The Easter Beagle hunts again
January brings us a new Peanuts kiddie book (presumably a board book, given the page count and price): The Easter Beagle Egg Hunt. If you think the upcoming book list is looking pretty empty between Complete Peanuts volumes, I agree. But worry not, there are other books for the serious …
Peanuts meet Dracula
A couple years back, a talented one-time collaborator of mine named Adam Rex came out with a children’s book of humorous poems about monsters, called Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich. I meant to blog about that here not only because the book was very funny (which it was) but because when …
Grrrreat Pumpkin, the really extended edition
The new DVD edition of It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown comes out in September. And yes, it does include a second animated special It’s Magic, Charlie Brown (which means that this time they’re not keeping with the same paired-special packaging as the previous version, which had You’re Not Elected, …
Some of you may remember my finding a couple odd Peanuts books at Costco, hardbacks each collecting three of the Ballantine Books collections from the final few years of the strip. I hadn’t seen them anywhere else (nor even at Costco again), but now I’ve found a source for those …
The last word (give or take 30,000) on the Schulz biography
This month’s issue of The Comics Journal focuses on the debate over the biography Schulz and Peanuts, including a 30,000+ word rebuttal from Schulz’s son Monte, plus commentary from a roundtable of Peanuts experts. I haven’t seen it yet, and in some ways, I’m a bit reluctant to; the debate …
Peanuts presented by a parakeet?
My latest Peanuts purchases hail from Mexico, as so many things (and folks) around here in Southern California do’ First off we have Felicidad Es Un Perrito Calientito, a Spanish language adaptation of Happiness is a Warm Puppy. They keep the full colored-paper format of the 1962 original… but to …
Charlie Brown on the radio
NPR did a nice piece on Charlie Brown as a character this weekend, talking to For Better Or Worse‘s Lynn Johnston, You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown‘s Anthony Rapp, and Judith Viorst, author of many books including Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, a book that …
This year’s Complete Peanuts boxed set
The boxed set of The Complete Peanuts 1967-1970 has been announced for September… which is interesting, because the second volume in that set, 1969-1970, isn’t supposed to ship on its own until October. Between that and the reports (which I’ve not yet confirmed) that the boxed set will include the …
The intro writer for the next Complete Peanuts
Mo Willems will provide the introduction for The Complete Peanuts volume 10. Now, I suspect that while a few of you will smile at that, others are going “who”? Mo is a former Sesame Street writer who has become a leading children’s book creator. He is the creator of the …
Charlie Brown clears the air
You may have seen every Charlie Brown animation that has ever been on TV, but even that would leave you missing some special-purpose cartoons. One example of this is the pollution-themed short created for the American Lung Association, “Charlie Brown Clears the Air” Now, I enjoy a good Peanuts animation, …