Oswald the Lucky Rabbit

I found this to be a good read and a chance to learn a bit more about pre-Mickey Mouse Walt Disney and about the Oswald shorts. If you're interested in learning more about Oswald and his animated shorts, this is the book to get.

The first fifth of the book is the history aspect, covering Walt Disney as he moved away from his earlier work on the Alice shorts through the creation and eventual loss of Oswald, to the reacquisition of Oswald and the original 26 Disney-helmed shorts by the Disney company, and the search for and restoration of the shorts that have been found so far. The majority of the book then shifts to detailed synopsis of the shorts and features concept art and production stills of the shorts.

I think the history section is well written and gives a great sense of context about Walt Disney, Ub Iwerks, and the other creators at the time, the difficulties Disney faced as a contract creator, and how Oswald managed to influence the creation of Mickey Mouse. The synopsis are very useful for those who haven't or can't see the shorts that have been found, and definitely a must read for the shorts that are still missing. The quality of the images related to the shorts is also very good, and nice to see for those interested in the production of early Disney animation (I enjoyed seeing the story sheets, which are precursors to the more flexible storyboards filmmakers use now).