Review Detail

LOVE IS WALKING HAND IN HAND is a small picture book designed to be a gift for Peanut fans. Each page contains a sentence that begins with "Love is" and features a sketch of Peanuts characters related to it. For instance, the title is featured on one of the pages, but they also include things like valentines with lace around the edges, letters on pink paper, mussing up someone's hair, and getting someone a glass of water in the middle of the night. Altogether, they add up to showing that it's the little ways in which we express our love every day.

What I loved: This was a simple book that would work well as a gift for Peanuts fans. The simple text alongside simple sketches are placed upon brightly colored pages in a red, orange, and purple scheme that has a vintage Valentine's Day feel. There is a large variety of moments captured throughout this book, and gift givers could add a personal touch by marking off the ones they relate to the most. A to/from page at the beginning aids in the gifting potential of the book.

What left me wanting more: While I do understand that this is based off of the Peanuts characters and their typical flaws, I was a little disappointed by some of the phrases. For instance, "Love is not nagging," where Lucy is holding her mouth while sitting next to Schroeder. This feels a bit loaded. I was also not a particular fan of "Love is letting him win even though you know you could slaughter him," which also features Lucy and Schroeder but playing chess this time. I am not sure about the messages these send. There were a few others that I found a bit questionable. However, the ones that bothered me are certainly outweighed by plenty of others which are more benign or sweet.

Final verdict: Overall, LOVE IS WALKING HAND IN HAND is a gift book that will work well for Peanuts fans.