charlie brown's the perfect valentine! (good grief!)

February 14, 2008 at 11:59PM by Rachel Chang |

You know how there’s those books from your childhood that were always on your bookshelf. You didn’t where they came from, but they were favorites that you never got tired of flipping through. One of mine was a Charlie Brown book about Valentine’s Day. I just remember how dear ol’ Chuck expected to get so many Valentines that he stressed out about whether he had brought enough suitcases to carry them in—ha!

So around this time every year, I look for that particular Charlie Brown special to come on television, but it’s never the same story. Who knew that the Peanuts gang had so many different love stories to tell?

But finally, I found the one I’ve been waiting for: Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown (out on DVD now). And after all those years, I finally got to see the story come to life—well, at least in animation. ;)

It’s just so heartbreaking to see Charlie in his pursuit of the Little Red Headed Girl. The poor guy never gets a break. And I had forgotten how the girls were into buying heart-shaped shaving lotion (that exists?!) for their Valentines. It’s exactly those cute little stories that make all of Charles Schulz’s tales so adorable, however old you are!

And as a bonus, there’s two more love-themed specials on this DVD: You’re in Love, Charlie Brown and Kiss Her, Charlie Brown. (Turns out, the one that airs on television is called A Charlie Brown Valentine, but that one’s not on the DVD.)

I never really thought of myself as a Peanuts fan (then again, I did have Snoopy sheets growing up), but trust me, they’re hard to resist. And here’s an example of one of my favorite clips! (My mom actually told me about this one—it’s little Rerun from I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown.