As part of the global 50th anniversary celebrations, the Peanuts Collector Club produced an authorized tribute book. 50 Years of Happiness: A Tribute to Charles M. Schulz is written, designed and edited by Peanuts aficionado and Club Web-meister Derrick Bang, with additional material by Victor Lee and Other Notables. Produced with affection and tender loving care, this special tribute book has:

• Fun-filled chapters about the strip and our favorite characters!
• Exciting articles on the characters’ appearances in film, TV, and stage!
• Interesting facts about products and Peanuts licensing over the years!
• Anniversary greetings and tributes to Sparky!
• And much, much more!

The book was one of five nominated for a 2001 Eisner Award, very much like the comic book industry's Oscar. Even though we didn't win, this was quite a thrill!

Here's the table of contents:

• HUMBLE ORIGINS: Life before Peanuts
• THE ALL-ENCOMPASSING WHO'S WHO: Meet Charlie Brown and his friends
• BURIED TREASURE: Peanuts strips you've (probably) never seen before
• HOLIDAY ON ICE: The Redwood Empire Ice Arena
• IT'S A WHOLE NEW MEDIUM, CHARLIE BROWN: Peanuts on TV and the big screen
• CHARLIE BROWN'S ALL-STARS: Who plays which position on the baseball team?
• THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME: Just where do the kids live?
• HE'S YOUR MUSICIAN, CHARLIE BROWN: Vince Guaraldi and all his jazz
• MANY HAPPY RETURNS: How old are Charlie Brown and his friends?
• DOG OF MANY DISGUISES: Snoopy, beagle of a hundred roles
• NO GROWN-UPS ALLOWED: Adults seen and unseen
• SCHOOL DAZE: Sally's fractured class reports
• NOT YOUR AVERAGE BEAGLE: Judy Sladky's adventures as Snoopy
• "HOW LONG, O LORD?": Will Charlie Brown ever kick that football?
• EXCEPTIONAL DOGS FOR EXCEPTIONAL PEOPLE: Canine Companions for Independence
• GREETINGS TO SPARKY: Fans have their say
• BIRTH OF AN EMPIRE: Charlie Brown and the gang become household staples
• FIRST BEAGLE ON THE MOON: Charlie Brown and Snoopy become NASA icons
• THE GIFT OF LOVE AND SECURITY: Project Linus blankets the world
• JUNE 6, 1944: Charles Schulz and the National D-Day Memorial
• IT'S A SNOOPY WORLD: Hallmark and theme parks enchant countless fans
• APPEARANCES ARE DECEIVING: Helping maintain the flow of information
• THE BEAGLEFEST STORY: How Otherwise Normal People Spend Their Free Time
• BREAKING THE FOURTH WALL: Our friends probe their comic-strip limits
• YOU'RE A STAR, KID!: Charlie Brown and his friends on stage
• A SONG IS BORN: Sally's "new philosophies," set to music
• AFTERWORD: Contrary to rumor, nothing has changed!
• ...plus a few surprises!

Some sample pages (click on each image to enlarge):

Specifications:

• Hardcover, with full-color dust jacket; 200 pages
  
• 21 pages in full color
  
• First edition printed April 2000
  
• Second edition printed September 2000
  
• Third edition (first Charles M. Schulz Museum edition) printed March 2002
  
• Printed in Canada by Friesens

We have amended and corrected the text over the years, as each new edition has come out. If you'd like the information in your book to be as accurate as possible, then click here to be taken to the Errata Guide.

The book is available only from the Charles M. Schulz Museum, in a slightly revised third printing. (Instead of the 50th anniversary logo on the bottom left of the dustjacket, the Museum edition has its own logo in that spot. This edition also includes a new preface; all other contents are the same.)

Internet orders can be placed via the Museum Gift Shop; visit them here. Our book is toward the top.

50th anniversary newspaper supplement

As a delightful abuse of power (and what's the point of having some, if you can't occasionally abuse it?), your humble Web-meister produced a special 50th anniversary Peanuts tribute issue of the Weekend magazine supplement of the newspaper for which he works, Northern California's Davis Enterprise.

The 24-page publication devotes about one-third of its content to Peanuts material, notably some intriguing factoids that might have made it into the tribute book, but wound up on the floor when we ran out of space.

While supplies last, you can obtain a copy of this publication, merely for the cost of postage. (And yes, I still have plenty of them ... otherwise, I wouldn't keep advertising them!) Here's how:

Send a self-addressed, stamped mailing envelope no smaller than 8 inches by 12 inches, and be sure it has 76 cents postage.

(It will be mailed folded. If for some reason you want one flat, write me first, because that'll require a much larger mailer.)

Send the SASE to Derrick Bang, 4350 Cowell Blvd., Davis, CA 95616. Allow several weeks for delivery; I'm a busy fellow...

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All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted © by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.