I don’t think I’ve ever wished to give books letter grades before, but it would be fun to write Be Thankful, Be Giving: B+. I’m not saying that’s accurate, I’m saying that’d be fun to write. Be Thankful, Be Giving is a D-shaped Thanksgiving-themed board book. For a board book, they …

Be More Snoopy is out today, and I’m already getting the “how can I get this signed?” query. Well, unsurprisingly, I have no signing tour on the schedule…. but all you have to do is email me your U.S. address, and I will email you a signed bookplate (that’s a …

There’s a strip from the 1950s where Charlie Brown is examining the books on Lucy’s shelf and finds such titles as Can a Fuss-Budget Find Love and Happiness?, The Decline and Fall of the Fuss-Budget, and, as a punchline, Can a Fuss-Budget Become President? And I thought I got the joke, I really …

You’re running out of time to preorder my upcoming Peanuts book, Be More Snoopy. After all, once Tuesday rolls around, the book will have been released, and then you’ll only be able to order it, not preorder. Sure, that’d still be cool, but not as cool. This is a book with …

The new “Ready-to-Read Level Two” storybook Let’s Go to the Library! is officially “by Charles M. Schulz, adapted by May Nakamura, illustrated by Robert Pope”, and it’s actually valid to call it an adaptation (which is not true of some of these storybooks.) This tale of Sally’s first trip to …

  The “book and flashlight set” Snoopy Goes to Space is another boxed set item from Phoenix International. The book is one of those sound-button books for kids, where as you read, the text include pictures of buttons to push. Push the button, and you get the appropriate sound effect. The …

Announced for October is Christmas Is Here! Holiday Gift Set, a boxed set of a book and stuffed Snoopy wearing a cap. This makes me tense on a number of fronts. It’s published by Phoenix International. In the past, when their products show up on Amazon, they don’t always ever …

Better Together is a recent Hallmark release that bridges halfway between a pictures-and-aphorisms book like Happiness is a Warm Puppy and a strip collection. The square book is a series of spreads of Peanuts strips (really, Snoopy strips; the dog is in every one of them) paired with an aphorism on friendship. …

Working in the comics field and being a long-time reader of comic books, I’ve grown accustomed to the darker, cynical take on superheroes, depicting them with twisted motivations and deleterious effect. At times, it is quite well done (as in Watchmen); at other times, it’s a weak attempt deconstruction (like …

Hallmark has a couple of new books available at your local Hallmark store – or, for those of us who are trying to stay at home or whose nearby Hallmark store has closed down (both me), via mail order. Friend of the blog Kathleen wanted to make sure that I …