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 offers are right. But it manage to invoke my editorially ire with the second sentence.

Snoopy first debuted in the Peanuts comic strip on October 4, 1950.

The bolding is theirs. It’s to let you know that debuted is one of just five terms that appears in the book’s glossary, where it is defined as “presented to an audience for the first time.” That’s an accurate definition… which just shows you that what that sentence said is when he was first first presented. Dadgummit, when I’m paying 14 cents per word for a book, I want them to be the right words, not monstrosities of the language. I want 14 cents back.

Other than that, while it’s a relatively smooth version of what it is, it’s ridiculously overpriced for end consumer purchase, and not something I recommend for anything but the most excessive collector. If you want an excuse for not counting it as a Peanuts book, note that while images on a few pages are licensed from Peanuts Worldwide, the book on the whole is not a licensed item.

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