What do you think?
Rate this book
Peanuts Cook Book
Cartoons by Charles Schulz and recipes by June Dutton.
90 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1969
2 people are currently reading
177 people want to read
About the author
Charles M. Schulz
3,019 books1,641 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.”
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
January 29, 2008
the recipes are good - and one has rum in it - so gather round kiddies! its way better than any other kids cookbook ive seen - its more original (coleslaw with bananas) and more challenging than most books made for kids. and i have never liked snoopy, so its purely gastronomical. i say yum.
November 4, 2013
Happiness is...a grilled cheese-tomato sandwich.
This is a sweet novelty cook book.
There are 58 recipes tossed together with no rhyme or reason. Example - a recipe for pet food steak tartar is followed by ICING? Most of the creations bear a character's name - Schroeder's Chocolate Sauce, Lucy's Lemon Squares, Franklin's Jam Tarts. Peppermint Patty gets to plug Prune Whip. Funny...she never really struck me as a prune lover.
Every other page features a food-related Peanuts cartoon. You guessed it - most of them involve Snoopy and his ever-present dog dish.
SUPPERTIME!
I brought this home from elementary school, proudly purchased for 60 cents from the Scholastic Books catalog. I've NEVER EVER been tempted to make Sally's Scrambled Eggs with Stewed Tomatoes, but Frieda's French Toast has been my go-to French Toast recipe for as long as I can remember.
It's a keeper, though more for nostalgic than gastronomic reasons.
This is a sweet novelty cook book.
There are 58 recipes tossed together with no rhyme or reason. Example - a recipe for pet food steak tartar is followed by ICING? Most of the creations bear a character's name - Schroeder's Chocolate Sauce, Lucy's Lemon Squares, Franklin's Jam Tarts. Peppermint Patty gets to plug Prune Whip. Funny...she never really struck me as a prune lover.
Every other page features a food-related Peanuts cartoon. You guessed it - most of them involve Snoopy and his ever-present dog dish.
SUPPERTIME!
I brought this home from elementary school, proudly purchased for 60 cents from the Scholastic Books catalog. I've NEVER EVER been tempted to make Sally's Scrambled Eggs with Stewed Tomatoes, but Frieda's French Toast has been my go-to French Toast recipe for as long as I can remember.
It's a keeper, though more for nostalgic than gastronomic reasons.
May 5, 2018
I learned to make French Toast from the recipe in this little paperback, and I wish I had a copy now to replace the Scholastic paperback that fell apart long ago.
Out of print, I believe. Could our friends at Fantagraphics Books perhaps bring an updated edition back to print?
Highly recommended.
Out of print, I believe. Could our friends at Fantagraphics Books perhaps bring an updated edition back to print?
Highly recommended.
May 7, 2011
my first cookbook of my own! still have it and still make a variation of Lucy's Applesauce Pie :-)
June 2, 2014
Lucy's lemon bars are luscious!
September 23, 2014
I too have this collectors item. Wouldn't even think of giving it up. Always brings back memories when I pull it out. Can't wait to be able to pass it on to my kids and grandkids.
December 8, 2018
Fun book to get some comfort and some old school recipes from. I look forward to trying a few of them out, like the fried chicken and the applesauce cake.
July 6, 2019
Not really interested in the recipe. Just looking forward to the gang chemistry again after a few month. It did entertained me like usual!
September 28, 2024
3.5 Very Cute!
October 6, 2018
Yummy, creative recipes that kids (and grown-ups) will love, I think.
January 5, 2008
Recipes not so good but cartoons great.
Read
July 8, 2011cute but some do not taste very good.
Read
August 22, 2008Peanuts cook book by Charles M Schulz
May 1, 2015
Nice collection of peanuts comics and related recipes!
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews