Peanuts special books

Now shipping: It’sIt's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.

What, that’s not specific enough? You’re right. I should say that now shipping is the book adaptation of It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.

What, still not specific enough? Okay, it’s the Running Press book adaptation of It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.

And the odd thing is, that’s still not specific enough. This new book, their 24-page paperback adaptation of It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, with a sheet of stickers bound in, is actually the third Running Press adaptation that they’ve done in just under 4 years. In 2004, they released a minibook adaptation. Last year, they released a kid’s board book adaptation. Now this, and no, it doesn’t just recycle the earlier content. Of course, it doesn’t really capture the effect of watching the special, which is mostly a bunch of funny set pieces that the book just has time to explain rather than recreating the effect. The art adaptation is pretty good (and they avoid the five o’clock shadow problem that has plagued some recent efforts), although there is still a problem with arranging layouts where the characters are at different distances.

A bit more fun is Running Press’s new adaptation of A A Charlie Brown ThanksgivingCharlie Brown Thanksgiving. For one thing, the special is a bit more solid in the story department; while it has its set pieces, it also has a real, developing story. Plus, some key parts of the story are missing from the main text – some of the characters and props are on 6 pages of stickers, with the young reader instructed what pages to put them on. Of course, that’s something they can only do once; then the stickers are in. The book also has cardboard figures of Charlie Brown, Peppermint Patty, Linus and Snoopy to cut out, and a dining table to cut out and fold. So this might actually making a nice little gift for the niece you’re visiting for Thanksgiving.

New releases
A different kind of coffee table book

If you have a coffee table, you should have a “coffee table book”, a large, heavily illustrated color volume that your guests can easily and casually flip through, (Charles M. Schulz: The Art and Life of the Peanuts Creator in 100 Objects is a good choice, of course.) But you …

New releases
Review: Snoopy (Classic Cartoon Character Bios)

The Abdo Kids : Classic Cartoon Character Bios books are blatant stuff-to-fill-school-libraries material. Sturdy hardcovers, lots of pictures, 24 pages, little text – about 250 words. The Snoopy volume uses Snoopy images from just about anywhere: strips (appropriately licensed), animation, photos, The Peanuts Movie publicity materials. And the simple facts it …

Classic finds
A needle-ssly fine present

Being a) an adult and b) not a Christmasian, it makes sense that I’m not given much in the way of Christmas presents. This year’s haul was just two items, both given by Dr. Mrs. The AAUGH Blogger: a Terry’s Chocolate Orange (yum!), and this Peanuts embroidery book from Japan. …