The AAUGH blog

In this issue:
* REVIEW: PEANUTS, THE ART OF CHARLES M. SCHULZ
*ALSO THANKS TO NAT GERTLER?
*REVIEW: A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS
*SPANISH BOOK LIST ADDED
*SCHULZ MUSEUM EXHIBIT
*GREAT PUMPKIN AIRING REMINDER
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REVIEW: PEANUTS, THE ART OF CHARLES M. SCHULZ
If you’re a fan of Peanuts strips, you want this book.

It is gorgeous. This is visually the most amazing Peanuts book every produced.

Yes, it’s that good.

Most of the book is made of Peanuts strips, but not just printed from old stats as most strip books are. Instead, the strips are photographed, either directly from the original art (which gives very sharp reproduction while showing you the little physicalities that go into the making of the strip) or from printed newspapers. The latter may *sound* a bit tacky, but really it gives the book a very textural sensibility. Designer Chip Kidd knows what he is doing. Also in it are plenty of Schulz sketches, pictures of Peanuts products and packaging, shots, Schulz notes and correspondence, and more.

This is a good coffee-table book, but it isn’t large like your typical coffee-table tome. It’s about the size of a standard hardcover book, turned sideways. It’s thick, over an inch thick, which helps it include over 500 strips, including many never before reprinted in a U.S. Peaunts book.

Text is scattered throughout the book, including Schulz quotes and descriptions of pictured items. However, it’s a book that encourages one to flip through it; it does not need to be read linearly.

This is not to say that the book is perfect. A few errors have crept into the text, and the lack of page numbers will prove frustrating to some folks (perhaps mostly to me, since I like to refer people to specific pages when answering Peanuts questions.)

You can preview some of it at http://www.randomhouse.com/pantheon/graphicnovels/peanuts.html but the page images there don’t do the book full justice. The designer here is an artist working in printing press and ink.

PEANUTS: THE ART OF CHARLES M. SCHULZ is a good deal at the $29.95 cover price. At 30% off (the current discount at the main AAUGH.com store), it’s a great deal (and remember, it’s already time to start thinking of Christmas/Hannukah/Beethoven’s Birthday presents for folks!) In North America, order it at: http://AAUGH.com/go.htm?0375420975 In Europe, head to: http://AAUGH.com/uk/go.htm?0375420975
(This book is now shipping; if you preordered a copy, it should be on its way, unless you ordered something else with it that is not yet released.)
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ALSO THANKS TO NAT GERTLER?
To head off questions from folks who buy PEANUTS: THE ART OF CHARLES M. SCHULZ: yes, I am the "Nat Gertler" who is thanked in the list of people thanked at the back of the book. All I did was helped check the facts on some of the text about Peanuts appearances in comic book magazines. Still, it feels good to have my name somewhere on an official Peanuts product, particularly one as fine as this.
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REVIEW: A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS
Last year saw the publication of A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS: THE MAKING OF A TRADITION– http://aaugh.com/go.htm?0060198516 –a large hardcover book for adults. This year brings us a new paperback adaptation of the very first Peanuts special, aimed at kids. The text by Justine and Ron Fontes does cover the basics of the story, although some odd choices are made about what to keep in and what to leave out. For example, mention is made that Linus finds a way to use his blanket in the play, but we are never told or shown what use he made of it.

This is Paige Braddock’s second attempt to illustrate a book bridging the style of the animation with the linework of latter-day Schulz, and it works better here than in her Great Pumpkin adaptation. It’s a thankless task she has, but many of her images have their own vibrancy. I particularly like her Snoopy.

This book isn’t a must-have, but if you’re a collector or if you have a kid who would like to look at the pictures and remember their favorite TV special, then this is a nice, affordable book (cover price is $5.99 for a 32-page full color book.) To order this in North America: http://AAUGH.com/go.htm?0689846088 To order it in Europe: http://AAUGH.com/uk/go.htm?0689846088
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SPANISH BOOK LIST ADDED
For those of you who are fans of Peanuts books from all over, we’ve got a new list on the site. It’s a guide to Spanish language Peanuts books published in Spain. Thank goodness I didn’t have to put this one together myself; it was made by the enthusiastic and beautiful Sonia Gil (well, I assume she’s beautiful. On the Internet, it’s easiest to assume that everyone is beautiful!) This list doesn’t cover Spanish language books from other countries (although it does list a major numbered series that was simultaneously published in Mexico) nor does it list books published in Spain in other languages (primarily Catalan).

