney, working on feature films like Pinnochio, Dumbo, Jungle Book, 101 Dalmations, Sword and the Stone, and more. Most interesting is the behind-the-scenes glimpse of a chain-smoking, hard-driving Walt Disney. Walt was apparently a tyrant of a man to work for, and those who worked for him either loved him or despised him depending on how Walt reacted to their work. Walt was meticulous about every detail of the story. One day, after Walt had been especially unreasonable, Peet decided to quit and focus on his books, what he loved doing the most.

Even as a kid Bill’s favorite hobby was drawing. He particularly loved drawing animals and trains. He actually flunked his first year of high school because he couldn’t focus on his studies, including writing. All he wanted to do was draw. Had he chosen any other career, he probably would have been miserable and unsuccessful, but when he pursued his passion, he not only became a better drawer, but he naturally developed his skills of storytelling and writing because they were in the context of what interested him.

Find what you love, then read and learn everything you can about that subject. Life’s too short to not love what you do.