A fantastic look at the artist that was Charles M. Schulz. Making the biography into a manga can draw in many more eyes on it, especially a younger audience who might not have the patience for a dryer biography

I had a wonderful time reading this manga about the life of Charles M. Schulz, creator of the PEANUTS comics!

The art is beautiful and the writing is easy to follow and understand. I'd expected to learn more about the development of PEANUTS and this is more about Charles' life. I was not disappointed!

It was a beautiful experience getting to know more about the cartoonist and how determined and focused he was throughout his life with his goal of becoming a cartoonist. I laughed, cried SO MUCH, and was so inspired reading this manga. I loved it!

A lot of love to Charles' works and I can't wait to read PEANUTS properly!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I've grown up reading Peanuts in the paper, but I didn't know much about the creator. His life story was interesting enough and the format the author used to tell the story was new to me. This was my first manga and it's the first time I've seen a biography done this way for kids. I think they will find it quite compelling. This would fit perfectly in a school library.

If you're a huge Peanuts enthusiast like I am, you'll really enjoy this manga. It narrates the life of Charles M. Schulz, the iconic cartoonist behind my all-time favorite character, Charlie Brown. Besides exploring Schulz's life, it also reveals the inspirations behind the Peanuts characters, their evolution over the years, and their societal impact.

Capturing the life of an iconic artist like Charles M. Schulz through illustrations is no small feat. I believe everyone involved in this manga, particularly the talented artist Yuzuru Kuki, has done an amazing job honoring Peanuts and its creator. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it.

Many thanks to NetGalley and UDON Entertainment for eARC of the manga.

This is such a cute behind the scenes of what went into a life long work cycle of snoopy. The art style is amazing and so cozy. Such a fast read and I love all the details we got!

This was a cute read - love the manga style - its a biography but it didnt feel heavy as the art was clean and nice and his story was interesting. snoopy is a staple from my childhood so this was a lovely revisit and it was nice to know about the creator.

Cute manga detailing the personal life of Charles Schulz and his career as the creator of Peanuts. This manga made me realize how much I knew about the comic but not its creator. A fascinating and quick read. Illustrations were great!

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy.

I came to the Peanuts comics long after they’d stopped being published - my Mum is a big Snoopy fan. I’ve always loved grumpy Lucy - she used to be on the labels of the peanut butter we bought. I’m new to manga style biographies but I really enjoyed this, it lays out Charles “Sparky” Schulz life in a simple manner, concentrating on his major milestones both at work and with family. I especially enjoyed learning how diligent he was, and how far in advance he completed his work - he never grew out of being anxious about being late.

Thanks to Netgalley and to the publisher, Udon Entertainment for a review copy.

This was an incredibly cute biography of Charles “Sparky” M. Schulz’s life. This really developed a love of the Peanuts comics in me, especially as we were able to see them integrated into this manga along side the normal manga art. A really well edited and concise telling of Schulz’s life. I highly recommend.

Thank you to Yuzuru Kuki, the editor, publisher, and NetGalley for this advanced reader copy!

“No problem is so big or so complicated that it can’t be run away from!” - Linus

It is no secret to those in my social circle that I love Peanuts—especially Snoopy (Schroder is a close second), of course. And yet, I am ashamed to admit that I didn’t know much about Schulz prior to receiving this ARC of “Manga Biographies: Charles M. Schulz - The Creator of Snoopy and Peanuts.” I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was learning and being entertained—a feat that only so many can accomplish!

The art style is cute, and keeps the original style of Schulz’ art of the ‘Lil’ Kids’ and ‘Peanuts.’ I liked how expressive the characters were; I could feel all of Schulz’ triumphs, grief, and pain. I learned more about a series that I adore so much. Even the pacing felt appropriate, running through since birth to his untimely death. However, I was looking for more towards the end of the book, like an epilogue of sorts.

I’m still left wondering that if Schulz didn’t want anyone to pick up Peanuts, how is it that I’m collecting new strips every Sunday and saving them? I know money talks and Schulz isn’t here to enforce his decisions, but I also know that Peanuts makes people happy all over the world. Knowing what I know now about Schulz, I believe he’d treasure that above any dollar amount.

The works of Charles Schultz, especially in their earliest years, can be seen as intensely American, but the media empire that grew up around him has crossed many borders. Thus, we have an English translation of an originally Japanese-language manga biography of Charles Schultz before us now.

The art is consistently interesting and makes good use of emotion-conveying effects in a story that is mainly about Schultz’s inner life. The main objection that can be made to the art, and indeed the book as a whole, is that everybody is beautiful. Yazuru Kuki’s rendition of the people in Shultz’s life are distinctive and clear but everyone-- the side characters, the old people, everyone at every stage of life-- is fresh faced and wide-eyed and cute. Even as Schultz ages though the latter third of the book the adjective ‘tousle-haired’ kept rising to mind. This is not a particularly large defect, and certainly Yazuru Kuki shows great skill, but I thought it worth mentioning, particularly after the shock I got seeing the actual photograph of Shultz as an old man in the final pages.

