Northern Lights Book Awards
Sparky & Spike: Charles Schulz and the Wildest, Smartest Dog Ever
Winner of the Biography Category
Author: Barbara Lowell
Illustrator: Dan Andreason
Cameron Kids
Good grief! Some of us at the Northern Lights Book Awards are old enough to remember getting the Sunday paper and reading the Peanuts comic strip in full color. Even though most households don’t get the paper anymore, Charlie Brown and the rest of the gang lives on. Even very young children recognize Snoopy.
We are excited to showcase Sparky & Spike: Charles Schulz and the Wildest, Smartest Dog Ever. Accompanied by nostalgic comic-strip-style illustrations, the book details the childhood of Charles Schulz and his dog Spike, a white dog with black spots. Though Sparky’s (Charles Schulz’s nickname) drawings are well liked by his schoolmates, he is not very popular. Sparky wants to be a cartoonist when he grows up but worries he’s not good enough. When he loses motivation, his four-legged friend, Spike, is there to cheer him up and cheer him on. It works! Spike inspires him to send a letter and drawing to Ripley’s Believe It or Not and later becomes the inspiration for the well-loved Snoopy!
What’s really cool is that Dan Andreasen, the illustrator for Sparky & Spike: Charles Schulz and the Wildest, Smartest Dog Ever, sent a small drawing to the Peanuts creator when he was a boy and a copy of Charles Schulz’s response is included!
While Sparky & Spike is a step back in time for adults, it can be a first step for children by showing them to work hard and dream big!
You can view the full list of Northern Lights Book Award winners here: http://northerndawnawards.com/2019-northern-lights-book-awards-winners/
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