Happy Valentine’s Day, Charlie Brown

HappyVDCBThe whirlybeagle on the cover of the new level-two kids book Happy Valentine’s Day, Charlie Brown is misleading – there is no whirlybeagle on the inside. Instead, it’s a tale of Valentine’s Day, of Charlie Brown making a card for the Little Red Haired Girl and of others making cards or similar entreaties for the folks that they want. Sally makes a paper fortune teller that will let Linus know how she feels; Peppermint Patty makes paper dolls that people are supposed to kiss under like mistletoe (which, if it sounds out of character to you, well, me too.) And Charlie Brown gets something that makes him happy in the end, so the kids who read this book get an upbeat ending. Story by Maggie Testa, art by Scott Jeralds. The price is a mere $3.99, which is cheap for a squarebound full color book. but I think most kids will get more out of an issue of the comic book at the same price.

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. …