The AAUGH blog

* THANKSGIVING IS SHIPPING

* A VERY FANCY CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS

* MORE UPCOMING BOOKS

* MORE COLOURFUL THAN OTHERS

* ODD PEANUTS BOOKS: YOU’RE IN SCHOOL NOW, CB

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THANKSGIVING IS SHIPPING

The new book adaptation of A CHARLIE BROWN THANKSGIVING is
now shipping. You can order it here:

http://AAUGH.com/go.htm?0689850271

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A VERY FANCY CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS

Easton Press is once again doing an edition of a
Peanuts book, and doing it in that Easton Press manner–
quite fancy. This time, they’re taking A CHARLIE BROWN
CHRISTMAS: THE MAKING OF A TRADITION, the behind-the-scenes
look at the creation of that classic TV special, and
doing it up with a red leather binding, real gold accents,
the whole shmear.

Unfortunately, it’s not available through AAUGH.com or
from any bookstore. You have to order it from the publisher
themselves: 1 (800) 243-5160 during normal business hours.
Ask for item 1013. It will set you back about ninety
bucks, shipping included, in the US. And tell them
AAUGH.com sent you! (Not that they’ll have any idea what
that means. I just can’t resist the image of the poor
order-taker, after the fifth such call, saying “who is
this Ogg Daughtcom guy, anyway?”)

Of course, if you just want to read the danged thing
and don’t need the leather binding and such, you can
get the standard edition for about $20:

http://AAUGH.com/go.htm?0060198516

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MORE UPCOMING BOOKS

I just got word of two upcoming kids books, SNOOPY’S
FEELINGS and WOODSTOCK IN ACTION, both due in April.
I hope to have more info on those soon. July brings
LUCY’S ADVICE, another kids storybook in the Ready
To Read line.

As always, you can see a list of upcoming Peanuts
books at http://AAUGH.com/upcoming.htm

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MORE COLOURFUL THAN OTHERS

Recently added to the AAUGH.com reference library are more
of the Colour Knight series of strip reprints from the
U.K. In an earlier newsletter, I pointed out how over the
short run of this series (there were only 4 Peanuts book in
the series) the page count went down, the binding went
from squarebound to saddle-stitched, and the price went
up significantly.

Now I discover that these changes happened not only to
later volumes, but to later printings of the same books!
I have a first printing of COLOURFUL CHARLIE BROWN
from 1974, which reprints 15 Sunday strips in color, for
30p. I also have a second printing, 1976, which has only
11 strips, and cost a whopping 50p. In two years, the price
per strip more than doubled!

Between the first and second printings, the publisher
Brockhampton Press became Hodder & Stoughton Children’s
Publishing. H&S would end up doing a number of other
Peanuts books outside of this line.

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ODD PEANUTS BOOKS: YOU’RE IN SCHOOL NOW, CB

While Peanuts book fans may best know Holt, Rinehart,
and Winston for the various Peanuts books they put
out, they also created materials for the educational
market. Sometimes these two portions of their business
would collide, as they did with YOU’RE IN SCHOOL NOW,
CHARLIE BROWN. This 32-page, cardboard cover saddle
stitched book was published in 1973, as a Level 13
book in the Holt Basic Reading System. Nine inches
wide and 7.5 inches tall, this consists solely of
strips about going in school or doing homework.
Most of the pages have three daily strips, run horizontally.
Some spreads have a single Sunday strip in black and
white, split up over two pages. A few pages run a single
daily, printed large and broken up into two tiers of
two panels apiece. The strips are from 1963-1970.

I’ve only ever seen one copy of this, and yes it’s in
the AAUGH.com reference library. Because this was part
of a big set of school materials, rather than sold and
handled as a stand-alone book, I suspect there are not
many more copies on the market.

My copy included a folded cardboard activity page,
including a crossword puzzle (which was helpfully
solved by a purple marker-bearing individual named
Jamie), a bio of Schulz (about 500 words long), a
few paragraphs on being your own cartoonist, a
suggestion for you to make up your own story about
Sally on a field trip, a mentioning of other Peanuts
books, and recommendation of other cartoon books.

If any of you own a copy of YOU’RE IN SCHOOL NOW, CB,
please let me know!

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That’s all the news for now. More news is on the way.
And hey, if any of you are general TV buffs, you may
want to check out http://AAUGH.com/tv/ — I’ve been
reviewing all of the new shows of the big networks’
new fall season.

As always, send your comments, compliments, complaints,
and cookies to: nat@aaugh.com

–Nat Gertler

proprietor

http://AAUGH.com