Lucy: Not Just Another Pretty Face [Hardcover]

Charles M. Schulz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 21, 1998

Making her debut in 1952, just two short years after the Peanuts comic strip first ran, Lucy Van Pelt burst into the popular daily, becoming the high-voltage catalyst to ignite the comedic fire under the lovable members of the original Peanuts gang. Lucy's take-charge attitude and annoying self-confidence immediately cast her as one of the favorite characters of the strip as well as an unlikely, but powerful, role model for men and women alike. To ardent fans of the strip, she is best loved for being bossy and charmingly crabbya disposition that is solely her own.

Lucy: Not Just Another Pretty Face celebrates all of the wit, wisdom, and relentless criticism that Lucy has to offer in an unprecedented collection of strips devoted especially to her. Whether she is leaning on Schroeder's piano or counseling good ol' Charlie Brown, her flawless advice and zany antics have kept Peanuts fans laughing and learning for more than 45 years. Classic strips and special interactive features in each chapter keep the pages turning and the laughs coming.

With an introduction by Charles M. Schulz, you'll learn more about the evolution of Lucy's unique personality and how it has changed over the decades. Lucy: Not Just Another Pretty Face is an outstanding treasury for every Lucy devotee's library. As the original dominant female character in Peanuts, it is easy to see why she is considered the brains and the beauty of the strip! "That'll be five cents, please!"

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Charles M. Schulz, is the world-renowned creator of the Peanuts comic strip. He is the recipient of two Reuben Awards from the National Cartoonists Society and has been inducted into the cartoonists Hall of Fame. He lives with his wife, Jeannie, in Santa Rosa, California

Product Details

• Hardcover: 80 pages
• Publisher: HarperEntertainment (October 21, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061073008
• ISBN-13: 978-0061073007
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 9.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,518,949 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

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I love Lucy! The ultimate book on Ms. Van Pelt., July 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Lucy: Not Just Another Pretty Face (Hardcover)

I searched for this book for a long time. It contains many images of Lucy in her little psychiatric help booth, and gets to the core of her personality with chapters focusing on Lucy's bossiness, crabbiness and imperfection. Additional hands on goodies make it the perfect Lucy book for any age.