It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (Peanuts) - Softcover

Every year, as the leaves start turning gold and the night air gets chilly, children all over the world begin dreaming of the Great Pumpkin... Well, at least one faithful child does. Poor Linus. While Charlie Brown, Lucy, Snoopy, and the gang make preparations for trick-or-treating and Halloween parties, this stalwart believer risks their ridicule to write his annual letter to the mystical orange orb, in hopes that this year he'll be able to catch sight of his hero as he rises from the most sincere pumpkin patch around to fly through the air with his bag of toys for all the children.

For over 35 years, children have eagerly anticipated Halloween, not just for the tricks and treats, but because they know their favorite television special will be aired. It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown is based on this TV program, so now fans can enjoy the Halloween antics of the Peanuts gang any time. (Ages 5 to 8) --Emilie Coulter

Charles Monroe Schulz (1922 -2000) was a 20th-century American cartoonist best known for his Peanuts comic strip. He was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, to Dena and Carl Schulz. His nickname "Sparky" was given by his uncle, after the horse Spark Plug in the Barney Google comic strip. He attended St. Paul's Richard Gordon Elementary School, where he skipped two half-grades. As a result, he was the youngest in his class when he attended St. Paul Central High years later, which may have been the reason why he was so shy and isolated as a young teenager. After his mother died in February, 1943, he was drafted into the army and sent to Camp Campbell in Kentucky. He was then shipped to Europe two years later to fight in World War II. After leaving the United States Army in 1945, he took a job as an art teacher at Art Instruction Inc., which he attended before he was drafted. First published by Robert Ripley in his Ripley's Believe It or Not!, then in a series of chronicles, The Saturday Evening Post, his first regular comic strip, Li'l Folks was published in 1947 by the St. Paul Pioneer Press. (It was in this strip that Charlie Brown first appeared, as well as a dog that looked much like Snoopy). In 1950 he approached the United Features Syndicate with his best strips from Li'l Folks, and Peanuts made its first appearance on October 2, 1950. This 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 abandoned that strip due to the demands of the success of Peanuts.