In 1976, a young Tim Burton submitted a draft of his illustrated kids’ book The Giant Zlig to Walt Disney Publications. Disney didn’t accept it, but it sent an encouraging letter back to the future Batman and Beetlejuice director. Here they are from Letters of Note:
Burton’s Submission
Dear Sirs,
I am submitting this book in hopes that you might consider publishing it. The book has been layed out in rough form, and I would be glad to make any changes that you feel would be nessecary. I would hope to hear from you either way. Thankyou.
Sincerely
Tim Burton
Disney’s Response
February 19, 1976
Dear Tim:
Here are some brief impressions of your book, The Giant Zlig.
STORY: The story is simple enough for a young audience (age 4-6), cute, and shows a grasp of the language much better than I would expect from one of today’s high school students, despite occasional lapses in grammar and spelling. It may, however, be too derivative of the Seuss works to be marketable—I just don’t know. But I definitely enjoyed reading it.
ART: Considering that you suffer from a lack of the proper tools and materials, the art is very good. The characters are charming and imaginative, and have sufficient variety to sustain interest. Your layout is also good—it shows good variety in point-of-view. Consequently, I not only enjoyed reading about the Giant Zlig, but I got a chuckle watching him, too.
I hope my comments please you. Thanks for the opportunity to read The Giant Zlig; keep up the good work, and good luck.
Very truly yours,
(Signed, ‘Jeanette’)
T. Jeanette Kroger
Editor
Walt Disney Productions
