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Who Was . . . ? Series
Who Was Chuck Jones?
"What's Up, Doc?" Find out in this lively biography of the most celebrated director in animation history!
Charles Martin "Chuck" Jones was an American animator, cartoon artist, screenwriter, producer, and director of many classic animated cartoon shorts. They starred Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote, Pepé Le Pew, Porky Pig and a slew of other Warner Brothers characters. When he moved on to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, his work includes a series of Tom and Jerry shorts as well as the television adaptation of Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
Jones was nominated for eight Academy Awards, won three, and received an honorary Oscar for his work in the animation industry. His career spanned almost seventy years, during which he made over 250 animated films, including What's Opera, Doc? , a classic Bugs Bunny/Elmer Fudd short that is considered to be one of the greatest cartoons of all time.
Charles Martin "Chuck" Jones was an American animator, cartoon artist, screenwriter, producer, and director of many classic animated cartoon shorts. They starred Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote, Pepé Le Pew, Porky Pig and a slew of other Warner Brothers characters. When he moved on to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, his work includes a series of Tom and Jerry shorts as well as the television adaptation of Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
Jones was nominated for eight Academy Awards, won three, and received an honorary Oscar for his work in the animation industry. His career spanned almost seventy years, during which he made over 250 animated films, including What's Opera, Doc? , a classic Bugs Bunny/Elmer Fudd short that is considered to be one of the greatest cartoons of all time.
112 pages, Paperback
Published December 5, 2017
25 people are currently reading
277 people want to read
About the author
Jim Gigliotti
155 books25 followersJim Gigliotti is a freelance writer who lives in Southern California with his wife and two children. A former editor at the National Football League, he has written more than two dozen books, mostly for young readers.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
August 29, 2021
This is a children's history book about the man who invented the Roadrunner and Coyote from Looney Tunes. He did a lot more than that in his life and this was an interesting, but fun read...
January 27, 2018
Looney Tunes were a big part of my Saturday morning routine growing up. Through this book, it’s nice to know a little bit of background on one of the men who brought a lot of laughter and smiles to kids and adults through Merrie Melodies and Warner Bros. Studios.
January 18, 2020
The Who Was books are amazing! They are so informative and give great detail about the subject. I chose Who Was Chuck Jones for my first biography because kids love cartoons and Chuck Jones created and directed cartoons. Kids love Who Was books because they are a fun way to learn about important people in our history.
January 11, 2018
I read it because I like Looney Toons and Chuck Jones created them and many of the characters.
November 17, 2021
I recently watched The White Seal, an animated adaptation of a Rudyard Kipling story that Chuck Jones created in the 1970s that I remember fondly from my childhood. Sparking my interest in Jones, I checked the local library database, and this was the only biography that appeared. I’ve read a few of these Who Was… biographies for kids and found them worthwhile. They give a quick overview, and some interesting takeaways.
On this one, I found it a bit too light for what I was looking for. There is no mention of The White Seal, and it’s unclear whether Jones created Bugs Bunny—I think not. His role was primarily as a director. It also states that an animator named Ub Iwerks created Mickey Mouse (not Walt Disney), which I found surprising. I looked it up as this book doesn’t elaborate.
Per Wikipedia, while working for Disney, Iwerks created Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and animated his first cartoon, after which the character was redesigned. (It doesn’t say by who or how.) When Disney lost the rights to Oswald, he had Iwerks, who still worked for him, come up with some character ideas. But Disney drew the original sketch for Mickey. He then had Iwerks refine it. Mickey is inspired by Oswald, originally created by Iwerks, so I suppose it’s arguable that Iwerks, not Disney, created him, though it seems more like a collaboration. All of this is too complicated for the scope of a book like this, but the style of clear and direct statements could be misleading.
It points to a key factor that is unexplored in the book that in animation, people work collaboratively in teams, and there isn’t one person who creates and controls a specific character like in a comic strip. It’s there subtly in context—Jones didn’t create Daffy Duck either, but did give him and Bugs the personalities that made them iconic. He did create Pepe Le Pew, the Road Runner, and Wile E. Coyote, the latter inspired by Mark Twain’s description of coyotes in Roughing It. But it seems a lot of other people were part of bringing them to life on screen.
