And Then I Read: THE COMPLETE PEANUTS 1997-1998

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As we near the end of Charles Schulz’s amazing fifty year run of daily and Sunday comic strips, the lines are getting shakier. There were some places in this volume where I wasn’t sure what was going on. Those are in the minority, most of it is fine. The writing is still strong, and made me laugh or chuckle pretty often. There are even some new things happening. Lucy and Linus’ little brother Rerun has been around for a while, but mostly in the baby seat on the back of his mom’s bicycle, as seen on the cover here (but not inside). In this book Rerun finally gets to interact more with his siblings. He’s been trying to play basketball for a year or two, and to get Snoopy to play with him, and there’s some of that, but his comments and interactions with other characters are getting more developed and funnier.

Some other themes take two of Snoopy’s brothers on a long trek, while Snoopy himself is stuck in Valley Forge in his fantasy life, when he isn’t working on his writing. There are many fun returns of past themes, of course. Not all appeal to me, I never liked Snoopy’s brother Spike for instance, but plenty of others do. In all, this is still great reading and great fun.

Recommended.