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Ballantine Books Peanuts #5
Peanuts 2000
"Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy... how can I ever forget them..." - Charles Schulz
How could any of us ever forget them? For fifty years, Charles Schulz and the whole Peanuts gang have delighted millions of readers around the world. Now, in celebration of the artist who quickly became a national treasure, this special anniversary volume brings together for the first time in book form the last year of the Peanuts comic strip. With Peanuts 2000, there's no need to say goodbye to old friends.
How could any of us ever forget them? For fifty years, Charles Schulz and the whole Peanuts gang have delighted millions of readers around the world. Now, in celebration of the artist who quickly became a national treasure, this special anniversary volume brings together for the first time in book form the last year of the Peanuts comic strip. With Peanuts 2000, there's no need to say goodbye to old friends.
167 pages, Paperback
First published September 5, 2000
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172 people want to read
About the author
Charles M. Schulz
3,037 books1,635 followersCharles Monroe Schulz was an American cartoonist, whose comic strip Peanuts proved one of the most popular and influential in the history of the medium, and is still widely reprinted on a daily basis.
Schulz's first regular cartoons, Li'l Folks, were published from 1947 to 1950 by the St. Paul Pioneer Press; he first used the name Charlie Brown for a character there, although he applied the name in four gags to three different boys and one buried in sand. The series also had a dog that looked much like Snoopy. In 1948, Schulz sold a cartoon to The Saturday Evening Post; the first of 17 single-panel cartoons by Schulz that would be published there. In 1948, Schulz tried to have Li'l Folks syndicated through the Newspaper Enterprise Association. Schulz would have been an independent contractor for the syndicate, unheard of in the 1940s, but the deal fell through. Li'l Folks was dropped from the Pioneer Press in January, 1950.
Later that year, Schulz approached the United Feature Syndicate with his best strips from Li'l Folks, and Peanuts made its first appearance on October 2, 1950. The strip became one of the most popular comic strips of all time. He also had a short-lived sports-oriented comic strip called It's Only a Game (1957–1959), but he abandoned it due to the demands of the successful Peanuts. From 1956 to 1965 he contributed a single-panel strip ("Young Pillars") featuring teenagers to Youth, a publication associated with the Church of God.
Peanuts ran for nearly 50 years, almost without interruption; during the life of the strip, Schulz took only one vacation, a five-week break in late 1997. At its peak, Peanuts appeared in more than 2,600 newspapers in 75 countries. Schulz stated that his routine every morning consisted of eating a jelly donut and sitting down to write the day's strip. After coming up with an idea (which he said could take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours), he began drawing it, which took about an hour for dailies and three hours for Sunday strips. He stubbornly refused to hire an inker or letterer, saying that "it would be equivalent to a golfer hiring a man to make his putts for him." In November 1999 Schulz suffered a stroke, and later it was discovered that he had colon cancer that had metastasized. Because of the chemotherapy and the fact he could not read or see clearly, he announced his retirement on December 14, 1999.
Schulz often touched on religious themes in his work, including the classic television cartoon, A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965), which features the character Linus van Pelt quoting the King James Version of the Bible Luke 2:8-14 to explain "what Christmas is all about." In personal interviews Schulz mentioned that Linus represented his spiritual side. Schulz, reared in the Lutheran faith, had been active in the Church of God as a young adult and then later taught Sunday school at a United Methodist Church. In the 1960s, Robert L. Short interpreted certain themes and conversations in Peanuts as being consistent with parts of Christian theology, and used them as illustrations during his lectures about the gospel, as he explained in his bestselling paperback book, The Gospel According to Peanuts, the first of several books he wrote on religion and Peanuts, and other popular culture items. From the late 1980s, however, Schulz described himself in interviews as a "secular humanist": “I do not go to church anymore... I guess you might say I've come around to secular humanism, an obligation I believe all humans have to others and the world we live in.”
Schulz's first regular cartoons, Li'l Folks, were published from 1947 to 1950 by the St. Paul Pioneer Press; he first used the name Charlie Brown for a character there, although he applied the name in four gags to three different boys and one buried in sand. The series also had a dog that looked much like Snoopy. In 1948, Schulz sold a cartoon to The Saturday Evening Post; the first of 17 single-panel cartoons by Schulz that would be published there. In 1948, Schulz tried to have Li'l Folks syndicated through the Newspaper Enterprise Association. Schulz would have been an independent contractor for the syndicate, unheard of in the 1940s, but the deal fell through. Li'l Folks was dropped from the Pioneer Press in January, 1950.
Later that year, Schulz approached the United Feature Syndicate with his best strips from Li'l Folks, and Peanuts made its first appearance on October 2, 1950. The strip became one of the most popular comic strips of all time. He also had a short-lived sports-oriented comic strip called It's Only a Game (1957–1959), but he abandoned it due to the demands of the successful Peanuts. From 1956 to 1965 he contributed a single-panel strip ("Young Pillars") featuring teenagers to Youth, a publication associated with the Church of God.
Peanuts ran for nearly 50 years, almost without interruption; during the life of the strip, Schulz took only one vacation, a five-week break in late 1997. At its peak, Peanuts appeared in more than 2,600 newspapers in 75 countries. Schulz stated that his routine every morning consisted of eating a jelly donut and sitting down to write the day's strip. After coming up with an idea (which he said could take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours), he began drawing it, which took about an hour for dailies and three hours for Sunday strips. He stubbornly refused to hire an inker or letterer, saying that "it would be equivalent to a golfer hiring a man to make his putts for him." In November 1999 Schulz suffered a stroke, and later it was discovered that he had colon cancer that had metastasized. Because of the chemotherapy and the fact he could not read or see clearly, he announced his retirement on December 14, 1999.
Schulz often touched on religious themes in his work, including the classic television cartoon, A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965), which features the character Linus van Pelt quoting the King James Version of the Bible Luke 2:8-14 to explain "what Christmas is all about." In personal interviews Schulz mentioned that Linus represented his spiritual side. Schulz, reared in the Lutheran faith, had been active in the Church of God as a young adult and then later taught Sunday school at a United Methodist Church. In the 1960s, Robert L. Short interpreted certain themes and conversations in Peanuts as being consistent with parts of Christian theology, and used them as illustrations during his lectures about the gospel, as he explained in his bestselling paperback book, The Gospel According to Peanuts, the first of several books he wrote on religion and Peanuts, and other popular culture items. From the late 1980s, however, Schulz described himself in interviews as a "secular humanist": “I do not go to church anymore... I guess you might say I've come around to secular humanism, an obligation I believe all humans have to others and the world we live in.”
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
June 20, 2020
My friends on here already know how impactful comic strips have been on me; if you want to know that story, go read my reviews of other Peanuts compilations, or the various Garfield or Dilbert volumes.
So...how was this book? It was fun, though the characters acted rather strange at times; occasionally, Peppermint Patty's words reminded me of the old fan theories about Scooby-Doo (not that I have ever subscribed to or even believed such things).
Not only that, but, the edition I had was apparently missing some pages, including the one with the iconic final strip. I hope I can eventually find a copy containing the final year of the strip in its entirety.
So...how was this book? It was fun, though the characters acted rather strange at times; occasionally, Peppermint Patty's words reminded me of the old fan theories about Scooby-Doo (not that I have ever subscribed to or even believed such things).
Not only that, but, the edition I had was apparently missing some pages, including the one with the iconic final strip. I hope I can eventually find a copy containing the final year of the strip in its entirety.
March 31, 2010
Peanuts...if (as is the case with some people in my children's generation I know) your only exposure to Peanuts is (are) the TV cartoon, then you really don't know the strip. Please do yourself a favor and track down some of the collections of the comics. There is far more than humor in these strips. There is wisdom also. This is an anniversary collection and as good as always.
March 6, 2019
I mean, who could forget Snoopy and gang?
The goodbye felt personal; Peanuts as a comic strip has a way of transporting you into your own childhood/ adolescent years (alright, I'm only 18 and perhaps I might still be a teen but I feel old ), and Mr Schulz himself felt like a grandfather who lived down the street, watching over us. His farewell could almost be likened to how you might not see this old man again because he's got to move in with his child/into an aging home somewhere in another state.
Rest in peace, Mr Schulz.
The goodbye felt personal; Peanuts as a comic strip has a way of transporting you into your own childhood/ adolescent years (alright, I'm only 18 and perhaps I might still be a teen but I feel old ), and Mr Schulz himself felt like a grandfather who lived down the street, watching over us. His farewell could almost be likened to how you might not see this old man again because he's got to move in with his child/into an aging home somewhere in another state.
Rest in peace, Mr Schulz.
December 28, 2018
167 pages of pure enjoyment. My daughter currently adores these characters. We read this together. My childhood love for the Peanuts characters, especially Snoopy, been re-newed. Classic and fantastic...loved this read.
April 3, 2023
Peanuts was a long-running newspaper comic strip (1950-2000) created by cartoonist Charles M. Schulz (1922-2000). This volume is a collection of the strips during its final year.
At the time it was introduced, Peanuts was an innovative strip, starring children but meant for a “family” audience. Lovable loser Charlie Brown, crabby Lucy van Pelt, her philosophical brother Linus, and imaginative beagle Snoopy used sarcastic humor, topical references and surprisingly deep thought to create a small but vivid world for parents and children alike to visit, chuckle at and grow to love.
Over the years, the cast expanded to include Charlie Brown’s little sister Sally, filth magnet Pigpen, musician Schroeder, lunk-headed tomboy Peppermint Patty and her somewhat smarter friend Marcie, relatively normal black kid Franklin, and Lucy and Linus’ new sibling “Rerun.” Other characters faded, and some were never actually seen, like Charlie Brown’s barber father or “the little red-haired girl” that Charlie had a crush on.
By the 1960s, Peanuts had become one of the most popular comic strips in the world, and the merchandise sold well. The comic strip has been adapted for stage and screen, with the Christmas special being one of the most beloved repeats on television every year. And so it continued for decades.
But by 1999, Mr. Schulz was getting old and his health was failing. He’d always done the work of the strip himself rather than having assistants, and decided that rather than pass it on as a “legacy strip” as so many others had been, he would end Peanuts on his own terms.
And thus this volume. It’s not much different than the work he’d been doing before this in the 1990s, still the same good quality. Rerun had become more of a focus character, interested in getting free stuff and not wanting to go to school (though he does have a nice classmate–don’t think she was named.) Snoopy’s brothers make appearances, mostly desert-dwelling Spike.
There’s no plot advancement or closure, though we do get one final twist on the “kick the football” gag. The final Sunday strip is a farewell message from Schulz, who had passed away a few days before it ran. The end of an era indeed.
It doesn’t have any extras, as the strips stand well enough on their own.
It’s been a couple of decades now, and children have grown to adulthood with no new Peanuts strips. But there’s reruns, and collections, and the animation, so I hope that Charlie Brown and Snoopy and the rest will stay relevant to your families, as they were to mine, for many years to come.
At the time it was introduced, Peanuts was an innovative strip, starring children but meant for a “family” audience. Lovable loser Charlie Brown, crabby Lucy van Pelt, her philosophical brother Linus, and imaginative beagle Snoopy used sarcastic humor, topical references and surprisingly deep thought to create a small but vivid world for parents and children alike to visit, chuckle at and grow to love.
Over the years, the cast expanded to include Charlie Brown’s little sister Sally, filth magnet Pigpen, musician Schroeder, lunk-headed tomboy Peppermint Patty and her somewhat smarter friend Marcie, relatively normal black kid Franklin, and Lucy and Linus’ new sibling “Rerun.” Other characters faded, and some were never actually seen, like Charlie Brown’s barber father or “the little red-haired girl” that Charlie had a crush on.
