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Peanuts Guide to Life: Wit and Wisdom from the World's Best-Loved Cartoon Characters
Essentially, this is the best of the best of 50 years of Peanuts, the comic strip by the late Charles Schulz featuring Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus, Snoopy, and the rest of the beguiling little gang. Peanuts debuted in 1950 and became a global phenomenon, with book collections selling more than 300 million copies in 26 languages and television specials rerun year after year. To create this all-new Peanuts Guide to Life, we’ve combed through decades of comic strips to find those single panels which contain such pithy observations as “Babysitters are like used cars. You never know what you’re going to get,” and bits of wisdom like “Never lick ice cream off a hot sidewalk.” Each droll, stand-alone “speech bubble” or punchline appears with cartoon art. The panels are organized into short chapters, such as “Love” and “Life’s Little Quirks.” For the millions of faithful Peanuts fans, this is a collection of “greatest hits” to cherish and enjoy again and again.
128 pages, Hardcover
First published April 26, 2005
7 people are currently reading
325 people want to read
About the author
Charles M. Schulz
3,008 books1,610 followersCharles Monroe Schulz was an American cartoonist, whose comic strip Peanuts proved one of the most popular and influential in the history of the medium, and is still widely reprinted on a daily basis.
Schulz's first regular cartoons, Li'l Folks, were published from 1947 to 1950 by the St. Paul Pioneer Press; he first used the name Charlie Brown for a character there, although he applied the name in four gags to three different boys and one buried in sand. The series also had a dog that looked much like Snoopy. In 1948, Schulz sold a cartoon to The Saturday Evening Post; the first of 17 single-panel cartoons by Schulz that would be published there. In 1948, Schulz tried to have Li'l Folks syndicated through the Newspaper Enterprise Association. Schulz would have been an independent contractor for the syndicate, unheard of in the 1940s, but the deal fell through. Li'l Folks was dropped from the Pioneer Press in January, 1950.
Later that year, Schulz approached the United Feature Syndicate with his best strips from Li'l Folks, and Peanuts made its first appearance on October 2, 1950. The strip became one of the most popular comic strips of all time. He also had a short-lived sports-oriented comic strip called It's Only a Game (1957–1959), but he abandoned it due to the demands of the successful Peanuts. From 1956 to 1965 he contributed a single-panel strip ("Young Pillars") featuring teenagers to Youth, a publication associated with the Church of God.
Peanuts ran for nearly 50 years, almost without interruption; during the life of the strip, Schulz took only one vacation, a five-week break in late 1997. At its peak, Peanuts appeared in more than 2,600 newspapers in 75 countries. Schulz stated that his routine every morning consisted of eating a jelly donut and sitting down to write the day's strip. After coming up with an idea (which he said could take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours), he began drawing it, which took about an hour for dailies and three hours for Sunday strips. He stubbornly refused to hire an inker or letterer, saying that "it would be equivalent to a golfer hiring a man to make his putts for him." In November 1999 Schulz suffered a stroke, and later it was discovered that he had colon cancer that had metastasized. Because of the chemotherapy and the fact he could not read or see clearly, he announced his retirement on December 14, 1999.
Schulz often touched on religious themes in his work, including the classic television cartoon, A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965), which features the character Linus van Pelt quoting the King James Version of the Bible Luke 2:8-14 to explain "what Christmas is all about." In personal interviews Schulz mentioned that Linus represented his spiritual side. Schulz, reared in the Lutheran faith, had been active in the Church of God as a young adult and then later taught Sunday school at a United Methodist Church. In the 1960s, Robert L. Short interpreted certain themes and conversations in Peanuts as being consistent with parts of Christian theology, and used them as illustrations during his lectures about the gospel, as he explained in his bestselling paperback book, The Gospel According to Peanuts, the first of several books he wrote on religion and Peanuts, and other popular culture items. From the late 1980s, however, Schulz described himself in interviews as a "secular humanist": “I do not go to church anymore... I guess you might say I've come around to secular humanism, an obligation I believe all humans have to others and the world we live in.”
Schulz's first regular cartoons, Li'l Folks, were published from 1947 to 1950 by the St. Paul Pioneer Press; he first used the name Charlie Brown for a character there, although he applied the name in four gags to three different boys and one buried in sand. The series also had a dog that looked much like Snoopy. In 1948, Schulz sold a cartoon to The Saturday Evening Post; the first of 17 single-panel cartoons by Schulz that would be published there. In 1948, Schulz tried to have Li'l Folks syndicated through the Newspaper Enterprise Association. Schulz would have been an independent contractor for the syndicate, unheard of in the 1940s, but the deal fell through. Li'l Folks was dropped from the Pioneer Press in January, 1950.
