Little Toot facts for kids
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| Author | Hardie Gramatky |
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| Illustrator | Hardie Gramatky |
| Cover artist | Hardie Gramatky |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Picture book |
| Published | 1939 |
| Publisher | G. P. Putnam's Sons |
| Media type | Print (hardback) |
| Pages | 93 (unpaginated) |
| OCLC | 180329 |
Little Toot is a popular picture book for children. It was written and illustrated by Hardie Gramatky in 1939. The story is about a small, playful tugboat named Little Toot. He lives in New York Harbor.
Little Toot loves to play more than work. He makes swirly patterns in the water. This often bothers the other busy tugboats. But one day, Little Toot finds himself alone at sea. A big storm is coming. He must then become a hero and save a huge ocean liner that is stuck.
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Little Toot's Story and Adaptations
The story of Little Toot became very famous. It was even turned into a cartoon!
The Disney Movie Version
Little Toot appeared in Walt Disney's 1948 film Melody Time. The famous Andrews Sisters sang the story. In this cartoon, Little Toot accidentally causes a big problem. He makes an ocean liner crash into buildings in Manhattan. This makes his father, Big Toot, very upset.
Because of his mistake, Little Toot is sent away from the harbor. While he is alone, he learns that he needs to grow up. He realizes he must stop being careless. He wants to earn respect from the other boats, especially his dad.
Then, Little Toot gets his chance to prove himself. Another ocean liner gets stuck far out at sea. Big Toot and the police boats cannot reach it because of a storm. So, Little Toot bravely goes to rescue the stuck liner all by himself. He succeeds and becomes a hero!
Other Little Toot Adventures
The Disney version of Little Toot was also made into a comic strip. It appeared in Walt Disney's Comics and Stories in 1948.
A record with the Disney Little Toot song was very popular. It was the first children's record to sell over 1,000,000 copies. This was a huge success for Capitol Records.
Later, another animated story was made. It was called Little Toot and the Loch Ness Monster. This story was part of Shelley Duvall's Bedtime Stories. Rick Moranis was the narrator.
There was also a movie called The New Adventures of Little Toot. It came out on video in 1992. Samuel Vincent was the voice of Little Toot in this film.
Little Toot Book Series
Hardie Gramatky wrote several more books about Little Toot's adventures. Here are the titles in the series:
- Little Toot (1939)
- Little Toot on the Thames (1964)
- Little Toot on the Grand Canal (1968)
- Little Toot on the Mississippi (1973)
- Little Toot Through the Golden Gate (1975)
- Little Toot and the Loch Ness Monster (1989, finished after Gramatky passed away by his wife and daughter)
