In this volume of the bestselling Complete Peanuts series, Charles Schulz introduces one (in fact, three) of the quirkiest characters to the Peanuts universe, the numerically-monikered 95472 siblings. They didn't stay around very long but offered some choice bits of satirical nonsense while they did. As it happens, this volume is particularly rich in never-before-reprinted strips: over 150 (more than one fifth of the book!) have never seen the light of day since their original appearance over 40 years ago, so this will be a trove of undiscovered treasures even for avid Peanuts collectors. Introduced by Bill Melendez, animator of all the Peanuts TV specials starting all the way back with A Charlie Brown Christmas! These 1963–64 strips show Schulz continuing to mine high-grade humor and charm from his small cast and such concerns as Charlie Brown's inabilities to fly kites and procure Valentines, Linus' dependence on his security blanket, and Snoopy's obsession with the contents of his supper dish. Occasionally, something anomalous happens, such as a new kid in the neighborhood; named "5," he didn't stay long. Within a year, the Peanuts' fame would skyrocket with the debut of A Charlie Brown Christmas; animator Bill Melendez sketches the behind-the-scenes story of the show in this volume's introduction. Flagg, Gordon Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved One can scarcely overstate the importance of Peanuts to comics, or its influence on all of us who have followed. -- Bill Watterson, creator of Calvin and Hobbes Charles M. Schulz  was born November 25, 1922, in Minneapolis. His destiny was foreshadowed when an uncle gave him, at the age of two days, the nickname Sparky (after the racehorse Spark Plug in the newspaper strip  Barney Google ). His ambition from a young age was to be a cartoonist and his first success was selling 17 cartoons to the  Saturday Evening Post  between 1948 and 1950. He also sold a weekly comic feature called  Li'l Folks  to the local  St. Paul Pioneer Press . After writing and drawing the feature for two years, Schulz asked for a better location in the paper or for daily exposure, as well as a raise. When he was turned down on all three counts, he quit. He started submitting strips to the newspaper syndicates and in the spring of 1950, United Feature Syndicate expressed interest in  Li'l Folks . They bought the strip, renaming it Peanuts , a title Schulz always loathed. The first  Peanuts  daily appeared October 2, 1950; the first Sunday, January 6, 1952. Diagnosed with cancer, Schulz retired from Peanuts at the end of 1999. He died on February 13, 2000, the day before Valentine's Day-and the day before his last strip was published, having completed 17,897 daily and Sunday strips, each and every one fully written, drawn, and lettered entirely by his own hand ― an unmatched achievement in comics.  Used Book in Good Condition