Sixty-five years ago, the first Peanuts comic strip, created by Charles Schulz, was published. Fifty years ago, A Charlie Brown Christmas Special aired on television for the first time, and year after year it’s the top-rated Christmas special. This year, Snoopy, Charlie Brown, and the rest of the Peanuts gang go gangbusters with the November release of their first major motion picture. This fall 20th Century Fox and Blue Sky Studios will release the film featuring computer-generated imagery—another first for Charlie Brown and company. The film will feature a rarely seen character, Belle, Snoopy’s sister, who appeared in only 17 of Schulz’s comic strips.
Today, amid the many celebrities at BookCon, is the biggest star of all: Snoopy, who puts the pop in pop culture. He’ll be offering hugs and photo-ops at Table 4 in the autographing area, 11 a.m.–1 p.m. Forbes magazine rated Snoopy “America’s most beloved spokescharacter,” and Peanuts boasts an unheard-of 99% global awareness (that coveted Q score). So step aside, Kardashians.
A big part of the world-wide awareness for Peanuts has been the more than 30 million books sold all over the globe. But “this year,” according to Craig Herman, executive director, publishing, for Peanuts Worldwide Entertainment, “is huge for bringing Peanuts to the next generation.” Helping to pass the torch to new young readers is an extensive publishing program with a wide range of books for the classroom, for the coffee-table or for good old reading pleasure.
Taking the lead in the book effort is Simon Spotlight, which will launch an extensive Peanuts publishing program this summer, including new editions of Peanuts classics and several movie tie-in books, such as It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown; Go Fly a Kite, Charlie Brown; Lose the Blanket, Linus! and You’ve Got Talent, Charlie Brown. For the original generation of Peanuts fans, there’s a high-end coffee-table book, The Art and Making of the Peanuts Movie, from Titan Books, and in October Abrams Comics Art is releasing Only What’s Necessary: Charles M. Schulz and the Art of Peanuts, by Chip Kidd, with an introduction by the creator of Wimpy Kid, Jeff Kinney.
To ensure that young readers get connected to the Peanuts gang on the page, the book world and Peanuts are partnering to capitalize on Snoopy’s Q rating, anointing him the poster-dog for reading. The world’s most famous beagle is the American Library Association’s official co-chair of Library Card Sign-up Month this September. Charlie Brown will be front and center, too, when he is featured on the American Association of Publishers “Get Caught Reading” posters, which have featured such historical figures as Abraham Lincoln, as well as celebrities and sports stars including John Lithgow, Diane Sawyer, Queen Latifah, Keira Knightly, and Grant Hill among others.
Herman says, “The moment is right to introduce a whole new generation of readers to Peanuts. With the major marketing that is going hand in hand with the movie release, the beloved gang will be everywhere.We have a golden opportunity to get kids reading, and we are thrilled to make it happen.”
This article appeared in the May 31, 2015 edition of PW BookCon Daily.