By the 1960s, Peanuts had become one of the most popular comic strips in the world, and the merchandise sold well. The comic strip has been adapted for stage and screen, with the Christmas special being one of the most beloved repeats on television every year. And so it continued for decades.
But by 1999, Mr. Schulz was getting old and his health was failing. He’d always done the work of the strip himself rather than having assistants, and decided that rather than pass it on as a “legacy strip” as so many others had been, he would end Peanuts on his own terms.
And thus this volume. It’s not much different than the work he’d been doing before this in the 1990s, still the same good quality. Rerun had become more of a focus character, interested in getting free stuff and not wanting to go to school (though he does have a nice classmate–don’t think she was named.) Snoopy’s brothers make appearances, mostly desert-dwelling Spike.
There’s no plot advancement or closure, though we do get one final twist on the “kick the football” gag. The final Sunday strip is a farewell message from Schulz, who had passed away a few days before it ran. The end of an era indeed.
It doesn’t have any extras, as the strips stand well enough on their own.
It’s been a couple of decades now, and children have grown to adulthood with no new Peanuts strips. But there’s reruns, and collections, and the animation, so I hope that Charlie Brown and Snoopy and the rest will stay relevant to your families, as they were to mine, for many years to come.
April 15, 2018
Las tiras cómicas de Charlie Brown y sus amigos me trae recuerdos de las veces que husmeaba en los periódicos y recortaba solamente la hoja en donde estaban las tiras y los crucigramas. No puedo decir que fui criada con Charlie Brown, aunque me hubiese encantado. No ha sido una tira cómica común, está llena de mucho conocimiento cultural, no se de niña entendía realmente lo que expresaban, tienen un humor muy culto. Tratar de describir lo que he leído en esta edición quizás esté demás pues ¡mucha gente conoce a Charlie Brown!, aunque me atrevo a decir que es más relacionada a su perro, snoopy, y no es para menos, yo también quisiera un perro así jajaja. Ahora como Adulto puedo disfrutar mucho más que siendo niña estos cómics. Mi personaje favorito es Charlie, ese niño introvertido con quien me siento muy identificada. Esta edición es una recopilación del último año de publicaciones y la despedida del autor tras 50 años, aunque ya 18 años ya desde eso, pues uno no deja de sentirse conmovido, pero siempre habrá Charlie Brown y sus amigos, siempre, en nuestra memoria.
October 8, 2018
The comic that remains timely throughout generations. Favorite one has Charle Brown in bed with Snoopy at his feet.
Charlie Brown asks,” Sometimes I like awake at night, and I ask, ‘is life a multiple choice test or is it a true or false test?’ In the next frame he says,” then a voice comes to me out of the dark, and says,’ We hate to tell you this, but life is a thousand word essay.’ “
Proved a fun read over a week or so. A daily dose of Peanuts can brighten the days.
Charlie Brown asks,” Sometimes I like awake at night, and I ask, ‘is life a multiple choice test or is it a true or false test?’ In the next frame he says,” then a voice comes to me out of the dark, and says,’ We hate to tell you this, but life is a thousand word essay.’ “
Proved a fun read over a week or so. A daily dose of Peanuts can brighten the days.
March 29, 2024
I love comic book and Peanuts specials, but this is actually the first Peanuts book I've ever read. It did not disappointing! Rerun is hardly in any of the specials, so I've never really gotten to know his character before, but he's so fun in this book. I loved seeing so many of the story lines in this book wind up in Rerun's Christmas Special I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown. I definitely recommend this book.
March 12, 2021
Wonderful collection of strips from the final year of what is probably one of the all-time greatest comics in the history of comic strips. This book reminds me of how sad I was when the strip ended. So many years of following the antics of Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Linus, and the rest of the Peanuts gang.
December 22, 2019
Linus van Pelt is my favorite fictional character of all time, firstly.
Also, it was great getting to see the strips from the year I was born ('99). There was something special about seeing the exact strip drawn on the day I was born, and it involved a card tower, which made me happy!
Also, it was great getting to see the strips from the year I was born ('99). There was something special about seeing the exact strip drawn on the day I was born, and it involved a card tower, which made me happy!
November 11, 2024
These strips are lovely. The spirit of Good Ol’ Charlie Brown is still there. And Snoopy and Linus and Lucy. Peppermint Patty and Marcie. Rerun, sweet Rerun. Right up to the end. You’re a good man, Charlie Schulz.
December 24, 2018
First dip into Peanuts। Ok। But I like Calvin better.
June 15, 2019
Timeless comics
October 27, 2019
It was cute 😊
January 17, 2021
I have been a lifelong Peanuts fan and was thrilled to find a full-color collection of the entire final year of daily and Sunday strips (including the final one on Feb 13, 2000) in one book.
Read
September 18, 2023Read at that time it first came out
December 31, 2023
I rate this a 3.5.
December 22, 2025
I love the Peanuts comics, it was nice to read
May 15, 2015
The entire last year of Peanuts with the farewell strip from Charles Schulz in one volume. Awesome reading for comic fans who remember the oldies but goodies. I might get some criticism for not going the full five stars on this one but some of the strips were just a bit too sweet for me. Not that I did not fully enjoy my time spent reading this book, and I did actually find myself laughing out loud at some of the antics of the old crew. I guess I am becoming a bitter old man when I say no to giving old Chuck five stars. Really this one at least gets a high four star from this reader.
November 9, 2020
Join Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Peppermint Patty, Linus, and the rest of the gang as they have fun in the summer, survive school antics, and celebrate youth with vigour as they laugh, cry and dance their way through dozens of memorable comics. Schulz will keep readers of all ages laughing with every strip in this celebratory collection that is sure to keep on shelves for years to come. Charlie is sure he can keep his spirits high so long as he has some faithful friends - and a faithful dog - at his side.
July 3, 2016
Newspaper comic strips get a bad rap, but I am ever impressed with their ability to churn out content 365 days a year. The fact that this man did it for 50 years, is all the more impressive. While not every strip is a winner (let's face it, "you are weird" is not a punch line) he maintains a pretty high batting average. I don't remember the last years of the comic being so Rerun focused, and was a little sad that Linus got such little time, but I suppose he had his time in the sun.
January 17, 2019
This was a Christmas present that I absolutely adore! I never understand why some people are just 'so-so' about Snoopy and the gang. They're great friends to know and love. Everyone knows a Sally and a Lucy and a Marcie for example, everyone can relate to experiencing Charlie's bad luck at some point in their lives. If not the books then I implore you to watch the TV show and the movies - you won't be disappointed.
August 8, 2010
I liked this book because the comics were very funny and the pictures were good. My favorite character was
snoopy because he would ask for his dog food five minutes early and wouldn't get anything because he was only five minutes early. I liked how snoopywould fly his dog house in wars and how he would play with woodstock and his friends. I would recommend this book to someone who likes comics.
snoopy because he would ask for his dog food five minutes early and wouldn't get anything because he was only five minutes early. I liked how snoopywould fly his dog house in wars and how he would play with woodstock and his friends. I would recommend this book to someone who likes comics.
October 17, 2011
Some people didn't care for this book simply because the publishers colored in the strips, even the dailies. That didn't bother me a bit. I just love seeing the strips, and they're well-presented, too.
June 12, 2016
Another great PEANUTS collection, but get THE COMPLETE PEANUTS 1999 to 2000 instead. This one abridges a panel from the Sunday pages. The other prints every panel created by Schulz during these years and includes his pre-PEANUTS strip LI'L FOLKS as well. That one is 5 stars.
January 12, 2016
RIP, Charles M Schulz. This was a great way to finish up. #CancerSucks #PeanutsLoveForever
February 8, 2016
Peanuts was amazing...as always :) Rerun's bit in this book was really great!! :D
November 23, 2020
this is a really funny book that involves different point of views.
August 14, 2021
5 stars
A perfect farewell for the boy with the football head.😊
A perfect farewell for the boy with the football head.😊
July 16, 2023
This book is a very bittersweet one, so make sure you have a box of tissues handy.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews