3 out of 5

Charles Schulz’s ‘Love is Walking Hand in Hand’ is part of a series of square-bound mini books featuring the Peanuts crew, with character / scene sketches on one page, and some accompanying text on the other. Endearing as ever, “Love” gets a new definition with each page turn, building out interactions familiar to us from the Peanuts world and applying them to phrases little moments like, “Love is sharing your popcorn,” and etc. across 20+ variations. The design and simplicity of this is perfect for capturing a certain feeling, sticking to shades of gentle hues of orange and pink for the pages, and expertly mixing in decorative borders around the images and a humble typeface for the text. You’ll undoubtedly grin at the charm; maybe you’ll get a pang over memorable moments, recalling nervous times meeting that special someone.

But I’ll go ahead and be a bit critical: it was 1965, and maybe some of the examples of love in here (“Love is not nagging;” “Love is a flag”) can seem a little off, and Schulz does a weird thing where he switches between the specific and the general in terms of targeting school-age examples – “Love is meeting someone by the pencil sharpener” – and ones that feel broader, trying to broaden the scope of the book to a more love = peace ending which feels tacked on. Does this change any of that endearingness? …No, especially not for adults and Peanuts fans, but as a kids book, it definitely dates it, and I think makes the impact of keeping it relatable kind of wonky.

People love love, though, and love Peanuts, and this slots in well with that. (And I imagine looks pretty neat on a shelf if you’re able to track down more of these square-bound books…)