Chuck Jones did write a memoir which I’m interested in reading. For a biography for kids, I thought this was solid. It flows well, even with one page sidebars on famous people who are mentioned in context, like Charlie Chaplin, and a two-page spread explaining the basics of how the animation process works. The series has a set formula, concluding with a brief timeline of highlights from the authors life beside a timeline of key events in world history for context.
On this one, I found it a bit too light for what I was looking for. There is no mention of The White Seal, and it’s unclear whether Jones created Bugs Bunny—I think not. His role was primarily as a director. It also states that an animator named Ub Iwerks created Mickey Mouse (not Walt Disney), which I found surprising. I looked it up as this book doesn’t elaborate.
Per Wikipedia, while working for Disney, Iwerks created Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and animated his first cartoon, after which the character was redesigned. (It doesn’t say by who or how.) When Disney lost the rights to Oswald, he had Iwerks, who still worked for him, come up with some character ideas. But Disney drew the original sketch for Mickey. He then had Iwerks refine it. Mickey is inspired by Oswald, originally created by Iwerks, so I suppose it’s arguable that Iwerks, not Disney, created him, though it seems more like a collaboration. All of this is too complicated for the scope of a book like this, but the style of clear and direct statements could be misleading.
It points to a key factor that is unexplored in the book that in animation, people work collaboratively in teams, and there isn’t one person who creates and controls a specific character like in a comic strip. It’s there subtly in context—Jones didn’t create Daffy Duck either, but did give him and Bugs the personalities that made them iconic. He did create Pepe Le Pew, the Road Runner, and Wile E. Coyote, the latter inspired by Mark Twain’s description of coyotes in Roughing It. But it seems a lot of other people were part of bringing them to life on screen.
Chuck Jones did write a memoir which I’m interested in reading. For a biography for kids, I thought this was solid. It flows well, even with one page sidebars on famous people who are mentioned in context, like Charlie Chaplin, and a two-page spread explaining the basics of how the animation process works. The series has a set formula, concluding with a brief timeline of highlights from the authors life beside a timeline of key events in world history for context.
February 10, 2023
Chuck Jones is the creator of the loony toons cartoon and worked and Waner. Bros productions and created Daffy duck, Pepe la pew, and Bugs Bunny. this is a book based on his life on how he became a cartoonist and came up with loony toons, something that inspired him was Mark Twain his friend Chouinard hired him to make faces so he could make money after his boss fired him named "Iwerks."
The thing I like about this is that people are inspired to keep working on drawing, and I can relate to this because people say my drawing looks good. I'd give this 4 and recommend d to people who love to draw.
The thing I like about this is that people are inspired to keep working on drawing, and I can relate to this because people say my drawing looks good. I'd give this 4 and recommend d to people who love to draw.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 17, 2021
Wry interesting. I never thought about the creators of cartoons. Chuck Jones is behind many of our best lived characters like Bugs Bunny, Road runner, Donald Duck and more.
So many dreams realized by a boy who just loved to draw. Made me want to watch Saturday Morning cartoons all over again.
So many dreams realized by a boy who just loved to draw. Made me want to watch Saturday Morning cartoons all over again.
January 21, 2018
Wonderfully age-appropriate detailed story of a legend in animation.
January 29, 2018
it was fine all of the who was's are short and if you are reading them in your head only take 30-45 minutes
January 31, 2018
i liked it.
January 15, 2019
Another interesting bio from "Who was?" series. I didn't know him before reading this book. Liked learning about him.
July 23, 2019
I remember watching Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote!
December 19, 2020
I found this book inspiring and informative! I knew he was involved in animation but I never realized the caliber of his accomplishments until I read this book.
April 22, 2021
This was a fun read. I knew of some of his achievements prior to reading the book but learned quite a bit more about his life.
June 9, 2021
I liked it, it was a good book.
September 18, 2021
Very informative youth books.
June 17, 2022
Written for children, a nice, simple overview. Check out Chuck Amuck for Chuck’s own reflection and memories…
December 20, 2022
Makes you want to learn more...
This is a very nice introduction to the life and achievements of one of the all-time greatest cartoonists and animators of our time.
This is a very nice introduction to the life and achievements of one of the all-time greatest cartoonists and animators of our time.
January 1, 2023
My favorite part was when he was making Looney Toons, every short and every character. I have no least favorite parts.
January 9, 2023
Very interesting. Didn’t know much about Chuck Jones other than he created Looney Toons.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews