The mail brought two new Peanuts board books this week, and the web offered up images of another, so I guess that’s the theme for the day.

Cheering You On, Charlie Brown looks first at how Charlie Brown has a lot of difficulty in life, but then at how he has a bunch of friends to support him…. although, frankly, some of the examples of support are a little questionable, as CB’s friends often seem to be a cause of stress. “When Charlie Brown needs to talk, he can always count on Peppermint Patty”… but the accompanying image has Peppermint Patty giving him a call, and he responds “Good grief!” That seems accurate; we may like our friends, but we may not always like the moment. Written by Patty Michaels and drawn by Scott Jeralds, my favorite image in this book is probably the one on the title page.

Be a Good Sport, Charlie Brown is a board book adaptation of an earlier storybook, which I reviewed back in 2019. This leads it to have what feels like a bit too much text for a board book. but that may just be my prejudice regarding book formats. That the book is circular (mostly) makes it a nice physical object (if perhaps awkward to shelve), and the slight padding of the cover gives it good hand feel. (Board books are physical objects first, media for story second, so this is viable analysis.)

Simon Spotlight is following up this baseball-shaped book with another storybook adaptation. It’s Hockey Time, Franklin! features a cover that is not only shaped like a hockey puck, but textured like one as well, we’re told.

Having that wide, curved shape on the cover gives rise to some interestingly-formatted spreads.

That book drops in August, so it can be on hand for the next hockey season! (I looked at the original storybook version back in 2017.)

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