It's Baseball Season, Again! (Peanuts Gang)

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Summary: Celebrate baseball's opening day(s) with Charlie Brown
Review: They keep telling me that today is Opening Day of the baseball season despite the fact that the Orioles and Red Sox played last night in freezing weather and earlier last week the Yankees and Devil Rays split a pair of games in Tokyo. However, such problems seem pretty normal for Charlie Brown and the "Peanuts" gang in "It's Baseball Season, Again!" by Charles M. Schulz. It is almost time for baseball and Charlie Brown is trying to find his cap and glove, which are hiding in the closet, hoping the kid who has never won a baseball game will forget where they found them. Then there is the fact that the other kids do not want to start spring training since the baseball field is covered with snow. The "Peanuts" gang also has to contend with thunderstorms and just trying to play the game.

Schulz works in several ideas that we have seen in his "Peanuts" strips, weaving them together to give us a sense of the annual frustration faced by Charlie Brown on the baseball diamond, so much of what is in here should seem somewhat familiar to long time fans. The combined effort is rather atypical for a look at baseball in the popular comic strip because Charlie Brown is only guilty of being very enthusiastic about playing the game and never becomes the goat. In fact, it is Lucy, Linus, and Snoopy who are making the mistakes this time around and who are chastised by their manager who pulls their caps down over their heads. Still, in the end it is good ol' Charlie Brown who feels the need to apologize.

"It's Baseball Season, Again!" is a "Peanuts Gang" volume, appropriate for most young readers. Other books in this series include "Aaugh! A Dog Ate My Book Report," "Everyone Gets Gold Stars But Me," "It's the First Day of School," and the baseball related title, "I've Been Traded for a Pizza?" (Please note, that is Pizza and not Piazza; key difference, boys and girls).