William Joyce Books In Order

Publication Order of Dinosaur Bob Books

Publication Order of Guardians of Childhood Books

Publication Order of Guardians of Childhood Picture Books

Publication Order of Rolie Polie Olie Books

Publication Order of Toothiana Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Picture Books

Publication Order of Collections

Publication Order of Reading Rainbow Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

William Joyce is a children’s book author from Shreveport. He came to the attention of literary buffs when his animated short film “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore” was the winner of the Academy Award in 2012. Joyce was born in 1957 Shreveport to a family of friendly Southern screwballs. He was born to an eclectic family of actors, artists, geologists, bongo players, opera singers, and photographers and legend had it that he came out of the womb with a pen in his hand. Right from when he was a preschooler, he showed an interest in creative pursuits as he voraciously consumed Maurice Sendak’s works. By the time he was in elementary school, he was making his own drawings. As a fourth-grader, he wrote his first piece a graphic picture book titled “Billy’s Booger” that he entered in a school contest. It told the story of a boy that was struck by a meteorite, which gave him super mathematical powers. His classmates loved the story and it earned him a visit to the headmaster’s office where he was feted. As a high schooler, Joyce worked for the Shreveport’s Byrd High School paper drawing cartoons. Through it all, his parents were very supportive of his artistic endeavors and enrolled him in art classes and ultimately at Southern Methodist University to study art.

Things turned sour for William Joyce when he enrolled in art classes at university as his teachers wanted to make him paint in an unfamiliar style. He quit art classes and majored in film and by 1981, he graduated with a bachelor’s in fine art in film and painting. His varied experiences in film and painting would be handy in his storytelling career as he worked in computer-generated imagery, picture books, movies, television, and chapter books. After graduating from college, he spent time in New York City but went back home to Shreveport where he got a job as an artist in residence at Centenary College. In 1994, he was awarded the contract to redecorate New York City’s Saks Fifth Avenue Christmas windows. In addition to his artistic works in architecture, he has also been the lead designer for many covers published by “The New Yorker.” He had grown his reputation throughout the 1980s and 1990s with the publication of several titles in “The Guardians,” “Guardians of Childhood,” “Toothiana,” “Dinosaur Bob,” and the “Rolie Polie Olie” series of graphic children’s picture books. The 1985 title “George Shrinks” would later be adapted into a cartoon on PBS that aired between 2000 and 2004. “Rolie Polie Olie” arguably his most popular work was made into a Disney distributed television series. In 1995, he was invited to work on “Toy Story” a collaboration between Pixar and Disney that was the first of its kind to be made purely with computer-generated imagery. This opened the doors to more opportunities where he worked in art design for the likes of Disney, Twentieth Century Fox, and Dreamworks.

In 2005, Joyce teamed up with Reel FX and launched the company “Aimesworth Amusements” that is focused on the production of books, video games, and feature films. The company is the producer of the feature films “The Mischevians,” “The Guardians of Childhood” among several others. The first project to be produced by the company was “The Guardians of Childhood” that is inspired by “Man in the Moon” a short film that he directed and the novels by the same name written by Joyce. In 2011 he got into another joint venture with several investors and established “Moonbot Studios” based in Shreveport his hometown. Outside his artistic pursuits, William Joyce is the founder of the Kratrinarita Gras Foundation, an organization established to raise money to help victims of Hurricanes Rita and Katrina. Joyce currently lives with his son in Shreveport.

William Joyce’s novel “Rolie Polie Olie” is the story of the life and times of a little boy. At the opening of the novel, Rolie wakes up and gets up to his usual routine. The author introduces his pet and family before Polie Olie and his family gets up to do their family chores. It is a fun time for the family as they have always loved working together. In the afternoon the family heads to the playground for all manner of fun, playing games. After a day well spent, and with everyone tired but happy, they finally head to bed. But there is one problem, Oli is full of energy and is not tired at all. Olie still wants to play something that upsets. However, they do not hesitate to send him to his bedroom right away. He has no choice but to head to bed though he misses his father and mother. Just as he is about to go to sleep, his mother and father come into his room. He says he is sorry for his behavior and they tuck him in so that everything can be all right once again. The tale ends with the entire family getting up the morning of the following day.

“Snowie Rolie” the second novel of the “Rolie Polie Olie” series by William Joyce is set in a fantastical land where Olie lives with his sister Zowie. They love snow but it hardly snows in their land and hence they spend their days wishing for snow. Their prayers are answered when the sun’s light bulb goes out one day and they are inundated with snow, which makes them happy and excited. They waste no time as they are out of the house in no time to build their snowman whom they name “Snowie.” They are having a lot of fun with the snowman until a new light bulb is found and the sun begins to shine brightly once again. Their snowman is in danger of melting and they decide to relocate him to the land of Chillsville where the risk of melting is minimal. It is a story of friendship farewells, friendships remembered, lost, and found.

William Joyce’s “Sleepy Time” Olie opens to Rolie sad that the day that has been full of fun is over. But he can still look forward to his father coming into his bedroom to read him a story and tuck him in. But there is something wrong this night as his father is nowhere to be seen. But then out of nowhere, his father appears and says that he had fallen and knocked his head on the pavement. The accident had taken away his smile that he now cannot unfrown. He immediately goes into his bedroom to lie down while Olie gets up trying to find a solution that will get his father back to normal. Some of the strategies he uses include coming up with some juvenile ideas such as bubbles, a book of jokes, and a hat, the combination of which finally starts to have an effect on his father. He is beginning to feel better that he is using words such as swirlish, smarvelous, and swonderful. At the end of the day, everything and everyone is happy and sleeping including his father and mother, the rocking chair, the house, and the moon.