Is it possible to love something without actually understanding it? It’s a puzzle that has stumped philosophers through the centuries. And with the new Wendy’s Kids’ Meal book I Love Baseball, we can finally affirm that the answer is “yes”.

This short book (it’s all two-page spreads, so then 10 interior pages make up only 5 images total) is narrated by Charlie Brown. At least, one of the images seems to suggest that the “I” is Charlie Brown, it’s hard to tell definitively. Anyway, the presumably round-headed narrator asserts that he loves baseball, because it’s a team game, and explains how the pitcher (depicted as Charlie Brown) pitches, the batter (Snoopy) hits, and then he tries to run for home.

As you can see, the gang is all celebrating as Snoopy heads for home… which just shows how little Charlie Brown understands baseball. He was the pitcher; Snoopy was the batter, which means that he is on the other team. Snoopy’s success is Charlie Brown’s failure; his goal as a pitcher is to prevent Snoopy from getting on base. A home run is the ultimate failure of all Charlie Brown was striving for.  And yes, Lucy and Linus, who are cheering Snoopy on, are also shown as part of Charlie Brown’s team.

So love is possible without understanding. Which I should have known, for I do not understand love, but I love it nonetheless.

(To be fair to the book: it does a good job of what it was designed to do – being a little visual entertainment for the under-3 crowd. I think this run of Wendy’s board books are actually cool, in their simple, brightly-colored way.)

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