The narrative of Shultz’s life is told primarily through conversations, and the dialogue scenes are dynamic and human, conveying well the mostly subtle and personal events that shaped the his life pre-Peanuts. After Schultz begins Peanuts, almost exactly halfway through the volume, we are treated to a slightly more technical view of his life of thoroughgoing wholesomeness, which seemed to have been necessarily uneventful due to Schultz’s total dedication to his craft (we get to see his first vacation from the strip he took to commemorate turning 75). I seem to see a little extra care put into making sure the historical and geographical context of the events of Schultz’s life are laid out as clearly as possible, given that this was originally published in Japan, but I may be merely projecting since I have never read an American biography. Wherever that extra care in contextualization came from, I found it quite useful in coaching me through his life.

While it does well showing Shultz’s early life emotional struggles, I think the narrative might have derived more depth from focusing on Shultz’s struggles with anxiety after his success, but then again people talked little about mental health in Shultz’s lifetime and there might have been relatively little material to draw upon.

Overall, this is a slightly visually distracting but thorough and heartwarming account of a life dedicated to art.

This was such a sweet read. It definitely leans a bit in the romanticized (hagiographied?) direction—but it is a loving and thorough look at Schulz’s life. I learned a lot didn’t know: like that Schulz was a war veteran and that many of the Peanuts characters were inspired by real people in his life. It gives you a deeper appreciation for his work and how personal those little comic strips really were.

The art is lovely—classic manga style by Yuzuru Kuki—paired with actual Peanuts comic panels, which makes for a great visual blend.

Heads-up: because this is manga, it reads right to left.

If you’re a Peanuts fan or just curious about the quiet genius behind Charlie Brown and Snoopy, this one’s worth picking up.

Thank you to NetGalley, Udon Entertainment | UDON Entertainment, and Yuzuru Kuki for this free, advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Peanuts lovers, rejoice! This thoughtful biography of one of the most influential men in comics is perfect for the middle grade crowd. The author managed to balance being informative with being entertaining, a hard feat.

This is absolutely adorable and I love the illustration work. If your or anyone you know is a fan of Peanuts this manga is most definitely worth reading.

This is an interesting combination of genres. It's hard to find good contemporary biographies for younger readers. This is accessible to many types of readers. I'm not sure how the anime aspect of it will translate for my patrons, but I know they love oldschool cartoons like Peanuts, so it's worth a try.

This is an easy read where kids can learn something and enjoy some quality cartooning.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

Oh how i loved this!

Like many people, I have been a fan of Peanuts, Charlie Brown, and Snoopy since childhood (I was a very proud owner of a set of Charlie Brown's Encyclopedia!) and when I saw that this was available to request at Netgalley, I just had to to read it.

I will say that I knew absolutely nothing about Charles M. Schulz before this, but I really enjoyed reading through the highlights of his life in manga form. True, it is romanticized and clearly aimed for younger readers, but I felt the full impact of what happens towards the end so I guess the idealized depiction of almost 50 years of cartooning still got to me.

I now have a greater respect for Mr. Schulz. The consistency of daily drawing + the reliability of submitting everything three to six weeks before the deadline was especially mind blowing (could never be me, LOL). I'm also very inspired to keep going with my creative endeavors bec wow, I related so hard to the self-doubt, second guessing, and imposter syndrome of it all.

Reading this also made me want to fall into a rabbit hole of the actual historical facts of his life, so that's probably what I'll be doing for the next two to five hours. LOL

Loved the art style and pacing of this manga and I seriously think fans of Snoopy and Peanuts, however casual of a fan they may be, will like this.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me review this book. I’ve read “Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography” by David Michaelis and it was a good read. This was another great read about Schulz. The drawings were great along with the interesting facts.

As a fan of Snoopy and the Peanuts gang, I was excited to get this as a e book. I was not disappointed. The illustrations of all the Schultz members combined with the dates and stories of those times. The emotion behind the words. The evolution of how Charles Schulz became a cartoonist and brought peanuts to life. This book..... AMAZING!!!

I'm a huge Peanuts & Charles Schulz fan and his biography is the only one I read willingly as a child. This manga version is much more young-reader-friendly than the book I actually got as a kid and I still learned something new! The personalities of the people are simplified but it is a great brief overview of the life and career of Charles Shulz. Plus, an iconic cartoonist deserves a comic-style biography, it just makes sense!

As someone who enjoys the Peanuts comics quite a lot I was curious to learn more about their creator. This manga gave some interesting insights into Charles M. Schultz’s life. I enjoyed the art style. The only thing that bothered me a little was that Schultz got a little too idealised for my liking. I was almost expecting for a halo to appear above him.