Snoopy & the Peanuts Gang Giveaway! Ends 8/17

The first book I can remember surely was not THE first I ever owned. That honor goes to some long-forgotten board book with badly chewed edges (my mom still jokes that my love of reading came first through my preference for the taste of cardboard). But it's the small mustard yellow tome with pithy quotes from the Peanuts that I remember best.

It was a gift from my great-grandfather, who I never met, to my mother. Inside was an inscription to her, and when she handed it over to me, I felt special. Knowing that she was sharing something from a man she adored, a man who she couldn't turn to to ask for a new one, meant that I had achieved a new level as a reader. The sense of value I placed in books had been recognized. It's a value I hold today. Friends joke that when they borrow a book from me they're unsure whether they should take my recommendation to heart; there's so little evidence that it's even been read.

And like that value, the love of everything Peanuts has followed me.


I've seen myself at times in all the characters. Bossy like Lucy (let me get it right out there). Craving security like Linus. Insecure like Charlie Brown (which begets both the bossiness . . . and the need for my own security blanket).

The moment I could, I began sharing these well-loved characters with my daughter. Mostly, I'll admit, through the films. This one-time newspaper writer (and current freelancer) sadly doesn't buy many newspapers anymore. Still, she's developed an affinity for the lovable Peanuts gang on her own, and I see the brilliance of creator Charles Schulz, who worked hard to keep his characters timeless. She sees the same things in 2011 that I did in the 80s, and my mother did before that.

But it's the love of the written word that I most want to impart. And so the Peanuts books that have come out in recent years have grabbed my attention. The book partner to Happiness is a Warm Blanket Charlie Brown (a movie I saw thanks to my work at The Stir), Happiness is a Warm Puppy, gave me the chance to share with her some of the gems from that original mustard-colored Schulz book.

And now I get to share the love with two lucky Inside Out readers! The folks at Peanuts headquarters heard about my obsession with all things Charlie Brown, and they did a Snoopy dance.

More to the point, they agreed that Happiness is a Special PEANUTS Post-Con Giveaway!

So here's the deal:

Win an exclusive Comic-Con PEANUTS tee (sizes based on availability), an autographed copy of the Con exclusive edition of the Happiness is a Warm Blanket graphic novel (signed by illustrators Bob and Vicki Scott and Andy Beall), and a collection of “Reunite” collectible pins. What better way to celebrate “The Year of Happiness Is…,” as the PEANUTS gang has named 2011!

Want to enter? Of course you do!

First Entry -- MUST BE DONE IN ORDER TO QUALIFY:
Join the "Happiness Is" party by helping Snoopy reach 850,000 likes on Facebook (where you can make videos documenting what “Happiness is” to you. Upload them to the PEANUTS Facebook, the PEANUTS YouTube channel, or send a link to @snoopy on Twitter for your chance to be featured on the PEANUTS YouTube channel or Facebook page, or on PEANUTS.com.)

Leave a comment here on Inside Out after you've "liked" Snoopy" to let me know you've done it!

Want Extra entries? Of course you do! Here's how to get there:

1. Become a Facebook fan of Inside Out Motherhood, and leave a comment telling me (and drop by to leave me a comment on there too if you want -- I'm a glutton for looooove).
2. Follow me on Twitter @jeannesager and tweet this giveaway -- you MUST have an actual link to the giveaway in the tweet, or it doesn't count. Leave a link to your Tweet in the comments below.
3. Grab my blog button (you'll see it at left), post it on your blog, then leave me a link in comments so I can come visit you and say hi!

I think that's it. Oh yeah -- make sure I have some way to contact you if you're the winner. If you're a blogger and have a contact on your blog, that'll do so you don't have to put your email out there for the world to see. But if not, how about a Twitter handle, something, so I can reach out. Or you can check back. The contest will end August 17.


Disclosure: Peanuts provided me with a prize pack to facilitate this review. All gushing opinions and Snoopy dancing is my own.