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* NEW PEANUTS KIDS BOOKS
*BARGAIN REMINDERS
*ODD PEANUTS BOOK: SNOOPY’S DAILY DOZEN
NEW PEANUTS KIDS BOOKS Just a quick newsletter here. I have information on the new line of Peanuts books for kids, so I thought I’d share it.
The new books of A Charlie Brown Christmas and It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, are just that — new books. Both of those specials have been adapted into book form several times before (if you don’t believe me, check out my guide to book adapations of Peanuts animated shows and specials: http://AAUGH.com/guide/lanim.htm ), but they’re doing it again. In this case, Paige Braddock is (Creative Director of Charles M. Schulz Creative Associates) has taken Schulz character art and reworked it with new backgrounds to help writers Justine and Ron Fontes retell the tales of these two specials. (Paige is a talented cartoonist in her own right, and her relationship-oriented strip Jane’s World can be found at Comics.com.) These full-color paperbacks are targeted at ages 4-8. They’re 10 inches wide, 8 inches high, 32 pages long, for a cover price of $5.99.
The other two books are storybooks based on tales from the strip. Peter LoBianco adapted the art. The story Kick The Football, Charlie Brown is adapted by Judy Kastchke, while Friends Forever, Snoopy is adapted by Patricia Boczkowski. Again, 32 pages, full color, 9 inches tall by 6 inches wide, for a mere $3.99. These are part of Little Simon’s Ready-to-Read program, level 2 readers, which means they’re aimed at kids age 6 to 9.
Want to know what the covers look like? I’ve got some black and white shots up at http://AAUGH.com/pkids.htm
You can order them now, if you want to pay full price…
or wait a few weeks if you want them at a discount.
(Little Simon apparently has plenty more Peanuts books for kids in the works.)
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BARGAIN REMINDERS We still have $5 off any $35 purchase, as noted on the front page of http://AAUGH.com — and that’s applicable for almost anything from Amazon’s catalog (no auction or zStore merchandise); just click through and do your shopping there.
And if you’re feeling generous, to get $10 off of a $65 order, use the code DEALJUNEHAND instead of the one listed at AAUGH.com. Both of these deals run out this Sunday, so order now.
And our pals at BookCloseOuts still have remaindered copies of PEANUTS: A GOLDEN CELEBRATION available for about $20. Check it out at: http://AAUGH.com/bco.htm?0062702440 (Remember, that’s not AAUGH.com’s main store — the discounts listed above do not apply there.)
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ODD PEANUTS BOOKS: SNOOPY’S DAILY DOZEN
Snoopy’s Daily Dozen is a spiral-bound exercise flip-chart, put out by Hallmark. Twelve one-sided pages show how to do various creatively-named exercises. The exercises are clearly dated; doctors now advise against some of these moves, such as locking your hands behind your neck while doing sit-ups.
But if you think about that position, you’ll realize what makes this book odd. A Peanuts character (in this case, Patty) with her hands reaching all the way behind her neck? The Peanuts characters get depicted doing a lot of things they’re generally not shown doing — things that they’re cartoon bodies do not appear capable of. From the cover shot of Snoopy flexing some visible bicepts to Violet sitting with her chin between her raised knees (Peanuts kids have knees!), these pages are full of Schulz drawing the kids as he never had before and never would again. The shots almost all work, though. They’re not wrong, merely unexpected given the way we’re used to seeing these characters.
I’m not certain what year it was put out, although the art style and the presence of Flavorless Patty, Shermy, and Violet (with no Peppermint Patty, Woodstock, or Franklin — curiously, Charlie Brown almosts sits this one out, appearing on just one page) suggests a mid-sixties production at the latest.
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Well, that’s all the news for now. There probably won’t be another newsletter for a few weeks. Then again, I thought that last week, but then I got the news on the new books.
If there are any questions I can answer, or any suggestions you have (for the newsletter, for the shop, or for the collector’s guide) just let me know!
–Nat Gertler, nat@aaugh.com Proprietor http://AAUGH.com
