Last month we checked out a dozen books that are releasing this year. Today, we’re checking out a baker’s dozen more to be or have been published that, altogether, make 25 books to keep an eye on in 2025! Of course, this list is not exhaustive and there are many more books being released throughout the year that are absolutely worth your attention. But for now let’s check out…

Published January 23, 2025 – Walt Disney’s Forgotten Australia: From Mickey’s Kangaroo to Outback At Ya! by Derham Groves and published by Palgrave Macmillan.

“This book delves into the fascinating and often overlooked history of Walt Disney’s influence in Australia, tracing the cultural impact of iconic characters like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck from their inception in 1928 to the end of the Vietnam War. The author uncovers how Disney became intertwined with Australian popular culture, reflecting significant technological advancements and global events such as the introduction of radio and television, the Cold War, and more. The chapters investigate a range of topics, including Disney’s dual role as a symbol of American culture and a mirror to Australian society. Readers will discover how Disney characters were perceived in Australia during pivotal moments in history, offering both entertainment and commentary on contemporary issues. The author provides expert analysis of Disney’s complex legacy, examining both its positive contributions to Australian media and controversial aspects. This book invites readers to consider critical questions about cultural exchange and influence, making it a must-read for media and cultural history scholars looking to understand the intricate relationship between Disney and Australian culture, and indeed how global media can shape national identity and societal values. Whether you are a researcher in cultural studies or simply an enthusiast interested in Disney’s global impact, this book provides a comprehensive look at an essential chapter in Australia’s cultural narrative.”

Published January 28, 2025 – ANIMATION ME: An illustrated memoir with Pencils, Pixels & Arnie by Tony White and published by Drawassic.

“British Academy Award-winning animator, author and teacher, Tony White, has studied and worked with some of the greatest names in the history of traditional hand-drawn 2D animation. He initially apprenticed with three-times Oscar winner, Richard Williams, and studied with some of the legends from the Walt Disney and Warner Brothers golden era. His own animation books are adopted by numerous colleges around the world, and he currently runs his own online ‘2D ACADEMY’ school of animation. In ‘ANIMATION ME’ Tony tells his fascinating & often unique life story – from art school & early career struggles, to becoming a recognized master animator in his own right. This is a perfect book for students, professionals, or anyone interested in how a great tradition was once practiced. 120 B&W illustrations included!”

February 4, 2025 – Chinese Animation: Multiplicities in Motion by Daisy Yan Du with John A. Crespi, and Yiman Wang and published by Harvard University Asia Center.

“Chinese Animation: Multiplicities in Motion is the first edited volume that explores the multiple histories, geographies, industries, technologies, media, and transmedialities of Chinese animation, from early animated special effects to socialist classics, from computer-generated-imagery (CGI) blockbusters to edgy independent films, and from stop-motion to virtual reality.

Its fifteen chapters, grouped under the five themes of junctures, gender, identities, digitality, and practices, span a century of animation since the 1920s across mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, and the diasporic world. Derived from the 2021 Inaugural Conference of the Association for Chinese Animation Studies (ACAS), this volume as a whole defines Chinese animation studies as a new field of research emerging from the peripheries of modern Chinese literature and film studies on the one hand, and from the margins of Western and Japanese animation studies on the other. Incorporating diverse academic approaches and perspectives, this groundbreaking book is an indispensable guide for a rapidly growing community of scholars, students, animators, fans, and general readers interested in Chinese and world animation.”

March 4, 2025 – After Disney: Toil, Trouble, and the Transformation of America’s Favorite Media Company by Neil O’Brien and published by Post Hill Press.

“The untold succession struggle at Walt Disney Productions following the death of its founder, and the generational transformation which led to the birth of the modern multibillion-dollar animation industry.

Walt Disney left behind big dreams when he died in 1966. Perhaps none was greater than the hope that his son-in-law, Ron Miller, would someday run his studio. Under Miller’s leadership, Disney expanded into new frontiers: global theme parks, computer animation, cable television, home video, and video games. Despite these innovations, Ron struggled to expand the Disney brand beyond its midcentury image of wholesome family entertainment, even as times and tastes evolved. Tensions between Miller and Walt’s nephew, Roy E. Disney, threatened to destroy the company, leading Wall Street “Gordon Gekko” types to come after Mickey Mouse.

At the same time, the aging Animation Department—once the core of Walt’s business—was one memo away from shutting down forever. Rather, thanks to the radical efforts of Walt’s veterans to recruit and nurture young talent, it was revived by this sudden influx of artists who would go on to revolutionize the film industry. Additionally, this new generation would prove over time that animation was so much more than just kids’ stuff—it was a multibillion dollar industry.

This is the upstairs-downstairs story of the executives and animators who clashed and collaborated to keep America’s most storied company alive during the most uncertain period in its one hundred year history.”

“March 27, 2025 – Intimate Animation by Laura-Beth Cowley and Ben Mitchell and published by CRC Press.

In recent years, there has been a surge in animated projects that have pushed boundaries, broken taboos, prompted discussions and wowed festival and online audiences alike through compelling storytelling and unmatched artistry.

