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Peanuts Parade / Peanuts Classics #23
And a Woodstock in a Birch Tree
Join the gang for summer camps, scout troops, baseball games, book reports, and discos!
A facsimile edition of the 14th Peanuts paperback book that collects 188 pages of classic comic strips from 1978-1979.
A facsimile edition of the 14th Peanuts paperback book that collects 188 pages of classic comic strips from 1978-1979.
194 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1979
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31 people want to read
About the author
Charles M. Schulz
3,026 books1,625 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 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 14, 2025
Loooooove the birds and dogs! The kids are fine.
October 20, 2024
Hey, lets get a silly book now and then!
November 19, 2015
And a Woodstock in a Birch Tree introduces a new character to the Peanuts world: Eudora. Eudora is a girl that Sally meets while at camp. Eudora wears a beanie, has black, stringy hair, and is always worried about something. Another new character is introduced: "Crybaby" Boobie . "Crybaby" Boobie is always screaming about something while on the tennis court. Molly Volley cannot stand playing against her and doesn't like her very much.
I have been reading Peanuts comic strips for almost forty years. As a child, I loved Charlie Brown and his gang of misfits and all the trouble that they would get into. Charlie Brown is probably my favorite character, but I really like Linus too, unless he is spouting his religious beliefs. I never really understood why he did that. I enjoy Snoopy, but never really liked Woodstock. Lucy with her bad attitude is also one of my favorite characters. Overall, I pretty much like all of the main characters in the Peanuts gang and always enjoy sitting down and reading one of their books. You just can't go wrong with a Peanuts Parade book.
And a Woodstock in a Birch Tree is a wonderful collection of Peanuts comic strips that made me chuckle. It was nice that Charles M. Schulz created a friend for Sally, as she really needed one. I don't know if Eudora will be around long, but for Sally's sake, I sure hope so. So, if you are looking for a great time reading about Charlie Brown and all of his friends, pick up a copy of this book.
I have been reading Peanuts comic strips for almost forty years. As a child, I loved Charlie Brown and his gang of misfits and all the trouble that they would get into. Charlie Brown is probably my favorite character, but I really like Linus too, unless he is spouting his religious beliefs. I never really understood why he did that. I enjoy Snoopy, but never really liked Woodstock. Lucy with her bad attitude is also one of my favorite characters. Overall, I pretty much like all of the main characters in the Peanuts gang and always enjoy sitting down and reading one of their books. You just can't go wrong with a Peanuts Parade book.
And a Woodstock in a Birch Tree is a wonderful collection of Peanuts comic strips that made me chuckle. It was nice that Charles M. Schulz created a friend for Sally, as she really needed one. I don't know if Eudora will be around long, but for Sally's sake, I sure hope so. So, if you are looking for a great time reading about Charlie Brown and all of his friends, pick up a copy of this book.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews