Top Ten Tuesday: My Top Ten Recommendations for Disney Lovers!

"Top Ten Tuesday" is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by The Broke and the Bookish!

Alright, alright... so it's a little late in the day for a Top Ten Tuesday. What can I say? I've been busy. We are leaving for a Disney vacation in Anaheim in just a few days, after all!

And with that being said, after seeing the theme for today's list - "Top Ten Recommendations for..." - you can probably guess what sprang right to the forefront of my mind. So, from hefty biographical tomes to lush art prints to middle grade faves, here are some of my favorite Disney reads! 


1. Best Biography: Walt Disney: the Triumph of the American Imagination, Neal Gabler
This one isn't for the weak-willed, that's for sure. This wide-reaching and comprehensive exploration of the icon of animation - from humble origins to towering tycoon, to movie flops and theme park successes - is as thick as a brick and twice as dense. Still, it offers one of the most detailed and nuanced looks at the interior life behind Disney's carefully crafted image.

2. Best Art Book: The Art of the Disney Princess, Disney Book Group
I'm not only a downright Disnerd, I'm a fanatical devotee of that exclusive group known as the Disney Princesses. While some of the images within this tome are a little more breath-taking than others, one of the most important elements to me is the year it was produced: 2009, right after the premiere of one of my favorite Disney Princess movies of all time, The Princess and the Frog!

3. Best Business Book: Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces that Stand in the Way of True Inspiration, Ed Catmull and Amy Wallace
Okay, okay, this isn't so much of a personal favorite, as a genre one. While it was a little too dry and goal-and-teamwork-and-managerial-motivation heavy for this casual college grad, it is definitely a favorite within the realm of business management, especially for companies seeking creative problem solving. Even my mom - who works in hospital management - had to read this book!

4. Best Movie Book: Tale as Old as Time: the Art and Making of Beauty and the Beast, Charles Solomon
It was the first animated film to be nominated for the Best Picture Oscar and served as the basis for creating the Best Animated Feature category, it features some of the most iconic songs of the entire Disney canon, and it spawned not the first Broadway Disney musical adaptation and a gorgeous live-action 2017 remake, but convinced me for half of my childhood that as a brunette social misfit nursing both a love of books and penchant for the color blue, I was pretty much destined to be a Disney Princess. Of course I love this ode to the timeless animated love story!

5. Best Imagineering Book: Walt Disney Imagineering: A Behind the Dreams Look at Making Magic More Real, Disney Book Group
As you can probably tell from the amount of pure adoration oozing out of this list - or just from the fact that this upcoming trip will be my, what? Eleventh, twelfth trip to a Disney theme park - being a Disney Imagineer is pretty much my most insane career aspiration. And nothing makes it feel more attainable than cracking open the cover of this beautiful book!

6. Best Guide Books: The Annual Birnbaum Guides
Now, listen: I have friends that absolutely swear by the Unofficial Guides, which are also right up there with the Birnbaum Guides for best-selling Disney guide books. However, I think their almost aggressive candor can sometimes put a bit of a hamper on the magic: while the Unofficial Guides can give newbies the get-hip-quick info they need, you're dealing with a life-long Disney patron, here. I don't need to know where to find the best and easiest seating for Fantasmic, I need to know where the pickle stands in Fronteirland and Tomorrowland are, and whether there's any new flavors of churros available.

7. Best In-Park Guides #1: the Hidden Mickey Guides
So apparently there's an app for this now - because there's got to be one for everything - but nothing really beats wandering around with a pen and paper, or furiously scanning set pieces while waiting in ride queues, trying to beat your siblings at spotting that elusive three-circled icon. You'd be surprised at how eagle-eyed my sisters are, but to be fair, my mom and dad get real competitive, too!

8. Best In-Park Guides #2: The Imagineering Field Guide to Disneyland, The Imagineers
I don't know how much this particular guide has been updated in recent years, but it offers some of the most unique and detailed perspectives on the construction of the Park in the most concise of packages that you'll find. If you're looking for something to read in line, or while chilling poolside in the mid-afternoon at your hotel, then this might be well worth your time!

9. Best Middle Grade: the Descendants series, Melissa de la Cruz
This one shouldn't surprise you at all, if you saw my "Seventh Bloggoversary" post a few weeks back, where I purchased the most recent installment in this series to share with my siblings. Even as an almost-24-year-old, I'm still a pretty big fan of this campy and vibrant DCOM franchise, and yes, that means reading their middle grade companion novels, too!

10. Best Disney Classic: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
When it comes to the Disney film collection, the source material can get a little lost in the glitter and child-friendliness of it all... then again, no one's asking for a Sleeping Beauty retelling based off of the original fairy tales. However, the book and 1951 movie adventures of Alice are so similar in tone, it's one of my favorite plane-ride reads for the trip down to Cali.

Do you have any favorite Disney reads you don't see listed here? What do you recommend I take with me on my trip this week? Let me know, in the comments below!