Bill Peet, author of more than 30 children's books and a pioneering Disney animation artist, died on May 11. He was 87.
After training at John Herron Art Institute in his native Indiana and a brief stint at a greeting-card company, Peet was hired at Disney when he was 22. He went on to create such classic characters as Dumbo and Br'er Rabbit, and also played an instrumental role on Fantasia, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. In 1961, Peet wrote the studio's first screenplay, for 101 Dalmatians.
In 1959, Peet published his first children's book, Hubert's Hair-Raising Adventure (with Houghton Mifflin, Peet's longtime publisher), and after leaving Disney over creative differences in 1964 he wrote and illustrated books full-time. Among his books are Chester the Worldly Pig, Zella Zack and Zodiac, Jethro and Joel Were a Troll and Whingdingdilly. His Bill Peet: An Autobiography, published in 1989, was a Caldecott Honor Book. Peet published his final book, Cock-a-Doodle Dudley, in 1990, while battling cancer.