Later that year, Schulz approached the United Feature Syndicate with his best strips from Li'l Folks, and Peanuts made its first appearance on October 2, 1950. The strip became one of the most popular comic strips of all time. He also had a short-lived sports-oriented comic strip called It's Only a Game (1957–1959), but he abandoned it due to the demands of the successful Peanuts. From 1956 to 1965 he contributed a single-panel strip ("Young Pillars") featuring teenagers to Youth, a publication associated with the Church of God.
Peanuts ran for nearly 50 years, almost without interruption; during the life of the strip, Schulz took only one vacation, a five-week break in late 1997. At its peak, Peanuts appeared in more than 2,600 newspapers in 75 countries. Schulz stated that his routine every morning consisted of eating a jelly donut and sitting down to write the day's strip. After coming up with an idea (which he said could take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours), he began drawing it, which took about an hour for dailies and three hours for Sunday strips. He stubbornly refused to hire an inker or letterer, saying that "it would be equivalent to a golfer hiring a man to make his putts for him." In November 1999 Schulz suffered a stroke, and later it was discovered that he had colon cancer that had metastasized. Because of the chemotherapy and the fact he could not read or see clearly, he announced his retirement on December 14, 1999.
Schulz often touched on religious themes in his work, including the classic television cartoon, A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965), which features the character Linus van Pelt quoting the King James Version of the Bible Luke 2:8-14 to explain "what Christmas is all about." In personal interviews Schulz mentioned that Linus represented his spiritual side. Schulz, reared in the Lutheran faith, had been active in the Church of God as a young adult and then later taught Sunday school at a United Methodist Church. In the 1960s, Robert L. Short interpreted certain themes and conversations in Peanuts as being consistent with parts of Christian theology, and used them as illustrations during his lectures about the gospel, as he explained in his bestselling paperback book, The Gospel According to Peanuts, the first of several books he wrote on religion and Peanuts, and other popular culture items. From the late 1980s, however, Schulz described himself in interviews as a "secular humanist": “I do not go to church anymore... I guess you might say I've come around to secular humanism, an obligation I believe all humans have to others and the world we live in.”
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 93 reviews
November 14, 2012
A cute little quick read filled with quotes to live by! Another good book to have handy for when you are needing a little pick-me-up!! It will bring a smile to your face and warm your heart! Love it!!
December 25, 2011
Just read... got it for mom for christmas... favorite quote? "Good cookies come when they are called" ~Snoopy
February 4, 2020
Loved it! It was an insightful and wonderous read.
July 27, 2024
This is a beautiful commemorative edition of the collection of holiday specials stories.
April 29, 2024
Adorable libro de colección.
se termina rápido pero es ameno, te amo snoopy
- gracias Diego tqm
se termina rápido pero es ameno, te amo snoopy
- gracias Diego tqm
January 15, 2020
I was expecting comics but this is done picture book style. Picture book retelling of five of the most iconic holiday specials. Well done but if you love these specials like some do the slight changes in dialogue will bug you, making me wonder why they were necessary. But it's holiday Peanuts, so still a great read overall.
February 13, 2015
This is a timeless treasure for anyone who appreciates the humor, warmth and talent of the last Charles M. Schulz. Faithful to the animated specials which they are based upon, they still resonate after all these years.
A great way to introduce a child to cartoon mastery from an bygone era.
A great way to introduce a child to cartoon mastery from an bygone era.
July 17, 2020
I love this book so much. All my friends on this should read it. Now I say! NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
November 11, 2024
Buenas filosofías de Snoopy
July 20, 2018
No soy realmente fan de Charlie Brown, pero me gustan sus personajes y sus historias. Pero creo que el libro es algo simple, con frases no tan relevantes o que quizá se leen así porque están fuera de contexto. Creo que tendré que leer y ver más de Charlie Brown y Snoopy para valorar al 100 su filosofía y consejos.
September 19, 2016
sutiles reflexiones. Algunas graciosas, otras enternecedoras. Se lee en 15 mins pero deja meditando :)
December 30, 2017
Got this from a friend last Christmas, who knows I'm a big Charlie Brown geek, and finally read it. Reviewing it here to pad my numbers on my (miserably deficient progress toward my) reading goal for the year. There's a cute introduction by Andy Cohen, but mostly this just comes across as an effort to make more money by repackaging Peanuts in a little gift book. (Like numerous other Peanuts gift books). Why not just read the original comics instead of single illustrations next to the punchlines of the original comics? Or, if it's a "Guide to Life", why not beef it up with real commentary on the ideas contained? Will also say it was kind of weird, at this point in our country's history, to see the only appearance of Franklin on a page where Charlie Brown was telling him "If you can't beat 'em, cooperate 'em to death." Thanks for the advice, Charlie, but are you telling me that I can't win, so I might as well just behave (and that this will somehow kill off the oppressors)?
May 14, 2017
This Hallmark book with the top five Charlie Brown holiday stories (Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine's, Easter) isn't written/drawn in comic strip style, but rather with one big illustration per page. Each picture is similar to the strips and TV specials, and the book's real difference is in the text. Instead of using only spoken words, this book is mostly narration, which is initially off-putting, as things Charles Schulz deftly showed or expertly expressed verbally are instead explained in a sometimes on-the-nose manner. Ultimately, the narration isn't bad, just a different style than the norm. Even these abridged stories remain faithful to the spirit of the Peanuts specials, making this a decent alternative to the original pieces, and one that young kids might appreciate more easily, thanks to its larger, brighter illustrations.
July 13, 2014
This is definitely a book of nostalgia. Reading this book over 40 definitely gives me a clearer perspective on Charles Schultz and the inklings of wisdom he left. He left them not just for children, but for all of us to smile, enjoy, and reflect.
January 7, 2015
Like we needed more proof that I identify with Lucy...
Want to read
January 2, 2023Cute and wise advice.
January 15, 2023
Continuing to read the books in my apartment that I haven't touched...
Beautiful illustrations, timeless stories. Schroeder and Woodstock for the win.
Beautiful illustrations, timeless stories. Schroeder and Woodstock for the win.
December 29, 2024
Del aeropuerto de Guarulhos a la eternidad...
April 20, 2025
My love for the Peanuts has been with me my entire life. To this day, I still watch the Peanuts holiday specials when they come on TV (I maintain that "I got a rock" is the funniest bit in television history) and keep the Peanuts with me each day of my life. For 11 years I have held a corporate job, and for 11 years I have had a Peanuts tear away calendar of the strips Mr. Schulz wrote for 50 years. It is truly the only gift I look forward to receiving on Christmas. I use the calendar as a way to start each day of mine. Those few moments with Charlie, Snoopy, Lucy and the gang set the tone for my day.
I still vividly remember 4th grade saying I wanted to be a cartoonist for "What do you want to be when you grow up?" day at school and coming in with a terribly made light box where I would trace Peanuts strips and show my classmates. Fortunately or unfortunately, the artistic side of me never really went beyond elementary school.
This isn't necessarily a book, but a collection of some of the profound quotes I probably have self consciously chosen to live my life by, whether I know it or not. It was great to go back and see them, categorized to be referenced in the future if I ever am feeling down and out of it. Snoopy's wit, optimism and humor (and perhaps growing up with a beagle in the family) is the reason why he is my favorite fictional character I have had the privilege to let into my life. His quotes are the ones I will be going back to the most.
This is another book I dug up in a recent clean up I did, and it has been safely placed on my bookshelf amongst my favorites. If you are a fan of the Peanuts, do yourself a favor and pick this up. Maybe a quote in this collection can avoid you getting that rock that Charlie got all too often for Halloween.
November 21, 2017
If I remember correctly, the term non-book was coined to describe the sweet trifles Charles M. Schulz created in the sixties, HAPPINESS IS A WARM PUPPY, for example. This non-book was published four years after Mr. Schulz's death and so wonder if the term ought to apply. I do not know if all the quotations originated in Mr. Schulz's dialog and am suspicious of a few, but with nearly 50 years of comic strips to draw upon, the uncredited editor may have found a few legitimate outliers from the mainstream of PEANUTS typical discourse. There really isn't much here and so it is difficult to recommend this non-book, but it is a sweet trifle.
August 9, 2021
I didn't realize that I had read an earlier (2008) edition before, but "Peanuts Guide To Life" is worth reading again and again.
A small very easy to read book with one quote by a Peanuts character on each page; and, of course cute pictures!
Some of the quotes are funny and some are funny and inspirational- my favorite one: "In the book of life, the answers are not in the back!"-Charlie Brown.
I loved the Foreword by Andy Cohen with his childhood memories about Snoopy. That was probably my favorite part but the book as a whole is wonderful. I loved it!
