The line stays drawn

There is much to be said for the modern self-publishing apparatus, but it also makes it mighty easy to offer materials of dubious value. As such, I’ve decided that even in my completism, I needn’t purchase absolutely every Peanuts-related book that someone drops on the public via use of self-publishing tools.

The latest book to get the “nah, I’m gonna skip that” treatment is The Key Leadership Lessons from The Wizard of Oz and It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, a 33 page tome for $14. Alas, Amazon’s preview shows only one interior page, and that’s the title page, so I cannot see what size text is used to fill out those 6″ x 9″ pages. The title page, like the front cover, indicates that whoever put this together does not know how to wield italics. (The back cover text, which is all about author Mostafa Sayyadi and not at all about credited co-author Mike Provitera, also lets me know this was not well proof-read, if at all.)

If you want one, there you go!

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 …

New releases
Double Love

Simon Spotlight has dropped two books for the Valentine’s Day Shopping Season, and they’re pretty similar. Love is Everywhere, Snoopy! is a board book that is supposed to be Charlie Brown explaining love to Snoopy (who is said to have asked, which raises the usual how-does-Snoopy-communicate-to-Charlie-Brown question.) Charlie Brown answers …