Born to Draw Comics
The Story of Charles Schulz and the Creation of Peanuts
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Born to Draw Comics, a mixed-panel format picture book biography of Charles "Sparky" Schulz, creator of the beloved comic strip Peanuts.
As a child, Charles split his free time between adventures outdoors with his friends and dog Spike, and daydreams and doodles inspired by the comics he loved to read. He longed to become a professional cartoonist, but saw his dreams deferred by unexpected challenges that laid ahead: military deployment to the European front of World War II, and the heartbreak of a family tragedy back home. Even so, Charles never lost sight of the hopeful joy of his early years and his love for Spike, both of which inspired PEANUTS. The comic strip went on to become the most popular and influential in comics history.
For fans of Brad Meltzer’s New York Times-bestselling picture book biography of the Muppets and Sesame Street creator, I Am Jim Henson.
Christy Ottaviano Books
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Fittingly, pictures and text pull equal weight in this warm and perceptive portrait of Schulz's life. As a child in 1920s Minnesota, "Sparky" eagerly reads newspaper comics with his parents and draws likenesses of his favorite characters on paper scraps. Wadsworth reveals that Schulz displayed a quirky imagination early on; his incongruous drawing of a man shoveling snow alongside a palm tree elicits high praise from his kindergarten teacher. Intriguing anecdotes and visuals track the origins of the Peanuts comic strip (inspired by the cartoonist's own hound's "naughty adventures"), in which, purposely, "The girls were as big and strong as the boys." In polished, mixed-media full-page and panel art, Orback deftly integrates references to Schulz's work into scenes that convincingly evoke the era and the celebrated cartoonist's earnestness and devotion to his craft. Ages 5 9.