Join Ben Mitchell and Laura-Beth Cowley of Skwigly Online Animation Magazine and the Intimate Animation podcast as they take you on a tour of the landscape of contemporary animated films that deal with themes of love, intimacy, relationships, anatomy and sexuality – and the incredible artists behind them. Through research and firsthand interviews with trailblazers such as Signe Baumane, Andreas Hykade, Ruth Lingford, Michaela Pavlatova, Bill Plympton and Joanna Quinn, as well as newer voices including Sawako Kabuki, Renata Gąsiorowska, Will Anderson, Sara Gunnarsdottir, Michaela Mihalyi, David Stumpf, Levi Stoops, Lori Malepart-Traversy, Anna Ginsburg, Veljko Popović, Renee Zhan and more, Intimate Animation looks deeply at the role animation has played in presenting elaborate and complex concepts relating to love and sexuality.

Exploring the role animation has played in sex education, self-discovery, the body, lust and love, as well as how the medium can be used to visually represent emotions, feelings and concepts not easily described in words nor depicted through live-action filmmaking, Intimate Animation is the ideal book for professional animators, filmmakers, enthusiasts, researchers, academic and students of animation and film studies interested in the themes of love and sexuality.”

April 1, 2025 – Animation in Mexico, 2006 to 2022: Box Office, Web Shorts and Streaming by David S. Dalton and published by State University of New York Press.

“Examines contemporary animation in Mexico―one of the most commercially successful and most understudied genres of the national cinema.

Answering a call to view Mexican film through the lens of commercial cinema, Animation in Mexico, 2006 to 2022 is the first book-length study of the country’s animated cinema in the twenty-first century. As such, the volume sheds light on one of the country’s most strategically important and lucrative genres, subjecting it to sustained intellectual analysis for the first time. Building on earlier film history, David S. Dalton identifies two major periods, during which the focus shifted from success at the national box office to internationalization and streaming. In eight original essays, contributors use an array of theoretical and disciplinary approaches to interrogate how this popular genre interfaces with Mexican politics and society more broadly, from Huevocartoon to Coco and beyond. The book will appeal to students, scholars, and fans of Mexican film by situating animation within broader currents in the field and the industry.”

April 24, 2025 – Animation in Austria: An Almost Invisible Art by Florian Schmidlechner and published by CRC Press.

“This book provides a comprehensive account of Austrian animation history, as well as an analysis of the current state of the industry in competition with American and cheaper international products in the face of dwindling budgets.

The book outlines the history of Austrian animated film from the actual beginnings at the time of the First World War. It looks at the reconstruction of the animation industry during the 1950s and 60s and covers experimental animation from the 1970s onwards. The final part of the book explores modern Austrian animation and looks ahead to the future of animation production within the country.

This book will be of great interest to academics, students, and professionals working and researching in the field of animation.”

April 29, 2025 – Louis M. Glackens: Pure Imagination by Ariella Wolens and published by SKIRA.

“Rediscovering an overlooked illustrator and pioneer of film animation.

The work of American artist Louis M. Glackens (1866–1933) is often relegated to an aside within the narrative of his younger brother, artist William J. Glackens (1870–1938). Unlike his brother, Louis Glackens chose to give his interpretation of reality through fairy tales, in which the absurdity of life was captured through economy of line and an abundance of wit. For over 20 years, Louis Glackens worked as an illustrator for the satirical weekly Puck, the first widely circulated humor magazine in the United States. Following his tenure there, Glackens became one of the first cartoon animators in the burgeoning film industry of the 1910s, creating characters for production houses such as Bray, Pathé and Sullivan Studios. Until now, his vast contribution to the history of cartoons has remained largely unexplored. This monograph reevaluates Louis Glackens’ cultural contributions through a wealth of illustrations.”

June 12, 2025 – Surrealism and Animation: Transnational Connections, 1920 edited by Abigail Susik and Krzysztof Fijalkowski and published by Bloomsbury Visual Arts.

“From Betty Boop to Donald Duck, Tex Avery to Walt Disney, collage animation to Japanese anime, and Claymation to 3D animation, Surrealism and Animation is the first book to identify correspondences between the art of animation and the International Surrealist Movement.

Sharing a deep commitment to a reanimation of everyday life, surrealist artists and animators sought a marvellous, living form of art. Cartoons and trick films by pioneers such as Georges Méliès were influential for Salvador Dalí and André Breton, among others; many other surrealists and their associates such as Max Ernst, Joseph Cornell, Hans Richter, Len Lye, Roland Topor, Jan Švankmajer, and Lawrence Jordan turned to animated cinema and theories of animacy to express their surrealist visions.

Surrealism and Animation is the first book devoted to surrealism’s vivid engagement with the history, theory, and medium of animation on a transnational basis. Featuring seventeen essays by leading and emerging scholars, as well as interviews with contemporary artists Penny Slinger and Jacolby Satterwhite, this collection investigates a shimmering range of topics on animated surrealism, including black humour, queer subjectivities, ecofeminism, Black surrealisms, and more.”

July 15, 2025 – The Happiest Place on Earth: The Incredible Story of Walt Disney’s Disneyland by Don Hahn and Christopher Merritt and published by Disney Editions.