There are two version of the list. Those of you who only read English should go to http://AAUGH.com/guide/spain.htm and those who prefer reading in Spanish should head to http://AAUGH.com/guide/espana.htm
Thank you Sonia!
(Is anyone else out there eager enough to make up a list for Peanuts books in some other language? Let me know!)
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SCHULZ MUSEUM EXHIBIT
The Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA is hosting "Speak Softly and Carry a Beagle: The Art of Charles Schulz". This is the first venue for this exhibition, which has been put together by the Minnesota Museum of American Art and the Charles M. Schulz Museum. The exhibit runs Nov. 3 through May 5. I went to college near there, and it can be a lovely place to travel around, particularly in the fall. Find yourself a nice B&B and plan several relaxing days in the Berkshire mountains!
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GREAT PUMPKIN AIRING REMINDER
This year’s U.S. airing of "It’s A Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" is this coming Tuesday. It leads off the prime time ABC lineup.
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That’s the news for now, fans friends and other folk! No new books in the "coming soon" category, which is a relief after the onslaught that was appearing there for a while.

As usual, let me know if you have any questions, or are changing your email address.

–Nat proprietor, AAUGH.com nat@aaugh.com

Not much news to be had, but I wanted to get a newsletter out while I could. I’m going on vacation for a couple of weeks…
and after that, things will be hectic, as AAUGH.com headquarters will be moving to more spacious digs. The site will always be online, of course, but there will be times when I won’t be available to quickly answer questions, or when the AAUGH.com reference library will be packed away.
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THERE’S NO TIME LEFT FOR GIFTS…

…at least, if you want them mailed to someone and to arrive by Christmas. If there’s someone you forgot, you can always order an Amazon.com gift certificate to be e-mailed to them. And if they’re Peanuts fans, you can let them know that the gift certificate can be spent at AAUGH.com.
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PEANUTS ILLUSTRATED SONGBOOK
A new songbook featuring 30 Vince Guaraldi tunes and Peanuts illustrations is now available. THE PEANUTS ILLUSTRATED SONGBOOK has an introduction by jazz journalist Hank Bordowitz, talking about Guaraldi’s work and how he became involved with Peanuts. http://AAUGH.com/go.htm?0634030906
(There’s a small image of this book’s cover on the front page of http://AAUGH.com )
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ODD PEANUTS BOOK: CHRISTMAS STOCKING
My files are a mess. I can’t be sure whether or not I’ve covered this book in the newsletter before — if I have, don’t consider this a repeat but rather a return to a classic, much like the continued reairings of A Charlie Brown Christmas
CHARLIE BROWN’S CHRISTMAS STOCKING is an example of what I consider "lost" Peanuts work, featuring Schulz material that has not been easily available for decades and is not plentiful on the used book market. This is a special booklet created for Good Housekeeping magazine’s December 1963 issue, which means that it wasn’t rare at the time (the publication refers to this as their gift for "12 million women [and] your husbands and children") but most of those copies have long since hit the recycling station or the landfill.

This book, which was released after Happiness Is A Warm Puppy and Security Is A Thumb And A Blanket were already hits but years before A Charlie Brown Christmas hit TV, consists of 15 single images with dialog in text captions. Most of these pages work find as stand-alone gags, but read in sequence they build a story which focuses on the problems of hanging Christmas stockings in a modern house. "How can you hang a Christmas stocking on a thermostat?" The illustrations are clean, crisp genuine Schulz created just for this booklet. The cover has an odd image of Charlie Brown’s head sticking out of a Christmas stocking.

I do hope that a new home in print is found for pieces like this which have fallen through the cracks. With ever more of the newspaper strips being offered in books, it would be a shame for these quality pieces to remain lost to most fans.
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That’s all the news and views I have for youse. Do feel free to send my your questions and your comments, just be patient about waiting for responses. And do keep me up to date with your email address changes.

