Charles M. Schulz was born in 1922 in Minneapolis, the only child of a housewife and a barber. His interest in comics was encouraged by his father, who loved the funny pages. After army duty, Schulz lettered comic pages for Timeless Topix, and sold seventeen cartoons to The Saturday Evening Post from 1948 to 1950 and a feature, Li'l Folks, to the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Peanuts debuted on October 2, 1950, and ran without interruption for the next fifty years. Schulz died on February 12, 2000, and his last strip ran the next day. Peanuts has appeared in 2,600 newspapers in seventy-five countries.

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THE BOOK

A delightful and unique look at the work of the American cartoon master, Charles M. Schulz. "Children, he would have told you, are simply adults with the "lids still on"--and he believed firmly that we are the product of our genes. He felt all of the characteristics are there within us as children, simmering, waiting to emerge." --From the Introduction by Jean Schulz. Read more about the book and view sample pages here. Read editor Chip Kidd's comments on the book here.