Peanuts books 2017

For the first post of the year, I figured I should do the run-down on what we’re expecting for this year in Peanuts books. Seems likely to be a slightly light year – not full of movie-linked books like 2015, and with hardcover Complete Peanuts having come to an end (no volume 27, boys, and girls, sorry!) and the Peanuts comic book gone and the collections of that material ending, there will be that much less.

But a light year for Peanuts is still a lot of books. There will be strip reprints, including more of the color AMP For Kids books and two more volumes of the gloriously large Peanuts Every Sunday, covering all the 1970s Sunday strips. Simon & Schuster will continue their various kid storybook lines… in fact, they already have, I just received a package of them today (but I’m really not in the mood to review S&S books at the moment.) S&S is also giving us a kid’s history of the strip in The Great American Story of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the Peanuts Gang!: History of Fun Stuff. Of course, there will be assorted things, from an adult coloring book to much more academic looks at Peanuts.

And there will be some animated adaptations along the way. Will there be a book adaptation of A Charlie Brown Christmas? Well, so far all we know is that there will be an A Charlie Brown Christmas Wrapping Paper Activity Book. It’s got wrapping paper to color! It’s got an advent calendar poster! I’ve got mine pre-ordered, that you can believe!

So trust me, there will be plenty of books starring your favorites in the Peanuts Gang!

The Peanuts Gang: Going on a Hike, a self-published book that's supposed to be available this month!
The Peanuts Gang: Going on a Hike, a self-published book that’s supposed to be available this month!
Upcoming releases
A book I’d not expected to resurface

Back in 2011, Schulz’s granddaughter Dena Hodges issued the first two chapters of  a memoir called In the Shadow of the Family Dog. As I noted in my review at the time, the chapter and the description of the project made it clear that the focus was her relationship with …

Upcoming releases
A box of squares

This May, Fantagraphics is collecting the various small square Peanuts books they’ve published into a new box set, Peanuts All Year Round Mini Collection. This includes: A Valentine for Charlie Brown — Valentine’s Day and romance strips Batter-Up Charlie Brown! — baseball strips Waiting for the Great Pumpkin — Halloween …

Upcoming releases
Game Day returns

Back in 2020, Fantagraphics dropped Game Day, a boxed set of sports-themes Peanuts strip reprint paperbackss, as a Costco exclusive. Next June it’s coming back, this time in hardcover and available through the usual sources. Designed as a Father’s Day gift, it should be good for anyone who likes Peanuts …