When I reviewed the 2015 book adapting the TV special It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, I had this to say:

The book that’s titled It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (adaptation by Kara McMahon, art by Scott Jeralds) takes basically the whole special and simplifies everything. It briefly tells you that Charlie Brown had trouble with the scissors, rather than show you. It has him get a rock once, then just mention that it happens repeatedly. It skips the Flying Ace’s mission altogether, but basically, it takes everything from front to end. When you have 22 pages to tell a tale that’s more than 22 minutes, that’s the way it has to be.

Well, now that adaptation has been reworked into a padded-cover board book (which the publisher considers “a Super Chubby”, with a logo on the back cover to attest to that fact.) Now that 22 page adaptation is down to 18 pages, they don’t even mention that he got a rock repeatedly. One rock, that’s it. The end effect is a book that is a plot explanation, and might be good for kids who have already enjoyed the special and which to recall it, but it’s not a great thing in itself. The humor is basically gone (oh, okay, the image of Violet drawing a jack-o-lantern face on Charlie Brown’s head still counts as funny.) When Sally’s disappointed rant is pared down to “Halloween is over and I missed it”, it’s somewhat like we found the story was over and we missed it.

But I’m holding the board book to too high a level. A board book is there for kids to look at pictures and to stick into their mouths safely. (Note: I have not reviewed the book for taste.)

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