Joy and peace in 2002!
–Nat proprietor http://AAUGH.com

*PEANUTS CHAPTERS ONLINE
*GREAT PUMPKIN AIRS
*CURRENT COUPONS
*NEW ANIMATED ADAPTATION COVERS
*TRAVEL!
*FINNISH PEANUTS BOOK GUIDE
I’ve seen no new Peanuts books announced in the last two weeks. After the torrent of new book announcements that had been coming, this is a relief! Still, there are some small bits of news:
PEANUTS CHAPTERS ONLINE
One problem with online bookshopping is that you haven’t been able to flip through the books, browsing the contents. That’s beginning to change, as publishers are allowing sections of their books to be posted. For the Peanuts fans, there are already a couple books which can be browsed online. PEANUTS 2000, the book collecting the last year-and-a-bit of Peanuts strips, has about 20 pages online at http://AAUGH.com/go.htm?0345442393 while WAKING UP JUST IN TIME, a self-help book which uses Peanuts strips to illustrate its concepts, has a chapter online at http://AAUGH.com/go.htm?0312132077
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GREAT PUMPKIN AIRS
U.S. viewers can catch this year’s airing of It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown on Tuesday the 30th, at 8 PM in most markets. It’s on ABC — check your local listings.

Of course, if you want a copy you can watch at any time, you can get the Region 1 DVD version: http://AAUGH.com/go.htm?B00004W5UK or the VHS version: http://AAUGH.com/go.htm?6304179480
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CURRENT COUPONS
The coupons from the previous newsletter have expired. The one coupon I can now offer you is good *only if you pay with a Visa card*. If you’re purchasing at least $50 worth of stuff (and that can be anything from the main AAUGH.com store, or anything that you get from Amazon after you click through any of our links, except for auction and zStore items), you get $10 off if you enter VSAREWARDDSS into the gift certificate and promotional code area during checkout. (Note that they have rearranged and simplified checkout somewhat, so the space for gift certificate and promotional codes may show up earlier than you’re used to seeing it.)
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NEW ANIMATED ADAPTATION COVERS
For pictures of the covers of the upcoming book adaptations of IT’S THE EASTER BEAGLE, CHARLIE BROWN and A CHARLIE BROWN VALENTINE, head over to http://AAUGH.com/upcoming.htm
(Note that these are preliminary cover designs; they may be changed somewhat before the final release.)
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TRAVEL
This is just another quick reminder that this is a great time to travel in the U.S. Hotel rates are down, air travel is cheap, train and bus lines are being beefed up. It’s a bargain for you and it’s good for our country in these tricky times. My wife and I just got away for our first anniversary (Las Vegas is full of shows and sights), and I expect we’ll be headed off again somewhere in the coming month.
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FINNISH PEANUTS BOOK GUIDE
It’s good to know that there are Peanuts book collectors in countries that don’t speak English. I already knew about Japanese and French Peanuts book lists, but today I stumbled across one for Finnish books: http://www.helsinki.fi/~lakoma/comics/tenavat.html
In Finnish, Peanuts is called Tenevat. I started researching Finnish Peanuts books because I just won a couple at auction. I won a copy of "Suu suppuun, Kaustinen", and since it had a picture of Woodstock on the cover, I figured that "Kaustinen" was the Finnish translation of Woodstock’s name. A little research verified that guess, but added one other nifty piece of information: "Kaustinen" is the name of a Finnish city with its own folk music festival, so it really is the right choice for a Finnish equivalent of Woodstock.

Then I looked at the name of the other book, "Suku on rakkain, Ressu". Since the cover picture had Snoopy, Spike, and Belle, I guessed (and again verified) that "Ressu" was Snoopy’s Finnish name. Then I tried to find out if "Ressu" meant anything in particular. The online Finnish-English dictionaries weren’t of any help, but I stumbled across a web page for Ressu Comprehensive, a grade school in Helsinki. There were no clues to the meaning on the English version of their web page, so I went to the Finnish version: http://www.ressuy.edu.hel.fi/ The image on the front page of the website includes a statue of Snoopy with the school in the background. Apparently, this actually is Snoopy School!
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Well, that’s all the news and notes you need for now! I expect to be back within a couple weeks with reviews of two new books, and the usual motley assortment of stuff. Until then, let me know if there’s any way I can help you.

–Nat proprietor http://AAUGH.com