Having now read through that first installment of In the Shadow of the Family Dog (it’s quite short; it is, after all, meant to be only an installment) I can assure people that this is not some hatchet job on Dena Hodges grandfather, Charles Schulz. Quite the opposite, as demonstrated by this quote early on:

“One unusual twist in my life is that my mother and I were both adopted at a very early age by the men who raised us. We were both very blessed by these adoptions because our adoptive fathers were both very positive and gentle influences and provided each of us with an element of stability that likely would not have otherwise existed in our lives.”

What this is, rather, is a woman being very public in working through her issues that are primarily with her mother. It’s not slickly written, it’s a personal outpouring. And it’s actually influenced by the problematic biography Schulz and Peanuts – Dena learns significant information about her own background from the book – but on the other hand it has an interesting contrast with that book. Dena views her mother as having been the inspiration for the personality of Lucy, much as Schulz and Peanuts painted Dena’s grandmother Joyce with being the influence; it seems that whomever one wants to make out to be the villain of the piece, one accuses of inspiring Lucy.

Is this book’s depiction of her mother accurate? Well, that’s one thing I don’t have first-hand information on; I’ve had conversations with three of Schulz’s kids, and had a book intro written by a fourth, but Dena’s mom is the one with whom I can claim no dealings at all. But one thing that I have come to understand about family stories, within my own family and in the families of others, is that there is no one right story; they are all accurate and they are all skewed, because each member of hte family has their own experience.

Is it appropriate for her to publish this? Yes, I think every person has the right to their own life, and to speak of it. Is it something which a Peanuts fan needs to read? Not so far. This book may be of interest to some people for other reasons, but it will not give you any particularly new insight into Peanuts and its creator.

(By the way, if that name “Dena” has been tickling at your brain – she was presumably named after her great grandmother, Schulz’s mom.)

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