So you want the complete run of Peanuts strips in 25 volumes, but you don’t want to wait another decade to get the complete set? And you want to pay only about $60 plus shipping for the whole set? Well, how’s your Chinese? Because that’s the language for this set of books, available now through Joyo, the Chinese branch of Amazon. (And ooh, look at that sweet book rack; click through to the site and then click on the picture to see a larger shot.)

To be honest, I am not sure that this is an authorized set, and I also don’t know how complete it truly is. And I’m not sure quite how to get the Joyo order form to work. And I don’t know (and fear finding out) what shipping would be if you could even enter a US address. But with the exchange rate of about 8 Yuan to the U.S. dollar, that 464 Yuan price seems quite a bargain.

Added five books to the AAUGH.com library today. Four of them are easy to get, if you’re willing to order from the UK (and if you can read English!) They’re volumes 1 through 4 of Snoopy 2-in-1, a set of books reprinting two of the Snoopy Stars or Snoopy Features books in each volume. The Stars/Features books are theme-oriented Snoopy strip reprints. These volumes contain:

1. The Flying Ace/The Literary Ace
2. The Fitness Fanatic/The Matchmaker
3. The Legal Beagle/The Great Philosopher
4. The Master of the Fairways/Man’s Best Friend

The other book is something that I hadn’t even known about until recently. Responding to God’s Call… is a Christian guidebook, designed with school use in mind (each chapter has suggested exercises at the end). The Schulz content is reprints of Schulz’s single-panel teen gags that he did for Youth magazine, one gag reprinted to start off each of the ten chapters. These are all panels that have been reprinted in the various book collections of Schulz’s Youth work, all of which are easier to find than this. As such, this a book only for the completist collector. If you hunt this down, be sure you get the book by Gene W. Newberry, as other authors have used the same title. This paperback was published in 1969 by Warner Press, the publishing arm of the Church of God, the same folks who put out Youth.

ABC has announced a new Peanuts special, He’s a Bully, Charlie Brown, will air next year. Peanuts video buff Scott McGuire confirms that this is the story about marbles. You may have heard reference to that one as a special that Schulz had planned before his death, so it’s good that this one is coming to light. (I’m not sure how well today’s kids know the game marbles, so we’ll see what the reaction is.)

Also now shipping: Baby Snoopy’s Pumpkin, a board book for kids; and Kids Say the Darndest Things, a rerelease of Art Linkletter’s book of anecdotes from his House Party series, with illustrations by Schulz.

I know that this blog has readers throughout the English-speaking world, and I can’t help but suspect that there are a few folks who normally read this who are displaced by Hurricane Katrina. I certainly hope that everyone comes through this with everything as intact as possible.

This would, of course, be a good time to contribute to disaster relief charities such as the Red Cross and Operation USA. Realize too that the biggest reason to donate is not to help during this time of tragedy, but it’s to keep these groups funded and their supplies stocked so that they’re ready to respond instantly when the next tragedy hits.

Remember, that next tragedy may be yours.

Well, that’s all the news and notes for this unexpectedly large AAUGH blog entry. Remember that if you have hints or tips, questions or suggestions, you can send the to nat@AAUGH.com – but forgive me if it takes a while to respond. Life is full.

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