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Peanuts Coronet #30
You're Not for Real, Snoopy!
Selected cartoons about Charlie Brown and his dog, Snoopy.
140 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1971
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About the author
Charles M. Schulz
3,022 books1,624 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 - 11 of 11 reviews
December 31, 2018
'You try for a little happiness, and what do you get? A few memories and a fat stomach.'
Good grief, how alluring, funny, smart and touching this was…! From the golden age of Peanuts, this was a gift of half an hour of undiluted joy, lovely and recognisable observations on the silliness of life pithily wrapped in the thoughts and interactions of an amusing cast of little characters. Knowing them only from silly merchandising and not having read one iota of the comics before nor met them in TV shows or film (maybe I do live on another planet?), I was entirely unaware of their charm and of the quirky philosophic and melancholic undertones of this series.
Well, Charlie Brown, while you had to read Gulliver’s travels during the Christmas vacation and were not getting to it until the last night, hopefully the son who has to read and write a book report on Bernhard Schlink’s The Reader in this very same period might take inspiration from your adventures - or will meeting you and your pals bring him to even more procrastination? As the pot calls the kettle back, now give me back that blanket and get started reading the book, son.
'Don’t worry about the world coming to an end today. It’s already tomorrow in Australia.'
Good grief, how alluring, funny, smart and touching this was…! From the golden age of Peanuts, this was a gift of half an hour of undiluted joy, lovely and recognisable observations on the silliness of life pithily wrapped in the thoughts and interactions of an amusing cast of little characters. Knowing them only from silly merchandising and not having read one iota of the comics before nor met them in TV shows or film (maybe I do live on another planet?), I was entirely unaware of their charm and of the quirky philosophic and melancholic undertones of this series.
Well, Charlie Brown, while you had to read Gulliver’s travels during the Christmas vacation and were not getting to it until the last night, hopefully the son who has to read and write a book report on Bernhard Schlink’s The Reader in this very same period might take inspiration from your adventures - or will meeting you and your pals bring him to even more procrastination? As the pot calls the kettle back, now give me back that blanket and get started reading the book, son.
'Don’t worry about the world coming to an end today. It’s already tomorrow in Australia.'
March 12, 2024
I think this is my favorite one.
December 13, 2015
Lucy finally cracked. I laughed so hard! I've always loved Lucy, she's just crazy in all kinds of ways, and reminds me of me all at the same time. Once again I'm struck by the brilliance of Schulz and his perceptiveness.
September 27, 2022
When life is dark and harsh, I open a Peanuts comic book and for a moment, I can smile and go on with life even when I'm crying.
September 4, 2017
Refreshing, funny, cute and surprisingly wise.
July 30, 2023
Book 30 in the long running Coronet series, this is taken from “You Need Help, Charlie Brown vol 1” and was published in 1971 (I read the 1982 edition), featuring strips from 1964 and 1965 (which is earlier in the run than I usually read). As always, there’s plenty to enjoy and my highlights include Lucy’s assistant Snoopy, Snoopy’s record breaking happy dance, Linus for school president, Mrs Van Pelt’s sarcasm, Lucy & Charlie Brown lamenting the state of the world (and, sadly, their worries are pretty much the same as they would be today), CB and Linus moving items from Snoopy’s kennel (which shows it’s huge size but isn’t something I think I’ve seen done since), Violet’s dad saying he’s having a physical breakdown since turning 40 (I wonder if Schulz himself turned 40 around this time?), Lucy and Linus’ blanket, Snoopy’s romance with the girl beagle. There’s a lot of humour, plenty of melancholy (Charlie Brown’s unrequited love for the red-headed girl especially) and it features CB, Lucy and Linus heavily (Sally’s in a couple of strips), with Snoopy striking out on his own quite a bit. A brilliant collection that, as ever, struck a wonderful nostalgic chord, this was a terrific read and I highly recommend it.
January 27, 2019
Not the funniest of the snoopy books. No Woodstock. Lots about his dog house and Lucy.
March 17, 2023
Some of it was funny....I love Snoopy himself.
Most of it was really outdated though.
Most of it was really outdated though.
April 30, 2023
"I hate myself for not having enough nerve to talk to her! Well, that isn't exactly true... I hate myself for a lot of other reasons too..."
You can't tell me this series was made for kids.
You can't tell me this series was made for kids.
December 6, 2008
My book is from '71.
April 11, 2023
Fun and light reading.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews