Snoopy’s Beagle Scout Tales, effortless charm in any season

When I was a child Peanuts was my go-to reading jam. It was the gateway cartoon strip that made me learn to love reading, built up from that, but never left the rearview mirror, and has always been somewhere in my pop culture Venn diagram. Wherever I’ve travelled it’s been like that too. Snoopy, Woodstock, and to an extent, all of the characters from Peanuts have a warm place in society’s heart. The Peanuts brand is still producing great, new stories that will entertain existing fans and will bring the magic of a happy yellow bird to new audiences. Peanuts Graphic Novels has a collection of summer camp-themed stories called Snoopy’s Beagle Scout Tales that will do just that.

2024 is the 50^th anniversary of the Beagle Scout, which is Snoopy and a gang of Woodstock birds in green hats. They go camping, paddle down the river in a canoe, explore nature, have scary adventures in the dark, become better friends and make each other laugh. Snoopy’s Beagle Scout Tales includes Race For Your Life Charlie Brown, which was initially released in the Peanuts comic book from Boom! Studios in issue #25. It includes that, plus two other mid-size stories and three short stories that are in line with the classic Sunday strip appearances.

This is classic stuff. From the graphic novel’s cover, it’s obvious that this will charm even the saltiest of elementary or middle school ages who think that they don’t have time for a book. As Snoopy is hiking through the woods there’s a stack of Woodstock on his head, each one peering over a little bit so that the sixth Woodstock is upside down and smiling at the famous beagle who is returning the favor. I don’t want to read. Reading is for losers. My computer game is more fun. Shut up and hold my graphic novel.

The pages are glossy and demand your attention. You’ll grin as Snoopy tells a scary campfire story to his bird campers, only to be scared himself by a cat who’s hiding in the forest. You think that you’re too cool, or old to care about Charlie Brown and his river raft race, but you’ll be hopelessly sucked into its vortex of entertainment. You know that little yellow bird can’t sleep on the lines that support the tent that Snoopy is sleeping in, but you’ll grin when you see them doing it. As the birds get in their sleeping bags and the fire is dying down you know that they’re scared, and will probably get in the same one as Snoopy.

You know all of this. You might have seen all of this, but that’s why it’s classic entertainment. Your six-year-old child will read it. You’ll pick up the book when they go to sleep. You might even read it to them, just to share in the experience. The comfort level of Snoopy’s Beagle Scout Tales is such that children are comfortable experiencing the book by themselves, but just like the birds who want to snuggle up to Snoopy, won’t mind if you dive into the book with them.

If you get this book for your school library it’s one that will be constantly checked out, get a couple of copies. If you get it for your home library it’s one that will be in your forever library, with your children remembering the times that they read it when they were young, but doing so to their children, just like Snoopy and the little yellow birds.

Peanuts Graphic Novels: Snoopy’s Beagle Scout Tales is by Charles M. Schulz. This graphic novel contains art by Robert Pope, Andy Hirsch, Donna Alemendrala, and stories by Jason Cooper, and Nat Gertler and is available on Simon Spotlight, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.

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