While there certainly are some interesting new Peanuts books out for the shopping season this year, there are some notable absences.

• No 1990s edition of The Big Book of Peanuts, what had been an annual release of all the Peanuts daily strips, coming out a decade at a time. These books were exclusively sold through Costco, and there is no sign of the book either in their stores or on their website. The first four volumes are still all available online, but this year’s absence suggests that perhaps the set will never be complete. (Costco is carrying Peanuts books for the holiday; the local store had both this year’s book adaptation of A Charlie Brown Christmas and the oversized hardcover Celebrating Snoopy.)
• No new Hallmark book edition of A Charlie Brown Christmas. Yes, there’s a new book edition of A Charlie Brown Christmas, but not from Hallmark; and a new Peanuts Christmas book from Hallmark, but it’s not an adaptation of the TV special A Charlie Brown Christmas. Hallmark has issued new custom editions of book adaptations in all but two years since 2006, and the old shelf looks a little empty without a new one.
• No new sew-it-yourself fabric book this year. Admittedly, this has been more of an irregular thing, but given the lack of the above two, I seek solace where I can. (Although I cannot help but to point out that anyone who is enjoying the culture depicted in Pixar’s lovely new film Coco that this weekend, the Joann Fabrics stores have this on sale: )

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