This issue gives us the first shots of Sally, plus some other developments. The baseball themes are being fleshed out (complete with mass-quitting of CB's team) and the Psychologist's Stand makes its debut.

What's most interesting is watching the beginning of Sally's crush on Linus. While the reprinted strips of before show Sally falling in love and Linus responding with revulsion, the new strips reveal some interesting tacks.

First, early on in the book (in a strip that hadn't seen the light of day in the reprints I had read over the years), Linus actually expresses an interest in Sally, wondering if she would be dateable at 17 (when he would be 22). One gets the idea that Schultz actually wanted to develop a situation where Linus was in love but his object was unrequited.

Later on in the book, Schultz hits gold: Sally falls, Linus is embarassed. While some of these strips are familiar, the section where Sally actually feels her heart breaking is new to my eyes. Towards the end of this book is a comic strip that is worth every penny you paid for this book: Sally responds to her broken heart in a way that everyone has responded to a broken heart. Only Schultz could have reduced it to half a day's strip!

The fifth volume of "The Complete Peanuts" covers the years 1959 and 1960. During this period, the four main characters are Charlie Brown, Lucy and Linus Van Pelt, and Snoopy. Schroeder, Violet, and Patti all have fewer appearances in the strip. Although, Schroeder has a clearly defined role which makes his character stand out more than the other two. Similarly, Pig Pen has a specific role while Shermy is a throw in character, despite the fact that both appear rarely. During this period, we have the first new character since the short-lived Charlotte Braun almost five years previously. Sally Brown is born on May 26th of 1959, we find out her name on June 2nd, and she makes her first appearance in the strip on August 23rd. We see her walking for the first time on August 22nd of the following year.

There are some classic firsts which appear in this book. One is the first strip to have Lucy's Psychiatrist stand, in which she offers the classic advice "Snap out of it!" to Charlie Brown, followed by "Five cents please." The Great Pumpkin is also mentioned for the first time in these strips. There are also some wonderful sequences here, including the impending destruction of Snoopy's doghouse to make way for a freeway bypass, Linus' crush on his teacher, Charlie Brown missing a baseball game to push Sally in her stroller, and many more.

As with the previous volumes in this series, the index is an amazing resource. If you want to look up the strips in which "The Mad Punter" appears, all you have to do is check the index. The Foreword in this edition was written by Whoppi Goldberg and she reflects on her interview of Charles M. Schultz, as well s the role "Peanuts" played in her own life. "Peanuts" was my favorite comic strip when I was young, and it is wonderful to read all these classic strips again. There are also many strips here which were never printed before, so it is a great pleasure to experience them for the first time.

The best ever written. It's very difficult not to relate to Charlie Brown. He is Joe Everyman. I can't wait for the rest of the strips to come out. A big mistake for a "Peanuts" fan not to own them.

Eric Paddon said in his review that Whoopi Goldberg's "specialty is foul-mouthed hate diatribes toward anyone who isn't a raving leftist like her."

He also says Charles Schulz used lessons from the bible in his comic strip.

Please don't believe Mr. Paddon, a professor at a Christian college. Ms. Goldberg didn't put any hate in her introduction to this book. She loves the Peanuts.

You never had to believe in the New Testament or the Republican Party to enjoy the Peanuts. You don't now. I know a Muslim and a Buddhist who both enjoyed Mr. Schulz's comic strip for decades. Do Christian faculty members know that the cartoonist named Woodstock after that anti - family music festival ?

Please plunge in this wonderful collection of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Woodstock, Lucy, Linus and the rest of the gang. They are timeless. Maybe they can inspire today's children who show promise in cartoon art.

It's a joy to watch the continuing development of the Peanuts characters through this, the fifth volume in the continuing series. You can safely ignore the 'introduction' - an interview with Whoopi Goldberg that casts little light on the Peanuts Gang or Charles Schulz. I have no axe to grind as far as Ms. Goldberg is concerned - she's a fine actress and an interesting person, but for a volume such as this, part of a complete collection, I'd expect a more relevant essay or perhaps some additional information on Mr. Schulz or his work.

I will certainly be buying the remainder of the series as they become available.