When G1 was younger, I tried to follow the Charlotte Mason philosophy for selecting storybooks. It worked well with him because G1 naturally gravitated to books so I always felt it was the way to go until I had G2. With G2, I was just so happy for him to pick up a book that I didn’t really care that it was a series I had formerly believed to be “poor literature” and unfit for the eyes of my boys. By that time, my thinking ran along the lines of “better to have him reading than to have him spurn books altogether because I insisted he read only the books I deemed fit”. Despite conceding this defeat, I continued to harbour hope for introducing the classics to G2…
One day, G1 brought home this book from the library:
It was an instant hit with G2. He loved it so much, G1 brought home another book from the series:
G2 loved it, too. Then we borrowed Donald Gulliver’s Travels:
It, too, was another hit. So I started searching for the series…
The Disney Literature Classic Books are a series of graphic novels – in other words, comic books – covering 25 famous stories:
- Ducktargnan and the Three Muskateers – Inspired by “The Three Muskateers” by Alexandre Dumas
- Donald Duck around the World in 8 Days – Inspired by “Around the World in 80 Days” by Jules Verne
- Daisy Duck in the Wonderful World of Oz – Inspired by “The Wonderful World of the Wizard of Oz” by L. Frank Baum
- Mickey Mouse and the Knights of the Round Table – Inspired by “King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table” (Traditional)
- Duck Quixote – Inspired by “Don Quixote” by Cervantes
- Tales from One Thousand and One Nights – Inspired by “Tales from One Thousand and One Nights” (Traditional)
- Donald Duck and The Count of Monte Cristo – Inspired by “The Count of Monte Carlo” by Alexandre Dumas
- Donald Duck on Treasure Island – Inspired by “Treasure Island” by Robert Louis Stevenson
- The Adventures of Mick Sawyer – Inspired by “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” by Mark Twain
- Uncle Scrooge Journeys to the Centre of the Earth – Inspired by “Journey to the Centre of the Earth” by Jules Verne
- The Missing Candelabra – Inspired by “Les Miserables” by Victor Hugo
- Donald Duck in the Lost World – Inspired by “The Lost World” by Arthur Conan Doyle
- Donald Hamlet, Prince of Dunemark – Inspired by “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare
- A Christmas Quackarol – Inspired by “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens
- The Importance of being Don Earnest – Inspired by “The Importance of being Earnest” by Oscar Wilde
- Othello, the Moor of Duckland and The Taming of the Duck Scoundrel – Inspired by “Othello” and “The Taming of the Shrew” by William Shakespeare
- Donald’s Odyssey – Inspired by “The Odyssey” by Homer
- The Strange Case of Mickey and Mr Mike – Inspired by “The Strange Case of Dr Jeckyll and Mr Hyde” by R.L. Stevenson
- Donald Gullivers Travels – Inspired by “Gullivers Travels” by Jonathon Swift
- Two Quacky Love Stories, Donaldo and Daisetta & Goofy and Cleopatra – Inspired by “Romeo and Juliet” and “Cleopatra” by William Shakespeare
- War and Peace – Inspired by “War and Peace” by Leo Tolstoy
- Elementary, Mr Dear Fethry – Inspired by “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” by Conan Doyle
- Mickeys Tales of Edgar Poe (Part 1) – Inspired by “The Tales of Edgar Allan Poe”
- Mickeys Tales of Edgar Poe (Part 2) – Inspired by “The Tales of Edgar Allan Poe”
- Mickey and The Mayflower Treasure – Inspired by “The Mayflower Adventures”
Let Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy and Pluto take you and your children around the world of Literature. These beautifully illustrated cartoon style childrens literature books introduces children to the world of Literature. Contents include information about the Author and the Story. Disneys Inspiration then tells the story in an exciting a colourful cartoon format.
Unfortunately, these books are not easy to get a hold of. Finding the full collection is even harder. They were available for sale along with The Star (UK version) some years back. I guess we’ll just have to content ourselves by borrowing them from the school library and see if we can switch over to the actual literary classic for bedtime reading…
