You may recognize the shiny golden spine, but were you surprised there’s a tome with our favorite heroes from the D&D cartoon?
Join Rediscovered Realms as we explore Dungeons & Dragons: The Cartoon Little Golden Book titled . . .
. . . “The Adventure Begins!”
BTW: Rediscovered Realms covers D&D Animated Series products of the past & present as much as possible - here are some recent issues that fans don’t want to miss:
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Books have always been a huge part of my life. The more I write and make (re-)connections with my past, the more I realize the persistent presence and power of books.
Even as a small child, there were these thin hard-cardboard-covered stories of “Little Golden Books”.
Anyone near to my age will viscerally recognize the backs of these book covers:
Back Covers of Little Golden Books of my childhood era
There were stories from fairy tales, movies, TV shows, kids’ songs, and more.
And they just kept on makin’ them!
The success of these books is astounding. In fact, at the time of the series’ 50th (golden) anniversary back in 1992, there were already 1.5 BILLION sold!
Little Golden Books Origin Story
In 1942 the creators wanted to produce a colorful, more durable and affordable children's book than those being published at that time which sold for $2 - $3 ($38 - $57 in 2024 dollars!)
They decided to publish 12 titles at once. Each staple-bound book would have 42 pages, 28 printed in two-color, and 14 in four-color.
They first discussed a 50-cent price for the books but didn’t want to compete with other 50-cent books already on the market. They calculated if the print run for each title was 50,000 copies instead of 25,000, the books could affordably sell for 25 cents each! - Summarized from Wikipedia
So last year when I saw a Dungeons & Dragons Little Golden Book with Hank, Uni, Diana, Bobby, Presto and Sheila on the cover . . . guess what I did.
It’s definitely a fun cover - more of a cute rendition of our heroes but I like it.
One question though - Where is Eric the Cavalier?! If you’re going to put 5 out of 6 main characters (sorry Uni), then why exclude the 6th?
I was surprised to find out the story itself is a re-telling of one of my favorite episodes from the animated series, “The Night of No Tomorrow”.
Title screen from D&D animated series. 1983 - holy cow, it doesn’t seem like that long ago!
I was expecting a new story, but it makes sense to re-use the battle-tested content already out there. This was an episode that resonated with tons of kids my age all their lives - something they still remember and talk about.
Merlin from the D&D Cartoon episode, “The Night of No Tomorrow”, 1983 - Where is his white “hair”, I wonder, hmmm?
BTW: Little Golden Books are not immune to the high-level Charm spell of Sorceress, Taylor Swift - Her 2023 Golden Book biography became the fastest selling in the series 81-year history - selling more than 1,000,000 copies in just 7 months!
DM: “You look into the heart she forms with her hands and automatically fail your saving throw against Taylor Swift’s Charm spell. You are now a Swiftie . . . forever”
The book started with an abbreviated introduction of the kids getting transported into the world of D&D.
Then some descriptions of who they are with their new equipment/powers.
Then the story unfolds! Here’s a couple pics to show more of the artwork and style:
Nate Lovett did the artwork, and I have to say he did a really fine job! Here’s more about him:
Raised on a “healthy” diet of cartoons, comics, and video games, Central Ohio based Nate Lovett has been drawing since he could first hold a crayon. he’s been working in comics and illustration professionally since 2007, getting his first real start with Xombie: Reanimated from Devil’s Due.
From there, his fun, colorful and animated style has led to working on comics, children’s books, and concept art for Marvel, Image, Action Lab, Nickelodeon, Random House, Viz, and Hasbro, on projects such as Dungeons & Dragons, Marvel Comic Presents, Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur, Paw Patrol, Corn & Peg, Rusty Rivets, G I JOE, Bravest Warriors, Redakai, Monsuno, Hack/Slash and more. Currently he’s hard at work on his own all ages Projects, the Sci Fi adventure Carter Kain & The action Adventure PUNK RAWK NINJA.
Just for fun, and since we ARE in the Year of the Dragon, here are some Little Golden Books from over the years that feature that mythical beast!
Little Golden Books featuring Dragons! (It's probably good they titled that one "Pooh and the Dragon" instead of the other way around! 🙄)
I think this D&D Golden Book did an excellent job of condensing the episode down to just 24 pages. The pace was fast, but it felt loyal to the original, which is something praiseworthy in these days of reboots and re-imaginings.
It was more enjoyable than I dared to expect, and even though I’m (a little bit) older than its target audience, I will still hold on to it and find any excuse to read it to my nephews, grandkids - or any willing strangers I meet.
How about you? Any Little Golden Books that you remember fondly or made a difference in your life? Will you find an excuse to read them (and bring little fantasy & adventure) to the little ones in your world?
Help support Rediscovered Realms in a tastes great but less filling way (and get a personalized story segment that advances the ongoing saga) if you:
Looks like there’s ANOTHER D&D Little Golden Book that just came out last month! Aww, look how cute those classic monsters are!
Slightly stale news, but new to me - Frank Frazetta’s “Dark Kingdom” original art auctioned off a few months back in June of 2023 for $6,000,000!
This was used as the cover for Karl Edward Wagner’s 1976 Kane series novel, “Dark Crusade” before Molly Hatchet put it on their bestselling album, “Flirtin’ With Disaster” in 1979.
Our friend, Linda, from Dungeon Explorers on the Internet Games is starting to auction off rare and wondrous items from her personal collection that you’ll want to keep tabs on.
Linda also maintains a Fantasy blog that posts fascinating old school content. Here’s a great post she did recently about several TSR boxed set CD (audio) adventures!
This book will include new material from the D&D archives, including early concept art, unreleased correspondence between creators - Gygax & Arneson, game materials, and more! (Pre-orders open now)
Let’s keep D&D’s 50th Anniversary celebration going strong with some Gelatinous Cube love (What I’m labelling, “G3💚”). Statues, Giant Dice, Plushies, T-shirts, and Dice Jail. Check them out in this BOLS article.
What does a Brazilian Renault commercial have to do with the Dungeons & Dragon cartoon’s missing final episode? You’ll just have to watch to find out. (You’re welcome.)
And as “The Adventure Begins!”, so it must also come to an end.
I hope you had fun digging the gold with me out of the treasure trove that is Little Golden Books. 📚
“I would not, if I could, give up the memory of the joy I have had in books for any advantage that could be offered in other pursuits or occupations. Books have been to me what gold is to the miser, what new fields are to the explorer.” - Margaret Elizabeth Sangster
Great summation, JD! It's always useful to be reminded that the kind of breakout popularity that D&D is enjoying now is not entirely without precedent.
I like that the 80s cartoon still gets a lot of love. Makes me want to play an acrobat!
Great summation, JD! It's always useful to be reminded that the kind of breakout popularity that D&D is enjoying now is not entirely without precedent.