A Charlie Brown Christmas (Hardcover)

~ (Author, Illustrator) "Snowflakes floated in the crisp, pine-scented air..." (more)
Key Phrases: Charlie Brown

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Just like It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and A Charlie Brown Valentine, this illustrated read-along seeks to re-create the popular Peanuts TV show of the same name. This edition also includes a four-song sampler CD from jazz-great Vince Guaraldi's brilliant soundtrack.

With illustrator Paige Braddock aping Charles Schulz's style, A Charlie Brown Christmas retells the Emmy Award-winning program blow-by-blow (with a few omissions), from the ice-skating opening scene to preparations for the school pageant to Charlie Brown's ill-fated Christmas tree rescue. Braddock almost perfectly mimics the show's cast and backdrops, but just as no one could be fooled by even expert impersonation of a loved one, Peanuts fans might find the niggling differences distracting (whether it's Schroeder's too-wavy hair or Pig Pen's just-too-small head).

A "novelization" like this probably can't ever hope to completely recapture the charm of the original, even if it had used Schulz's original art. Although the dialogue has been faithfully reproduced, much of the story's subtle appeal and cultural subtext gets lost in the book's simplified exposition--which is too bad, given that these are precisely the qualities which have made the show (and Schulz's timeless strip) so durable and well-loved in the first place. (Ages 4 to 8) --Paul Hughes

Product Description

Surrounded by other kids with extremely commercial ideas about Christmas, Charlie Brown struggles to understand the true spirit of the holiday. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4-8
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Little Simon (October 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689853572
• ISBN-13: 978-0689853579
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,942,973 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Should have just reissued the original, December 7, 2001

By	Stephen J. Van Hook (Bowling Green, OH USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: A Charlie Brown Christmas (Paperback)

I love "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and so was completely disappointed by this paperback book edition of the story.
The "By Charles M. Schulz" on the cover and in the listing hides the fact that the text is not by Schulz, but is "adapted" by other people. The text adaptation is painfully bad -- I could barely force myself to read it to my child the other night. The text is way too wordy, which contradicts the whole style of Schulz's comic strip, and changes key dialog of characters.

The illustrations are okay, but why not just use the original drawings by Schulz himself?

A book version of A Charlie Brown Christmas was printed in the 1960's; the publishers would have been smarter to reissue the original book rather than create this new version.

If you want to have a book version of A Charlie Brown Christmas, I highly recommend that you spend a bit more money and buy the hardcover book, "A Charlie Brown Christmas: the Making of a Tradition". You won't regret it.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Grief!, It's Christmas Everyone., December 20, 2001

By	tvtv3 "tvtv3" (Sorento, IL United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: A Charlie Brown Christmas (Golden Storybook) (Hardcover)

This delightful book successfully adapts the wonderful, classic television special of A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS to the page. The book is filled with many pictures from the special and most of the televised story remains intact in written form (about the only thing missing is Snoopy winning the decoration competition). The words and text to "Hark! the Herald Angels Sing" are even printed on the inside back cover. Children of all ages love this book and it is sure to be a family holiday favorite to read every year.

5.0 out of 5 stars A Gentle, Merry Christmas!, December 25, 2009

By	Deborah W. Seigman (Killeen, Texas) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Charlie Brown Christmas (Running Press Miniatures) (Hardcover)

Our Army family, as we traveled all over the world from 1962 to 1989, had some traditions that we passed on to the grandchildren, now numbering 19, so this year, we sent these books and the soundtrack from the jazz album to each of our 7 children's families, now scattered all over the country. We used to paint the Charlie Brown characters in a typical setting from the comic strip, on the front windows of our quarters, each of our children choosing which of the character to paint. Therefore, I wanted a book that would give them ideas for a setting and characters to paint in their own homes. This little book was perfect!