Bumblebee and Me

A few months ago I was making my rounds on some of the blogs I follow and on battlegrip I found reference to this book "Bumblebee and Me" by Dan Gilvenzan.  Recently I picked it up and have had the chance to read it.  If you are a kid from the 80s Dan Gilvezan is probably familiar to you if not by name, then by voice.  He was the voice of Peter Parker and Spiderman in "Spiderman and his Amazing friends," and more notably the voice of bumblebee from Transformers!

The book is pretty short but was a very good read.  Dan runs you through the process of voice acting and relays some great antidotes about his fellow actors.  He really digs deep and has many fond memories about the show as well as the character he played.  One story that he tells is about how he went into a Toys R us and bought a dozen bumblebee figures because he felt a sort of kinship with the character. 

He talks about working with people like the Scatman, and Frank Welker, and Voice Director Wally Burr.  The book really lets you, the reader, in on the process of voice acting.

As I mentioned the book is pretty short with the nutritive portion weighing in at a whopping 52 pages.  Dan is to the point and tells the story he wants to tell.  There are spelling errors and some of it feels awkward to read, and it feels like it could have used a bit more editing.

All that said the book still tells a story, and Dan really puts his antidotes out there for fans to have.  It feels like it is a collection of the stories he tells at cons put in a narrative form.  I like that, I may not ever get to see him at a con but I can still get his side of the story with this book.

You can find the book at Amazon for under $7.00, and it also available as a kindle edition for 2.99.  If you are a fan of 80s cartoons, voice acting or transformers I would highly recommend that you pick this book up!