Charlie Brown Christmas Book

'Tis the season to be jolly, but Charlie Brown is feeling blue. Setting off in search of a prop for the big holiday pageant, our hapless hero finds a bedraggled tree…and the real meaning of Christmas. Winner of Emmy and Peabody awards.

Children's Literature

Rather than using a book to generate a movie, A Charlie Brown Christmas puts the dialogue of a television special right on the printed page along with all of our favorite Peanuts characters. The story is familiar and worthy of repeating season after season. Charlie Brown is dejected by all the "greedy buying and selling that had become Christmas" but is unable to pull together his friends for a peaceful and successful performance of their holiday play. His efforts to bring just the right Christmas tree to the stage leave him even more dejected when the one tiny tree he finds falls to the ground with the weight of a single ornament. "Everything I touch gets ruined!" he moans. But spurred by the sweet innocence of Linus, the others decorate the little tree until it becomes a beautiful centerpiece for the season. Each Peanuts character in the story provides a "teachable moment"¾Charlie Brown's idealism, Sally's youthful selfishness, Lucy's arrogance, Linus' thoughtful caring. It is a story of simplicity, sincerity and friendship that reminds readers of the essence of the Christmas holiday with humor and page after page of well-loved artwork. 2001, Little Simon, $5.99. Ages 4 up. Reviewer: Karen Leggett