Rating: Not for me

Reading Level: Early Elementary

As you might expect from a Charlie Brown story, this one has a lot of silly fun, the usual characters, and some generally heartwarming themes with a happy finish. However, I was a little disappointed about a few things, and there are a few other points parents should be aware of:

◦ Romance. Oh my! Romance plays such a large role in this book! One of the biggest plot conflicts is that Charlie Brown has trouble talking to the new girl at school because he is overly concerned with what she will think about him and with his own insecurities. Now, this might really hit home for teenage boys who struggle with talking to girls, but the audience for this movie is much younger, and I think it’s a little premature be making eight-year-old boys psych themselves out talking to girls. I see this a lot in Tracy West work. A lot of romance that just doesn’t seem age-appropriate to me.

◦ Snoopy imagines up a story including the red Baron German fighter pilot. Just like Charlie Brown, his story has a love interest, and the red Baron steals her away. Snoopy‘s fiction story is about a rescue of the mysterious love interest. Not only is this more romance for an audience that doesn’t need to hear it, but also you should be aware that there are some nuances of World War II that your reader will be exposed to.

◦ In her usual form, Lucy is aggressive and calls Charlie Brown names such as “blockhead.”

In the end, the themes are really great! The little red haired girl sees past Charlie Brown’s blunders to his heart. She admires how he gives up his own talent show act to help his little sister. He notices how he tries to write a book report to help her. She sees how much courage it must’ve taken to own up to the fact that there was a mistake about his test scores, and he was actually wasn’t the one who should be honored at the school wide assembly. So I like that in the end Charlie Brown is rewarded for his display of good character.