Off the Bookshelf: "Peanuts" paperbacks

Redartz:  Hello all, and pardon me while I dust off the bookshelf a bit. Doubtlessly everyone here is familiar with Charles Shulz' "Peanuts" newspaper comics. The strip was a daily highlight for countless millions of fans , over a span of decades. Some of us, however, missed out on that daily dose of Charlie Brown and Snoopy. Our local newspaper, for some reason, failed to carry "Peanuts". So, what to do, sit back and wait for the next holiday tv special?

 Why, no need to worry. All I had to do was head for the local drug store. There (conveniently located near the comic spinner rack) was a rack of paperbacks. Among said paperbacks  were usually found Fawcett Books' collections of "Peanuts" comic strips. Those most commonly found contained the collected strips from half of a year ( at the bookstore downtown, though, one could find the larger volumes reprinting an entire years' worth of comics).

Notice the fifty cent price tag on these books. About the price of two comic books at the time, which made for a challenge at the checkout. Of course, the larger books had a bigger price: a whopping dollar and a quarter, in the mid 70's! Certainly a bargain; you got a lot of Lucy and Linus, plenty of Patty, and volumes of Violet. And there was the benefit of seeing all the strips presented in original order, so if you missed a day here and there in your paper, you could still catch the entire story run (frequently Schulz would follow a theme over days, even a week or more).

By the time I was in high school and working part-time, I could better afford the bigger collections. The editions published in the latter 70's and into the 80's were presented in a larger format, so the daily strips were correspondingly bigger, as well. The old editions, reprinting some of the strips' early years, still have a classic, appealing simplicity of design, and an attractive matte finish cover (such as "Good Ol' Charlie Brown" and "You'll Flip, Charlie Brown", both shown above).




 





 Fawcett books also offered adaptations of the tv specials and movies- a real treat in those days when no dvd's or videotapes existed. You can tell from the scans, these copies have been pretty heavily read. Incidentally, if you haven't seen it, "Snoopy Come Home" could bring a lump to the throat; just a warning...

 


Over the years I accumulated quite a pile of these paperbacks, while developing a great love for Charles Schulz' creations. Those books accompanied me to summer camp and kept me occupied on family car trips. Like comic books, these paperbacks were frequently found at grocery stores and gift shops, so they made great "keep em busy" purchases for parents. Plus, they were usually found at school! Such paperbacks were often among the selections in the Scholastic Book Club order forms. Which meant ,of course,some humor to go along with the usual dinosaur, baseball, and mystery selections. I particularly recall a "Peanuts Cookbook", which contained recipes named for (and presented by) the cast, such as "Lucy's Lemon Squares". Wish I still had that one...

Many of those paperbacks  found their way into the possession of my sons (and grandkids), over the ensuing years. They found enjoyment in them as well, proving once again that Charlie Brown and his friends remain universally loved. Somewhere, Charles Schulz is smiling...