SCHULZ AND PEANUTS

David Michaelis's biography of "Peanuts" cartoonist Charles Schulz is at once the most joyful and saddest book of 2007. Holter Graham does a superb job telling the rags-to-riches story of a man whose work appears so simple, until the reader looks deeper. Even Graham must have had a knot in his throat while recounting Schulz's final days when he admits his regret that "the little guy never got to kick the football." Schulz was one of history's most successful cartoonists, parlaying his strip into a billion-dollar industry that continues after his death. Yet the intelligent, driven man was sometimes depressed and always unfulfilled. The fact that for five decades he produced all those amazing cartoons in spite of these emotional issues makes him even more impressive. M.S. 2008 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/ MAY 08]