A small very easy to read book with one quote by a Peanuts character on each page; and, of course cute pictures!
Some of the quotes are funny and some are funny and inspirational- my favorite one: "In the book of life, the answers are not in the back!"-Charlie Brown.
I loved the Foreword by Andy Cohen with his childhood memories about Snoopy. That was probably my favorite part but the book as a whole is wonderful. I loved it!
June 30, 2018
This was a quick little read-that attributes some philosophical phrases to each of the beloved characters from the comic strip.
My favorites:
"If everybody agreed with me, the would all be right!" Lucy
"There's no sense in doing a lot of barking if you don't really have anything to say." Smoopy
"Whenever it's one man against an institution, there is always a tendency for the institution to win." Charlie Brown
My favorites:
"If everybody agreed with me, the would all be right!" Lucy
"There's no sense in doing a lot of barking if you don't really have anything to say." Smoopy
"Whenever it's one man against an institution, there is always a tendency for the institution to win." Charlie Brown
April 27, 2021
Such a feel good book.
Especially since it has been a rollercoaster ride of emotions over the past two weeks...
Some wise words shared :)
Peanuts always makes my day better.
Funny how bill cosby was regarded so highly when this book came out as he was asked to pen the foreword...
Now i see his name and I'm filled with disgust.
Fortunately, the words of wisdom from the peanuts gang made me feel better.
Especially since it has been a rollercoaster ride of emotions over the past two weeks...
Some wise words shared :)
Peanuts always makes my day better.
Funny how bill cosby was regarded so highly when this book came out as he was asked to pen the foreword...
Now i see his name and I'm filled with disgust.
Fortunately, the words of wisdom from the peanuts gang made me feel better.
September 16, 2022
Two days in a row I have taken a break from reading Jello Girls. I bought Peanuts Guide to Life at a garage sale to give to my friend who is an all-out Peanuts fan. It was a quick, witty and fun book to read. Subjects covered in this book were life philosophy, confidence, self-care, self-reliance, people skills, prudence, wisdom, effort, love and life's little quirks. Be prepared to do a lot of smiling!
January 2, 2023
I’ve always wondered why Peanuts comics come off as a little depressing to me. Today, I finally got my answer — the late cartoonist Charles Schulz was the first to base off a comic strip on everyday life instead of action and adventure.
Such a simple book but the messages inside speak volumes. This was an enlightening and adorable read at the same time. Just what I needed as I prepare for another year of hustling!
Such a simple book but the messages inside speak volumes. This was an enlightening and adorable read at the same time. Just what I needed as I prepare for another year of hustling!
May 16, 2017
I don't usually read this type of illustrated books but this is fun, Snoopy has always been one of my favorite characters, his point of view about life is funny and endearing.
Casi no leo este tipo de libros ilustrados, pero este es entretenido Snoopy siempre ha sido uno de mis personajes favoritos, su punto de vista sobre la vida es divertido y entrañable.
Casi no leo este tipo de libros ilustrados, pero este es entretenido Snoopy siempre ha sido uno de mis personajes favoritos, su punto de vista sobre la vida es divertido y entrañable.
November 25, 2020
Esse livrinho traz um compilado de citações das tirinhas Peanuts/Snoopy que propõe pequenas reflexões sobre como encarar a vida. Acredito que seja aquele tipo de livro pequeno, de poucas páginas, feito para presentear alguém. É fofo sim, mas é bem resumido, nada demais. Para quem é fã da HQ mesmo, recomendaria as coletânias "Peanuts completo".
January 12, 2021
This was cute, more of a gift book or a keepsake than an actual read or anything like that. With a title of “Guide to Life”, it should’ve been a little more insightful. We all know Peanuts can get deep. I love Peanuts, I’d hate to give it only 2 stars but you’re better off reading some of the collections of the comic strips instead.
February 28, 2020
Read this with my son to introduce him to the Peanuts but was a little disappointed as it was just quotes and not full comics.
Also the forward by Bill Cosby was quickly skipped.
Two stars because it’s still the peanuts but was quite disappointing.
Also the forward by Bill Cosby was quickly skipped.
Two stars because it’s still the peanuts but was quite disappointing.
April 27, 2020
Timeless..what else can I say. One quote I want to put on my desk for all to see
"I've got to stop this business of talking without thinking"
Well..maybe two quotes
"A person has to be careful about things he might regret years from now"
"I've got to stop this business of talking without thinking"
Well..maybe two quotes
"A person has to be careful about things he might regret years from now"
Displaying 1 - 30 of 93 reviews