The return of Baby Snoopy?

I’ve spoken here before about “ghost books”, titles that were once entered into some publisher’s or distributor’s list but never really existed, never really will exist, but due to various computer processes keep getting relisted as coming some time in the future. What we have today is a listing for a book which has strong signs of being a ghost book, but which has never popped up on my radar before.

Baby Snoopy, the infantilized version of comicdom’s favorite beagle, had his fans and his detractors, but they started phasing him out of the licensing a fair while back. I think you can still find some decorations for nurseries bearing his image, but the last new books featuring him were published about 7 years ago, when Little Simon stopped publishing new Peanuts books.

But now I’m finding listings for Snoopy’s New Home, a Baby Snoopy book published by Little Simon. The UK Amazon site says that it’s coming out next June. The US site? They say it’s coming out in August, 2030! I guess that eighteen years from now, we’ll know the truth. I think I’ll keep this one off of the list of upcoming Peanuts books, just to be safe.

(Hey, you know what they’ll call Baby Snoopy eighteen years in the future? Adult Snoopy!)

Upcoming releases
Peanuts books to buy, and a free one

We’ve got a few more books listed as coming up later this year. There’s no surprise that we’re getting the paperback edition of The Complete Peanuts 1993-1994, and with it, the box set of 1991-1994. After all, these have been coming out like clockwork, and 2025 should bring us the …

Upcoming releases
Mostly recycled Peanuts books

There are some new Peanuts titles showing up in the pipeline. I don’t have covers yet, but the books are simple to explain. Welcome Home, Franklin! adopts the new TV special that will hit Apple TV+ on the 16th. Here’s to You Charlie Brown and You’re the Greatest, Charlie Brown …

Upcoming releases
Upcoming collections

Coming in May is Five Funny Snoopy and Charlie Brown Stories!, a compilation of the previously-released kids storybooks Let’s Go to the Library!; Time for School, Charlie Brown; Snoopy and Woodstock; Snoopy, First Beagle on the Moon!; and Make a Trade, Charlie Brown! We now have a cover for the …