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Notations used in this guide:

* = There's a copy of this book in the AAUGH.com reference library.

(HB) = The copy in the reference library is a hardcover (may not be noted on books available solely in hardcover.)

CB = Charlie Brown

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Peanuts Histories and Biographies

Begun 2000. November 8th, 2007 revision

The book listed here are histories of the Peanuts strip and/or biographies of Schulz (the two are generally intertwined.) Some such books have been mostly strip reprints with some commentary, and drawing the line will between what is a history book and what is a strip reprint is hard. On the Strip Reprints page, you will find the following books with significant history or commentary: Peanuts: A Golden Celebration (the 50th anniversary book), Peanuts Jubilee (the 25th anniversary book), Peanuts: The Art of Charles M. Schulz, and You Don't Look 35, Charlie Brown

• 50 Years of Happiness: A Tribute to Charles M. Schulz by Derrick Bang * (HB) A handy reference volume put out by the Peanuts Collector Club
• Charles M. Schulz: 40 Years Life and Art by Giovanni Trimboli * (HB) The 40th anniversary book. Strip reprints, and articles on Schulz and Peanuts by Schulz himself, his son Monte, Lee Mendelson, Umberto Eco, and others. An expensive, slipcased volume
• Charles M. Schulz: Conversations edited by M. Thomas Inge, collects over a dozen interviews of Schulz, plus pieces on Schulz by G. B. Trudeau and Bill Watterson *
• Charles M. Schulz: Cartoonist and Creator of Peanuts by Michael A. Schuman, part of the People To Know series aimed at young adults * (HB)
• Charles M. Schulz by Cheryl Carlson. Part of the First Biographies series. A short biography aimed at kids. * (HB)
• Charles Schulz by Cynthia Klingel and Robert B. Noyed. Part of the Wonders of Reading series. This is a ridiculously short biography aimed at kids. * (HB)
• Charles Schulz by Barbara Marvis. Part of the Robbie Reader series. A short biography aimed at kids. * (HB)
• Charles Schulz by Jim Whiting. Part of the Real-Life Reader biography series. This is a short biography aimed at kids. * (HB)
• Charles Schulz by Mae Wood. Part of the Checkerboard Biography Library: Children's Authors series. This is a very short biography aimed at kids. * (HB)
• Charles Schulz: Great Cartoonist (Reaching Your Goal) by Marilyn Mascola. A 1989 biography aimed at kids, part of the Reaching Your Goals series.
• Charlie Brown and Charlie Schulz by Lee Mendelson * (HB) The 20th anniversary book
• A Charlie Brown Christmas: The Making of a Tradition by Lee Mendelson, recounts the making of that TV special, with the script and sheet music. * (HB)
• Charlie Brown, Snoopy and Me * (HB) by Charles Schulz with R. Smith Kiliper This kid-oriented book has a simple autobiography, as well as Schulz discussing the characters, illustrated with strips. This is a nice piece, but I don't want people thinking it's some sort of deep bare-your-soul piece; it's more in line with what you'll see in Peanuts Jubilee or Peanuts: A Golden Celebration.
• Good Grief: The Story of Charles M. Schulz by Rheta Grimsley Johnson * The paperback edition, issued in 1995, has a five page update that was not in the 1990 hardcover.
• Happy Birthday, Charlie Brown by Lee Mendelson * (HB) The 30th anniversary book
• It's the Great Pumpking, Charlie Brown: The Making of a Television Classic by Lee Mendelson, recounts the making of that TV special, with the script and sheet music. *
• Me And Charlie Brown by Charlie Brown * This is an autobiography of the real Charlie Brown, Schulz's co-worker at Art Instruction Schools after whom the comic strip character was named.
• The Peanuts Trivia & Reference book by Monte Schulz and Jody Millward Co-written by Schulz's son, with what appears to be a new Schulz illo on the cover
• Schulz and Peanuts by David Michaelis * (HB, preview softcover, and excerpt booklet) A major biography of Schulz, controversial primarily for claims about his personality that are denied by his family, notably that he was a cold and distant father.
• They Called Him Sparky: Friends Reminiscences of Charles Shulz by David Liverett *Reminiscences and correspondences primarily from people he was involved with in the Church of God in the 1940s-1960s
• Today's Best Nonfiction volume 7 * (HB) contains an abridged version of Good Grief: The Story of Charles M. Schulz.