The Sword in the Stone

by Walt Disney Company

In good shape

Genres: Childrens, Picture Books, Fantasy, Fiction, Classics

40 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Note: The decision was made to consolidate all Disney publications under the name Walt Disney Company. This profile is for Walt Disney, the characters he created, and the company he founded. Any questions, please ask in the Librarian's Group.

Walter Elias “Walt” Disney (December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966) was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist. Disney is famous for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. As the co-founder (with his brother Roy O. Disney) of Walt Disney Productions, Disney became one of the best-known motion picture producers in the world. The corporation he co-founded, now known as The Walt Disney Company, today has annual revenues of approximately U.S. $35 billion.

Disney is particularly noted for being a film producer and a popular showman, as well as an innovator in animation and theme park design. He and his staff created some of the world's most famous fictional characters including Mickey Mouse, a character for which Disney himself was the original voice. He has been awarded four honorary Academy Awards and has won twenty-two competitive Academy Awards out of fifty-nine nominations, including a record four in one year, giving him more awards and nominations than any other individual. He also won seven Emmy Awards. He is the namesake for Disneyland and Walt Disney World Resort theme parks in the United States, as well as the international resorts Tokyo Disney, Disneyland Paris, and Disneyland Hong Kong.

Disney died of lung cancer in Burbank, California, on December 15, 1966. The following year, construction began on Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. His brother Roy Disney inaugurated the Magic Kingdom on October 1, 1971.

The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) (commonly referred to as Disney) is the largest media and entertainment conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by brothers Walt Disney and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, the company was reincorporated as Walt Disney Productions in 1929. Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into live-action film production, television, and travel. Taking on its current name in 1986, The Walt Disney Company expanded its existing operations and also started divisions focused upon theatre, radio, publishing, and online media. In addition, it has created new divisions of the company in order to market more mature content than it typically associates with its flagship family-oriented brands.

The company is best known for the products of its film studio, the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, today one of the largest and best-known studios in Hollywood. Disney also owns and operates the ABC broadcast television network; cable television networks such as Disney Channel, ESPN, and ABC Family; publishing, merchandising, and theatre divisions; and owns and licenses 11 theme parks around the world. On January 23, 2006, it was announced that Disney would purchase Pixar in an all-stock transaction worth $7.4 billion. The deal was finalized on May 5. On December 31, 2009, Disney Company acquired the Marvel Entertainment, Inc. for $4.24 billion. The company has been a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average since May 6, 1991. An early and well-known cartoon creation of the company, Mickey Mouse, is the official mascot of The Walt Disney Company.

--from Wikipedia

Reviews

[Canette Arille · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is nice and children will like it. Its classic Disney fairytale

[Manny · Rating 3 out of 5]

I must have seen this movie a dozen times - it was one of my children's favorites - but there's an Easter egg I missed until I was told about it yesterday on the TV Tropes Merlin Sickness page.

As people who have read the original book will know, Merlin lives his life backwards, remembering the future and only having vague ideas about the past. It is thus completely logical that he has tears in his eyes just after he meets Wart. From his point of view, he's never going to see him again.

How could I have walked past that?

[Martein Joaquim · Rating 5 out of 5]

King Arthur the Excalibur Might be I have watch this movie but in human form

[Rita Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book and it brings back memories of the film!

So exciting and adventurous! It's every child's dream to do something an adult can't and we follow the magical experience of Merlin who achieves this by pulling out the sparkling stone. There are lots of pictures and chants which immediately grabs the children's attention and makes them want to be a charismatic leader like the boy they read about. This book is funny, sad and full of life!

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

Classic Disney version of the story of Arthur. My youngest loved this book. Personally... it was only ok... bit of an insipid version of the famous tale with too many created characters and situations that just seem out of place.

[Liam Johnstone]

All right. It was a Disney bookification from the movie. Kinda missed the (simplistic) points that the movie was trying to make during Arthur's education. But it's hard to put as much detail in a book as in a movie. No, wait... um

