Review: Snoopy Came to Play

Snoopy Came to Play is a book aimed at very beginning readers. Writer  Tina Gallo and artist Vicki Scott tell the tale of Snoopy and Woodstock playing tennis, and, if inherently slight, it is bouncy and fun. They do a good job with what they have to do. This should serve its intended function, as a cheap Peanutsy paperback to give to your younger readers, well.

The cover promises thirty stickers inside, and there they are, in the back, two pages of stickers. But fewer than half of them are stickers of the Peanuts characters – specifically, art taken from the book itself. Most are purple stars, some with words in them (“Great job!” “I love to read!”) Note: the hardcover edition does not advertise stickers on the front and probably doesn’t have them on the inside either; when you sell a book to libraries, they don’t want things  like stickers, which borrowers will rip out of the book and stick places.

Classic finds
Review: Christmas Gift Certificates for You

When I ordered a copy of the 1981 Hallmark Peanuts product Christmas Gift Certificates for You, I reckoned it would be one of those novelty coupon books, each page removable and offering the recipient a walk in the snow, help taking down the tree, or some Peanuts-y equivalent thereof. I …

New releases
A pop-up shows up

Here Comes Charlie Brown!: A Peanuts Pop-up, Gene Kannenberg, Jr.’s adaptation of the very first Peanuts strip, is not the first Peanuts book to reprint only a single strip. There was at least one board book that did much the same thing. However, that board book was, at heart, a …

Classic finds
English Phrases to Comfort Your Heart

The next book in my Amazon Japan shipment falls into the adorable category of “Peanuts used to explain American culture”. English Phrases to Comfort Your Heart with Snoopy by Nobu Yamada falls into that category. It also falls into the category of “books which are meant to be destroyed”, as each …