Maybe because I’ve done two eight-hour drives in the past three days, but I find myself in a picky mood. And having come back from my travels to find two Peanuts books waiting for me, I may be turning an extra picky eye on them. The first one I looked at (which I’ve not really read yet and thus will review later) closed with a quote that was missing its closing quotation mark.

But the second one was You Can Be Anything!, a slick-looking book for kids. It tells kids that they can be anything, and to provide examples use shot after shot of Snoopy in his various guises, slickly and often impressively colored by Tom Brannon. But picky Nat’s eyes land on the rear flap of the book jacket, where the about-the-author section is riddled with mispunctuation, miscapitalization, and awkward phrasing, all of which is followed by directing the reader to “www.snoppy.com”.

But my real flinch is reserved for this spread from the main body of the book:

That’s right: they’ve changed what war Snoopy was a flying ace in. And while that might have some legitimacy to do to a fictional character, the Red Baron is a genuine historic figure. You can’t just bounce him around.

“Ah!” you’re saying, “it’s just another typo.” Not so! Because they also invoke the “World War II Flying Ace” on the inside front flap.

(As another curiosity, they close out their guide to what Snoopy has been with “Flashbeagle” – as though the 4-to-8 year olds this book is aimed at will say “hey, clearly that’s a reference to 1983 film Flashdance, so they must mean that Snoopy was a dancer.” Ah, the kids these days!)

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