The Dirt on Pigpen [Paperback]

Charles M. Schulz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 27, 2007

Laughter to Laughter, Dust to Dust!

It's not dirt, claims Pigpen, but rather the dust of ancient civilizations that clings to him like Linus to his blanket. Filthy or not, get ready to have a ball (dust ball?) with everyone's favorite grubby boy! Join Pigpen and his pals - including Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy, and the whole crew - as they venture through life with nary a bar of soap in sight. Would you even recognize Pigpen without his dust cloud? No matter what, with Pigpen around, it's always good clean fun!

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (March 27, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 034547984X
• ISBN-13: 978-0345479846
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 0.3 x 7.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,165,176 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Charles M. Schulz was born November 25, 1922 in Minneapolis. His destiny was foreshadowed when an uncle gave him, at the age of two days, the nickname Sparky (after the racehorse Spark Plug in the newspaper strip Barney Google).

In his senior year in high school, his mother noticed an ad in a local newspaper for a correspondence school, Federal Schools (later called Art Instruction Schools). Schulz passed the talent test, completed the course and began trying, unsuccessfully, to sell gag cartoons to magazines. (His first published drawing was of his dog, Spike, and appeared in a 1937 Ripley's Believe It Or Not! installment.) Between 1948 and 1950, he succeeded in selling 17 cartoons to the Saturday Evening Post--as well as, to the local St. Paul Pioneer Press, a weekly comic feature called Li'l Folks. It was run in the women's section and paid $10 a week. After writing and drawing the feature for two years, Schulz asked for a better location in the paper or for daily exposure, as well as a raise. When he was turned down on all three counts, he quit.

He started submitting strips to the newspaper syndicates. In the spring of 1950, he received a letter from the United Feature Syndicate, announcing their interest in his submission, Li'l Folks. Schulz boarded a train in June for New York City; more interested in doing a strip than a panel, he also brought along the first installments of what would become Peanuts--and that was what sold. (The title, which Schulz loathed to his dying day, was imposed by the syndicate). The first Peanuts daily appeared October 2, 1950; the first Sunday, January 6, 1952.

Diagnosed with cancer, Schulz retired from Peanuts at the end of 1999. He died on February 13, 2000, the day before Valentine's Day--and the day before his last strip was published--having completed 17,897 daily and Sunday strips, each and every one fully written, drawn, and lettered entirely by his own hand--an unmatched achievement in comics.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hi-La-Ri-Ous!, July 12, 2007

By 

K. L. Bell "Always Reading" (Pearland, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Dirt on Pigpen (Paperback)

For anyone wondering why Pigpen is always surrounded by a cloud of dust - the answer(s) can be found in this book. I have always been a Peanuts fan and saw this book sitting in the children's section at the public library. I am buying it for my collection right now! There are a few other strips in the book but Pigpen is the main character. Cute, cute, cute and a fun read for all Peanuts fans.