The first comprehensive collection of the beloved and bestselling Peanuts 70+ characters. Published with the Charles Shulz Museum, The Complete Peanuts Character Encyclopedia covers the Peanuts universe of characters and icons.
As Schulz fleshed out the Peanuts tribe over the years, he tackled sensitive aspects of childhood and life with wit, poignancy, melancholy, and, above all, humor. This comprehensive volume portrays the characters in over 400 pieces of Schulz’s art. From Charlie Brown, Lucy, Snoopy, and Linus, to more obscure characters as José, Cormac, and Naomi, the entire gang’s all here!
special features include: Character by character features Classic strips and rarely seen art Images of toys and other trinkets A Peanuts family tree
For a new generation of Peanuts fans, those of us who grew up with it, comic collectors and fans, this beautiful giftable celebration of an American classic is a true treasure.
In the late 70's I had a Peanuts phase and would bother my mom everytime we went to the grocery store to spend $1-2 on a Peanuts book from a big metal wire book wheel at the front of the Dillons in Dodge City.
She usually caved for books since we didn't have a TV.
I even had the lunchbox, which was quite the deal.
Well, Peanuts led to Bloom County and Calvin and I grew out of it, but this was a fun walk though rapidly fading memories. The blurbs for each character were a little ham handed and I would have prefered more comics instead of the narrative.
The first comprehensive collection of the beloved and bestselling Peanuts 70+ characters. Published with the Charles Shulz Museum, The Complete Peanuts Character Encyclopedia covers the Peanuts universe of characters and icons.
This comprehensive volume portrays the characters in over 400 pieces of Schulz’s art. From Charlie Brown, Lucy, Snoopy, and Linus, to more obscure characters as José, Cormac, and Naomi, the entire gang’s all here!
For a new generation of Peanuts fans, those of us who grew up with it, comic collectors and fans, this beautiful giftable celebration of an American classic is a true treasure.
There are entries for every character to appear in the strip including lots that I've never heard of. Many of the entries include quotes from Schultz, providing insight into why he created certain characters, or why they have the personality quirks that they do.
If you're a fan of Peanuts this charming encyclopedia of all of Charles Schulz's characters is a must-read. There are entries for every character to appear in the strip, including many that I'd never heard of. Many of the entries include quotes from Schulz, providing insights into why he created certain characters or why they have the personality quirks they do. Highly recommended to all fans of the comic strip art form!
This was a good book for a Peanuts fan, as it contains information on all of the characters that ever appeared, with some entries obviously being more extensive than others. The book was divided rather oddly though in a random format that didn't really make any sense to me (at least from my reading of it). I didn't understand why some of the characters appeared chronologically as entries and others did not.
Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the Peanuts gang have been a solid cornerstone in pop culture for over 60 years, easily identifiable whether you are a fan of comic strips or not. In fact, the overly anxious Charlie Brown , the human-like Snoopy, and their friends can be found in more places than one even realizes. Charles M. Schulz created quite a cast of characters, many based on himself or personal development experiences. Andrew Farago praises these eccentric Peanuts kiddos and compiles their statistics in, “The Complete Peanuts Family Album: The Ultimate Guide to Charles M. Schulz’s Classic Characters”.
“The Complete Peanuts Family Album” is a full-color coffee table book serving to list and identify each member of the Peanuts comic strip even if those figures were only featured in a single appearance. After a (very) brief introduction into Schulz’s Peanuts world; Farago dives into the list of characters starting with Charlie Brown. Farago’s identifications include statistical information including the date the character is first mentioned, named, and/or appeared alongside a background bio that often includes quotes from Schulz concerning his feelings about a character or the way he or she fits into the complexities of the strip. This is supplemented with graphic visuals: a strip featuring the character, model sheets, drawings and other illustrative artifacts.
Farago excels at making the character biographies come alive giving a sense and purpose to each Peanuts character. Whether a die-hard fan or just an average Peanuts-lover; the text provides introspection and a wide-eye view that alters perceptions of the Peanuts strips (in a good way). One realizes more so than ever, the depth behind Schulz’s creations.
In addition to Peanuts characters; Farago also includes characterizations of recurring events, places, and subjects from the Peanuts world. This thematic approach is almost philosophical and also creates a more breakdown analysis of the entire Peanuts imaginary world.
“The Complete Peanuts Family Album” concludes with a brief mini “bio” of Charles Schulz. This serves as a reminder, though, of what this text is missing in regards to conceptual strength. “The Complete Peanuts Family Album” would have aided monumentally from a more in-depth look at the Peanuts gang with the initial conception to such topics as memorabilia. Also severely absent is a thorough background discussion of Schulz and his cartooning. However, “The Complete Peanuts Family Album” is precisely that: a field guide to the characters and not a Peanuts social history and in that regard; Farago hits his thesis completely on target.
Farago’s “The Complete Peanuts Family Album” is a charming and cute approach to introducing /refreshing the Peanuts gang that will delights fans of the strip. Although the text isn’t mind-blowing or overly captivating to the average reader; “The Complete Peanuts Family Album” is recommended for all Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and Peanuts fans.
This is a great book for fans of Peanuts. It has listings for every character who ever appeared in the strip -- not just Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lusy, Linus, etc. but also the more obscure characters like Thibault, Charlotte Braun, Lila, etc. A fun read!
Having this on Kindle is not an ideal format…I’m sure this would work much better as a coffee table book. It is sort of a pain to have to constantly try to zoom in to read the comics and the other information. Since the Peanuts actually pre-date MY birth (and that is saying something since I am of retirement age), there was much I wasn’t aware of about the history of the Peanuts. A lot of the comics included in the book weren’t very funny, and since I originally thought this was just a big collection of the comics, I was a little disappointed. Certainly from an art history point of view though, this is a very good book. It appears to be quite comprehensive in that respect.
This is probably a great book for die hard fans. I have seen the Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentines, and the four feature length films released between 1969 and 1980. I rarely read the daily or the Sunday comics, and I have not seen most of the animated shows. This is what I thought it would be going in, and that is okay. I just wish there was more of a linear timeline. After it introduces the main characters it skips from the 1950's to the 1990's and back in introducing the secondary characters. Some of the characters it chronicles made just once appearance in a daily four panel comic, and were never heard from again. I'm not a big enough fan to care that deeply.
This was a fun read, as it chronicles practically all of the characters that graced the Peanuts comic strip. It covers the big names (Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus, Sally, Woodstock) as well as the bit players. A sort of return to childhood, but also just a chance to learn more about the GOAT of newspaper comic strips.
If I could give this book ten stars, I would! I never imagined that such a comprehensive collection of Peanuts characters existed. It took me longer than usual to read this book because I wanted to savor every word! Every character that's ever appeared in a Peanuts strip or special is included here (including Snoopy's many personas) and there were a lot that I'd never "met" before. There are lots of pictures, not only of the characters but of classic Peanuts merchandise, which fans of nostalgia should enjoy. If you're a huge Peanuts fan, or even a casual one, you will love "The Complete Peanuts Family Album".
For my money, Charles Schulz's "Peanuts" is the greatest American contribution to world literature, and certainly ranks in the top 10 artistic statements in the world. This book is a lovely paean to the literary universe created and populated by Mr. Schulz.
What a resplendent trip down memory lane! I rediscovered characters I had forgotten, enjoyed reminiscing about my favorites, and skeptically learned about those I didn't know existed.
Peanuts fan since I was born. I loved this. Good to have every Peanuts character in one book. And the pictures were amazing. Seriously. The different styles.
Four stars for the artwork itself. However, as someone who is pretty much a Peanuts expert, I feel they really slacked on biography for some of the early characters.