Engaging biography of a pioneer in animation, energetic digital illustrations enhance the text. Authors' note but no other backmatter or suggested resources.

Mary Blair saw things just a little bit brighter and bolder than others did. While others seemed to see and think in only black and white, her world was colorful and vibrant. Disney’s It’s a Small World attraction showcases her modern and vivid style. This short biography tells her story and is a nice primer for colors beyond the basics.

Mary Blair was an artist who worked on and off for Disney (starting in the 1940s). Her fascination with and use of color was wild and vibrant and many of her supervisors were reluctant to use her designs and considered them too bright and modern. Still, some of her ideas were accepted and after leaving Disney, she was a successful commercial artist, set designer, and picture book illustrator. She rejoined Disney once again to contribute to the Small World project. This picture book biography cap...

This book is about the struggle and triumph of an amazing artist named Mary Blair, who worked for Walt Disney. The Walt Disney executives didn't recognize her talents at first, but later she went on to be one of Walt Disney's most celebrated artists. Her ability to see and duplicate colors was phenomenal. If your child is artistic, this book can be life-changing once they're old enough to reflect on it. A "Pocket Full of Colors" was an inspiration to me. I loved every bit of this picture book. I...

Featured in a grandma reads session.You might not think you know who Mary Blair is or how she moved Disney's "style" forward from the Snow White/Mickey art of the 20's-30's to the Cinderella/AliceInWonderland bright colors, simple shapes and suggested forms of the 50's-60's work. BUT if you've ever been to Disneyland in California, through these many years you've been able to get a wonderful tour through her head and heart when you are in "It's A Small World" ride. . . she designed it and had co...

A picture book biography about Mary Blair? I'm in! This book is like a Walt Disney dream come true. Mary Blair was an artistic genius that children should know about. It is about time! The illustrations are as vibrant, creative and magical as Mary Blair herself. I could not be more thrilled about Pocket Full of Colors!!!

To this day the lure is still strong. Walking past the section of the store displaying the boxes of Crayola crayons without slowing down is not an option. You find yourself suddenly stopping to comprehend all the various shades and number of hues in each box.You remember when getting the coveted box of sixty-four was the best day ever. You and your neighborhood pals would gather on a blanket underneath the big maple tree in your front yard to color and draw all day long. Pocket Full of Colors: T...

Meh. I liked the emphasis on how much sexism Mary Blair faced in her career, and there's one spread in particular that just explodes with liveliness and color. But overall, this book's storytelling is stilted and its art is conventional and static compared to Mary Blair's own work. You can really see it in the spreads that depict Blair's actual paintings; she had so much wit and humor that doesn't really come thru in the referential Blair-lite illustrations. I especially was bummed at the way th...

Pocket Full of Colors is a picture book biography of Disney artist Mary Blair. The through line of Mary’s story is her fascination with color. As a child, Mary “collected” colors; throughout her life, she traveled the world in search of more colors. When first hired by Walt Disney, Mary’s fanciful color schemes were rejected by the “Nine Old Men,” Disney’s primary animators. But Pocket Full of Colors is a persistence story, and Mary ends up in charge of her own animation. Mary Blair is the reaso...

This was one of the most exuberant, if not colorful, picture book biographies for children that I have read. I really liked how the author helps increase the vocabulary of children with the many names of many different colors. The illustrations, appropriately, are almost Disney-esque; and also appropriately, very colorful and lively.

"Under a wide blue sky,on a red dirt road,in a lemon-yellow house,there lived a little girl named Mary.Other children collected marbles or dolls,but Mary collected colorsof every shade and every hue."I didn’t realize how color had been limited by animators/designers/advertisers in the USA until the early to mid 20th century. Mary Blair’s work was groundbreaking. Blair was also a strong woman who refused to play by the rules and didn’t let “the rules” stop her from advancing her dreams, developin...

While other children collected things like marbles or dolls, Mary collected colors. Pocket Full of Colors is about Mary Blair, one of the first women to be hired at Walt Disney Studios. The story was about an imaginable and creative woman working with unimaginable and uncreative men where everything had to be their way or no way at all.When working with the men became unbearable she left her job and became an illustrator of children books and creating sets for plays and television.It was Walt...

Love it. Great art style. Colorful of course. Lovely. This is a delightful picture book biography of one of the most iconic Disney artist's of her period--and one who young readers may not yet know. Using colors as a framing device this book follows the life of Mary Blair from her early artistic aspirations and her career as a Disney artists working on movies including Alice in Wonderland and Cinderellas as well as her later work designing the It's a Small World Ride in Disney World.

Colorful, large-scale picture book about pioneer female animator Mary Blair. Her penchant for color didn't really fly at her first Disney job, so she left and pursued it in other venues (such as Little Golden Books). I love this aspect of the story. Later in her own career, Walt Disney asked her to design the It's A Small World ride. Happily, some of her colorful concept art is now being appreciated in new picture book editions of Alice in Wonderland and Cinderella.

Absolutely fascinating biography of the woman behind It's a Small World's iconic, vibrant look, as well as other early Disney films. My only wish was that there was some back matter, including a resource list, because I want to read more about this extraordinary woman! Love the illustrations as well, so gorgeous and captivating too!

Brigette Barrager's illustrations are absolutely stunning--- full of color, unique but with just the right nod to the Golden Age of Disney artists. I found myself wanting to know even more about Mary Blair, which is why I'm giving this four stars instead of five.

Mary Blair loved color. She collected colors of every shade and hue. She went to art school where she met and married Lee. She went to work for Disney but the men in charge thought her art was too wild and didn't follow the rules. Walt was impressed by her and took her to tour South America. After this trip, she worked on the Three Caballeros and her sketches made it on to the big screen. However, most of her ideas for other films were rejected. She left Disney Studios and found other work. Even...

I think I first came across the name Mary Blair watching DVD special features on older Disney films. I would be astounded by her art usually used during concept and storyboarding stages rather than in the final products which was a shame because they were beautiful. And I've seen some of the stories being rereleased using her illustrations. This wonderful picture book will be great for artists because of all the colors involved. And it's so fascinating how talent that was originally and generall...

Mary Blair loved colors from when she was a little girl and had adventures that showed her new colors. She became an artist and had ideas of using vivid colors in movies but was rejected. Eventually, she found her place. As is fitting for a picture book biography of someone who lived bright colors, Brigette Barrager uses a vivid eye-catching color palette in her illustrations and put names to the colors that Blair found, loved, and used.

This was such an interesting book!!! I did not know this about Disney or Mary Blair. First of all it is interesting that they hired a woman for that type of position at a time when men were it. I didn't know that it was such a fight to get color into animation at that time. Or that Walt Disney took her over seas to study color and culture for a project. What an amazing life and an amazing story.