“On the 70th anniversary of Disneyland, a look back at the theme park that started it all—an illustrated history of Walt’s first theme park! The ultimate coffee table book for Disney collectors and armchair travelers alike, brimming with more than 750 images, previously unpublished documents, and concept drawings.

Disneyland is the only park Walt walked through and tinkered with during the last 11 years of his life. For Disneyland’s 70th anniversary, Disney fans will get an in-depth visual look at the planning and creation of those first 11 years of Walt Disney’s original theme park. This treasure trove of Disney history will take fans through the pre-production and realization process Walt used during the earliest days of his nascent theme park.”

Editor’s Note: D23 (The Disney Reward Club) Gold Members can also pick up an alternative cover for this title for this year’s Premium Item choice.

August 21, 2025 – Rediscovered Classics of Japanese Animation: The Adaptation of Children’s Novels into the World Masterpiece Theater Series by Maria Chiara Oltolini and published by Bloomsbury Academic.

“Rediscovered Classics of Japanese Animation is the first academic work to examine World Masterpiece Theater (Sekai Meisaku Gekijô, 1969-2009), which popularized the practice of adapting foreign children’s books into long-running animated series and laid the groundwork for powerhouses like Studio Ghibli.

World Masterpiece Theater (Sekai Meisaku Gekijô, 1969-2009) is a TV staple created by the Japanese studio Nippon Animation, which popularized the practice of adapting foreign children’s books into long-running animated series. Once generally dismissed by critics, the series is now frequently investigated as a key early work of legendary animators Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki. In the first book-length examination of the series, Maria Chiara Oltolini analyzes cultural significance of World Masterpiece Theater, and the ways in which the series pioneered the importance of children’s fiction for Japanese animation studios and laid the groundwork for powerhouses like Studio Ghibli.

Adapting a novel for animation also means decoding (and re-coding) socio-cultural patterns embedded in a narrative. World Masterpiece Theater stands as a unique example of this linguistic, medial, and cultural hybridisation. Popular children’s classics such as Little Women, Peter Pan, and Anne of Green Gables became the starting point of a full-fledged negotiation process in which Japanese animators retold a whole range of narratives that have one basic formula in common: archetypal stories with an educational purpose. In particular, the series played a role in shaping the pop culture image of a young girl (shôjo).

Examining the series through the lens of animation studies as well as adaptation studies, Oltolini sheds new light on this long-neglected staple of Japanese animation history.”

October 7, 2025 – Worlds to Conquer: The Art & Making of Walt Disney’s Fantasia by J.B. Kaufman and published by Weldon Owen.

“The third in the Disney “Making of” series is the story of Disney’s most ambitious, monumental work. The concept: the world’s greatest music, presented according to the highest acoustic standard, and illustrated by the brilliance of the Disney studio at the height of its powers. The journey of how Fantasia came to be, beset with almost insurmountable challenges, is one of the most breathtaking in movie history.

In 1940, Walt Disney released his third feature film: Fantasia, consisting of eight animated segments set to music by Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra. The film was groundbreaking: it was the first to be presented with multiple audio channels in a process called Fantasound, the precursor to surround sound.

Apart from its technical achievements, Fantasia broadened the scope of Disney’s appeal. Adults had always comprised a large percentage of Disney’s audience, but Fantasia—while suitable for children—was designed specifically to appeal to audiences with a mature appreciation of the arts.

To celebrate The Walt Disney Company’s 100th Anniversary, author J.B. Kaufman presents the definitive history of the making of Fantasia, from source material to hundreds of photographs documenting the film’s production. In Worlds to Conquer, become a part of the wild ride that was the making of a Disney classic.”

November 8, 2025 – Cheer and Loathing: Scattered Ramblings on Indie Animation by Chris Robinson and published by CRC Press.

“One of the most acclaimed writers in animation returns with this informal sequel to his previous books on indie animation, Unsung Heroes of Animation, Animators Unearthed, and Mad Eyed Misfits.

In this collection, award-winning writer, Chris Robinson, looks at a wide range of films, topics (sex, censorship, cultural politics, programming, felt, gifs, VR, dogs) and filmmakers (Masaaki Yuasa, Xi Chen, Gil Alkabetz, Jacques Drouin, Bordo, Rosto, Joaquín Cociña, Cristóbal León, George Schwizgebel, Lizzy Hobbs, Andreas Hykade, Leah Shore, and many others).

Eclectic, brief, fiery, and opinionated, Robinson’s gonzo-tinged writing will amuse, confuse, annoy, and maybe even inspire while, hopefully introducing readers to the wonders of independently-produced animation.”

BONUS: Sylvain Chomet’s Distinctive Animation: From The Triplets of Belleville to The Illusionist by Maria Katsaridou and released by Bloomsbury Academic in 2023 as an eBook was released this month in physical forms. The eBook was released under a Creative Commons license and can be downloaded for free and legally from Bloomsbury Collections.

Additionally, the upcoming title, Undead: (Inter)(In)Animation, Feminisms, and the Art of War by Karen Redrobe, will also be released as a free eBook when it launches in paperback in May.

NEXT MONTH: More Book News!