The AAUGH blog

In this issue:
*A CHARLIE BROWN VALENTINE: A REVIEW
*PEANUTS HOME COLLECTION BARGAIN
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A CHARLIE BROWN VALENTINE: A REVIEW
The new Peanuts animated special will hit the air in February, but the book adaptation is already shipping. This is the third in the current series of adaptations written by Justine and Ron Fontes, and drawn by Paige Braddock, the creative director at Charles M. Schulz Creative Associates.

In order to make sure the cartoon was true to Schulz’s vision, it is based very directly on the strips. The storyline starts with some valentine strips, and ties that in with the spring dance sequence seen in It’s A Dog’s Life, Snoopy on pages 60-67.

I won’t try to judge the special itself off of the adaptation, which my its nature is abridged and apt to lose some of the humor — but the book does make me look forward to the special. Reading the book itself is entertaining, without having the show to compare it to. Paige has clearly learned from drawing these, and has improved her technique at capturing Sparky’s look. In this book, she had specific Schulz drawings to work from, and at times bases her illustrations on specific panels from the original storyline.

To order this book, go to http://AAUGH.com/go.htm?0689848218 UK customers, go to http://AAUGH.com/uk/go.htm?0689848218
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PEANUTS HOME COLLECTION BARGAIN
Peanuts Home Collection, a guide to Peanuts paraphernalia with pictures of over 1000 items (hundreds in color) can now be had through $10.99 — about $16 off its cover price. This deal isn’t available through the main AAUGH.com shop. You can get it here: http://AAUGH.com/bco.htm?093062582X
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That’s the news for now — and probably for a couple weeks. I’m relocating, so my entire life will be broken down, packed into boxes, and reassembled on the other end. The entire AAUGH.com reference library will be unavailable. Send me your questions and I’ll answer them if I can, but don’t be surprised if there’s a long delay in my answers. HOWEVER, this doesn’t mean that AAUGH.com will be offline. You’ll still be able to shop for new books and delve into the collecting guide.

Yes, we are moving the entire AAUGH.com headquarters with us — the conference center, reference library, office staff, and the zamboni are all packed away in little boxes, awaiting relocation to our new 7-acre campus. <grin>
If you used to get this newsletter and don’t any more, it’s because you changed your email address and didn’t tell me. So tell me what it is! But, wait, if you’re not getting this newsletter, then you aren’t reading this note…
oh, nevermind.

–Nat proprietor http://AAUGH.com

In this issue:
*PEANUTS BOOKS NOW SHIPPING
*WHEN, CHARLIE BROWN, WHEN? NOW WE KNOW!
Howdy and hello to all! I’m back from my vacation. For once, I traveled without acquiring any more Peanuts books. That’s rare for me. But I do have some small bits of Peanuts book news!
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PEANUTS BOOKS NOW SHIPPING
It should come as no surprise that the book adaptation of the new animated Peanuts special A CHARLIE BROWN VALENTINE is now shipping. After all, the book was salted for January release, even though the special doesn’t air until February. You can order this at: http://AAUGH.com/go.htm?0689848218 (in the UK: http://AAUGH.com/uk/go.htm?0689848218 )

Slightly more surprising is that the new book adaptation of the classic special IT’S THE EASTER BEAGLE, CHARLIE BROWN, which had been slated for a February release, is also shipping! http://AAUGH.com/go.htm?0689848226 (in the UK: http://AAUGH.com/uk/go.htm?0689848226 )

More surprising still is that the HOW TO DRAW PEANUTS book written by Matt Busch is now shipping — this wasn’t supposed to be officially released until March! http://AAUGH.com/go.htm?0816772479 (in the UK: http://AAUGH.com/uk/go.htm?0816772479 )

I should have reviews of the animated adaptations for you next volume. One thing I will suggest, however, is that you don’t judge the new special by the adaptation. Because of the abrupt nature of these adaptations, they do care most of the plot but lose much of the humor of the special.
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WHEN, CHARLIE BROWN, WHEN? NOW WE KNOW!
I’ve mentioned previously that a reprint of the long-out-of-print adaptation of the animated special WHY, CHARLIE BROWN, WHY? is on the way from Ballantine Books. Finally I have some details: this reprint will come out as a hardcover in August. I don’t have a price for it yet.

If you’ve never seen this book (which is likely; it’s hard to find), it’s a very nice one. It’s one of the few adaptations that Schulz illustrated himself. The tale of a young girl with leukemia is a special one that earned Schulz and crew some well-deserved awards.

Occasionally, as "the AAUGH.com guy", I get to hear from some interesting folks. I heard recently from one lady who was looking for this book — because it had saved her mother’s life. The mother was ignoring symptoms that she had — but the daughter recognized the symptoms from this book she had read, told mom about it, and convinced mom to head to the doctor before it was too late.

WHY, CHARLIE BROWN, WHY? is not yet available for preorder. I’ll let you know when it is. As always, you can find out about upcoming Peanuts books at http://AAUGH.com/upcoming.htm
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Well, the mailwoman just brought me the 1991 Snoopy Annual, thus completing my set of the British Snoopy Annuals (which are hardcover books with a mix of comic strips, original Peanuts character stories, puzzles, and other features; the cover to this one has Snoopy reading the Snoopy Annual– and on the cover of that you can see Snoopy reading the Snoopy Annual, and on the cover of that is…
well, you get the picture. This is what comic book collectors call an "infinity cover".) She also brought some other things that need taking care of, so I’ll sign off for now. When there’s more news, you’ll hear from me again!
–Nat proprietor http://AAUGH.com