Charles Schulz, (1922~2000), was born November 26, 1922 to Carl and Dena Schulz of St. Paul, Minnesota. kwa week’s end, however, Charles became known as "Sparky," nicknamed kwa an uncle with a soft spot for Barney Google’s horse "Sparkplug." Schulz carries the nickname to this day, proof of a life devoted to comics. Early on, Schulz recognized his own talents, realizing he could draw even better than his older cousin. An insightful kindergarten teacher once told him, "Someday, Charles, you're going to be an artist." "It" seems beyond the comprehension of people that someone can be born to draw comic strips, but I think I was, "says Schulz. "My ambition from earliest memory was to produce a daily comic strip."

During the Great Depression, Schulz's family found the means to enroll his their son in a correspondence course in cartooning at what is now the Art Instruction Schools, Inc. ("Draw Me"), in Minneapolis. A shy and insecure student, Schulz struggled through the program, submitting his coursework kwa mail instead of in person and earning only a C+ in "Drawing of Children." Eventually Schulz completed the art course, but was unfortunately drafted into World War II before successfully selling any of his cartoons.
Returning to St. Paul a civilian in need of work, Schulz was poised to accept a job lettering tombstones. Through some confusion, the job did not materialize. It was "Timeless Topix," a small Roman Catholic magazine, that offered Schulz his first job in cartooning. The magazine hired him to letter already drawn comics. Although the position offered him no creative opportunities, it did keep Schulz on track and helped him to hone his lettering skills. Soon, Schulz took on a sekunde job as a teacher with his alma mater, Art Instruction Schools. There, Schulz grew with the support of an artistic community. He practiced his drawing and met many of the people who would inspire his future work (including a friend named Charlie Brown and a girl with red hair who broke his heart). With growing confidence and an expanding portfolio, Schulz blanketed the comics market with samples of his work. Eventually, his persistence paid off and he sold a number of single comic panels in the "Saturday Evening Post." Buoyed kwa his success in the national magazine market, Schulz went on to land a weekly comic feature called "L'il Folks" in the St. Paul Pioneer Press. The matunda of his creativity and labor, "L'il Folks" featured Charlie Brown and Shermy and became the sole focus of Schulz's career. When asked now if he thought the strip would last, Schulz majibu "Sure, I thought it would last. I never intended to draw something that wouldn't last. In fact, when I started out, I thought, 'I'll be drawing this the rest of my life.'"

Marketing "L'il Folks" to syndicates around the country, Schulz finally received a reply from Jim Freeman at United Feature Syndicate. Freeman, a well-respected editor with 30 years' experience, wisely suggested that Schulz expand the comic from one panel to a strip format. Schulz had already been toying with the idea and jumped at the chance to accommodate the syndicate. The new strip format was different from other "kid strips" of the time in that each strip dealt with only a brief incident. The result was a strip with only four panels and a concept that United Feature Syndicate fell in upendo with. After being invited to visit their offices in New York City, Schulz signed a five-year contract with United Feature Syndicate and began his career as a full-time cartoonist. He celebrated with a steak, mnofu dinner. The celebration was short-lived, however, when Schulz learned of the syndicate's first major decision. Because of legal issues surrounding the name "L'il Folks" ("Little Folks" and "L'il Abner" already existed), the strip was renamed "PEANUTS." This name made Schulz cringe. To this day, he feels the name connotes "insignificant" au "unimportant." But the syndicate and the newspaper market loved the idea. The strip, with its small size and matching name, was marketed as the flexible format for any newspaper. The strip was touted as "The Greatest Little Sensation Since Tom Thumb." Little attention was aliyopewa to its insightful text and endearing drawings. But the comic's "foot" was in the door. It took several years for readers to grow attached to the PEANUTS gang. But nearly fifty years later, "PEANUTS" has grown into one of the longest running, most maarufu comics of all time.

Over the years "PEANUTS" has expanded beyond the realm of daily comics, growing beyond Charles Schulz's wildest dreams. In 1952 John Selby of Rinehart and Company took a risk when he published a collection of comics as "PEANUTS" the book. Little did he know the idea would inspire an entirely new genre in publishing. In 1961 Connie Boucher, a housewife from San Francisco, approached Schulz with the idea of creating a "PEANUTS" calendar. Schulz agreed to the idea and, putting a sekunde mortgage on her home, Boucher produced the very first "PEANUTS Datebook." Snoopy put character merchandising on the map. Later Snoopy dolls, T-shirts, bedding, wristwatches, toothbrushes, and a host of other trinkets took the merchandising market kwa storm. Today wewe and your family can visit with Snoopy and the gang in person at your local shopping mall, watch them on videotape on your television, enjoy them in a school play au off-Broadway musical, marvel at their maneuvers in an ice arena, au even interact with them on CD-ROM on your computer.