One of the wisest things my Mom did when I was growing up was to make reading a treat. It all started when I’d go shopping with her and, like most kids, pester her for my favorite things. She seldom gave in, whether I was asking for a new Hot Wheels car or a favorite cereal.
But she found a clever way to direct my attention elsewhere. She’d say to me, “Tell you what…I’m not going to buy you that GI Joe you want, but I will buy you any book you want. And if you read the whole book, I’ll buy you another book.”
It was a consolation prize, but it was still a small win in my mind because I hadn’t suffered through hours of shopping with nothing to show for it.
So I’d stand in front of the bookshelves trying to figure out which book to buy. I remember the day that I picked up my first Peanuts book by Charles Schulz. Now you might not think that’s a “real” book because it is just a collection of comics. But they were real books, at least to my young mind, and they were far more than mere comic books. For one thing, they were often 100 pages long. And for another, the wit and wisdom of the wonderful characters that Schulz created was a great way to learn. I can remember coming across all kinds of words that I didn’t know, and my parents giving the ultimate parental answer, “Look it up yourself.” Or I’d read a joke that I didn’t understand and I’d have to get my older siblings to explain it to me, which offered me insights into human behavior. They were great books for learning.
Over the years I read dozens of the Peanuts books. Charlie Brown seemed like a friend and I identified with his frustrations. Snoopy seemed like the idealized pet we all wish we had, one that made me laugh as he was also a best friend. Lucy reminded me of my older, bossier, know-it-all sisters. Linus struck me as my thoughtful and insightful friend down the street. Pig-Pen seemed like any number of people I knew from the wrecking yard. I saw my own life, family, and friends in the Peanuts characters and began to sub-consciously start to understand character development. I learned about right and wrong, laughter and loss, success and failure.
Over time I read every comic that Schulz ever published. And still, each time I read one, it feels like the first time I’ve read it! Most of those old paperback books my Mom bought for me are still in the special bookshelf of my study, alongside signed C.S. Lewis books and Hemingway first editions. Yes, that’s how much I value them.
In many ways, Peanuts taught me how to read, how to enjoy a story, how to follow the development of a character’s personality, how to discern nuance and subtlety in the language.
Mom’s little trick to divert my attention from saving box tops to earn a Tony the Tiger toy and instead get me focused on reading … well, it worked very well. And I’m forever grateful to her.
I’m also forever grateful to the late Charles Schulz for teaching me to read. That’s why #25 on my list of books that influenced me are all the Peanuts books.
Want to read more of my top 25? Here is the list thus far:
Celebration of Discipline – #1
The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings – #2
The Cost of Discipleship – #3
The Screwtape Letters – #4
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – #5
Only the Paranoid Survive – #6
The Spy Who Came In From The Cold – #7
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – #8
Truman – #9
Shantaram – #10
The Maltese Falcon – #11
The Shadow of the Wind – #12
Survey of the New Testament – #13
Calvin & Hobbes – #14
Celtic Daily Prayer – #15
Managing the Nonprofit Organization – #16
A Wrinkle in Time – #17
The Practice of the Presence of God – #18
Catch 22 – #19
The Tortilla Curtain – #20
The Kingdom of God is a Party – #21
Earthkeeping – #22
Reviving Ophelia – #23
The Grapes of Wrath – #24
Peanuts – #25