I would like to thank Tim Ray Hodges, the previous owner of Walt Disney’s Little Man of Disneyland, for providing me with the means to review this quirky and odd look at Disneyland’s initial construction.
With that said, did you know that the orange groves of Anaheim were once populated by leprechauns? Mickey, Donald, and Goofy somehow forgot to ask this dwindling population for the right to tear down their houses and homes in order to build the many wonders of the Magic Kingdom. If this were true, which I’m sure it is, they could have at least covered it up a little better, by maybe not publishing a children’s story about the leprechaun culling of 1955. This fact angers leprechaun Patrick Begorra, who eventually allows the animated trio to continue with the construction of Disneyland if he can reside in a home of his choosing within the park. Who would have thought leprechauns to be such pushovers? The book concludes with challenging readers to locate Patrick’s home on their next visit. For those of you thinking this plot synopsis is fabricated in anyway, believe me, sadly and awesomely it is not.
The weird nature of the story itself is a major selling point, especially for collectors who like children’s books that are a little too strange and messed up for their intended readers. For pure Disneyland fans the book has some great illustrations of the park’s construction, from mainstreet and the castle, to New Orleans Square and the Jungle Cruise. If you spot this Golden Book nestled in a stack at your local used bookstore, take my advice and pick it up, you wont be disappointed.