[Chasen Meirovits · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Walt Disney's rendition of The Sword in the Stone, the book takes place in England and tells a story about a young boy named Arthur who was nothing more than an average boy who did as he was told and with the help of a magic wizard, ended up becoming the King of England. Arthur. Known mainly by the name Wart, he lived in a stone castle with his father Sir Ector and his big, lazy older brother named Kay who basically slept all day in the grass. Wart would have to work all day in the castle, scrubbing pans, cleaning armor, and sweeping the stables while his older brother did nothing. One day, a magical wizard named Merlin appeared out of nowhere and told Sir Ector and Kay that he was there to teach Wart important lessons. At first, they laughed at him but then Merlin showed them his power by making a snow storm inside the castle and they allowed for him to teach Wart. After multiple lessons that had Wart transformed into animals such as fish, birds, and squirrels teaching him certain lessons about what life may bring, Wart took what he had learned and one winter day did something that changed his life forever. In need of a king, a tournament was held to see who would be crowned. Wart realized he had forgotten to bring Kay's sword so he ran back to the inn where they stayed but it was closed. Luckily, he noticed a sword that was stuck in a steel anvil in a churchyard, so without even knowing what he had just done puled it out and gave it to his father for Kay to use. After telling everybody how he got it, nobody believed him and they tried pulling the sword out themselves and failed. At last Wart knew what the reasons behind the lessons were for, to prepare him to become king.
The book was very well put together, even though this was Disney's version of the story and not the original. The artistic style was cartoon art and the colors used most were green, red, and blue. The green represented the nature of grass and the outdoors, the red represented passion and energy that Wart showed as he unintentionally became a hero of the town, and the blue also somewhat resembled the season of winter for a portion of the story. No specific lines and shapes were used in the story. The images were single page for the most part but there were some instances where full bleed double page spreads were used. On some pages, the text was within the images where white spaces were used, but mostly were either on the top or bottom of the page. The text and the images really supported each other which was nice because it made the story easy to follow. I would say this book is geared towards 2nd graders based on the reading level and comprehension of the story. Overall, it was a fun and unique story to read!

[kleinerpanda_ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Das Buch erzählt die Geschichte des Films "Die Hexe und der Zauberer". Merlin unterrichtet den Jungen Floh. Besonders gefallen hat mir die Eule Archimedes.

Die meisten Bilder sind in schwarz-weiß gehalten. Wenige Seiten zeigen bunte Bilder, wobei die Farbe an den Stellen keinen zusätzlichen Mehrwert hatte, finde ich. Der Text ist teils mühsam zu lesen, da sehr viel wörtliche Rede verwendet wird.

[Marilyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great story & illustrations. Alissa loved Madam Mim and Wart changing into a fish and a bird.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bedtime fall asleep stories.

[KaitandMaddie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m not sure they know much about Merlin and King Arthur.

[Recensioni in tre parole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fedele. Policromo. Leggendario.

[Dharia Scarab · Rating 3 out of 5]

My love of reading started when i was young, and it gives me immense pleasure to provide books to Spread the Word Nevada, an organization that passes them on to children in the community. They are a terrific organization supporting an important cause. If your local I encourage you to check them out. For those living further a field, look in your own community, their may already be a similar program in place. And if not, you can always help start one.

http://spreadthewordnevada.org/

Myself, I go out on the weekends and
shop thrift store and bulk book lots to rescue books and donate them. Sometimes I'll find a book I remember reading when I was young and will read it again before passing it on.

I don't rate these books using my normal scale, instead I give most of them three stars. This isn't a Criticism of the book, simply my way of rating them as good for children.

[Andrew Ives · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Italian version) At almost 100 pages, even with only a few lines on each, this seemed rather a long book for a kid's attention span. As we all know, King Arthur pulls the titular sword from the stone which was placed there by Merlin. This much is fine, but in the Disney version, there is a whole load of padding where the young Arthur is turned into a fish, a squirrel, a bird and then there's a pointless magic battle between Merlin and a generic evil witch, before the story gets back on track again. While this may be of mild interest to a young kid, it's not very faithful to the (British) legend and really tested my patience. The illustrations are fine albeit with matt printing. 3.25/5

[Chase Vombaur · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an absolute blast to read, it brings back memories of the old film I use to watch as a child. This book actually inspired me to re watch the cartoon from my childhood. It was a really fun experience. The book itself is so exciting and adventurous with a new danger at every turn! There are lots of pictures and chants which immediately grabs the child's attention, it makes them want to act like the character in the book . This book is truly full of life!

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVE THIS BOOK! The fun tale of the under dog climbing above and becoming a king is a thrilling adventure. I love the use of magic in the story. The pictures really tell the story from a great view. You see him as a fish and other creatures. Children would love this book because of the sense of adventure, magic, and the happy ending. The pictures were my favorite part of this story!

[Cws]

OS-DIS

[Eddie Glenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grew up on this one.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A children's edition of course, but when I was a kid I loved this book and the Disney movie, both great iterations of a classic story.

[Amy Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

My little brother (he's nearly 30) and I still talk about this book & the movie. The life lessons hold true to this day.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

The heaven ordered this boy was a king Aurthur..Long live the king

[Sandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh the metaphors!!

[Maura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved these little Walt Disney Company books when I was growing up. A very condensed story version from the movie, but hits all the important points. I love reading these to my niece.

[Mikana · Rating 5 out of 5]

One my favourite stories growing up, which I enjoyed just as much the 2nd time round with my own loved ones.

[Day Man · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun!

[Kenneth Flores · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!

[Heather McC]

My first introduction to Camelot lore, a young Arthur proves himself to be a noble hero through perseverance and a willingness to go for greatness.