This volume features a number of tennis strips and several extended sequences involving Peppermint Patty’s friend Marcie, so this volume’s introduction is served up by Schulz’s longtime friend, tennis champion Billie Jean King. There is also a rarely seen sequence in which Marcie’s costume-making and
hairstyling skills utterly spoil a skating competition for Peppermint Patty.
This volume picks up on a few loose threads from the previous year, as the mysterious “Poochie” shows up in the flesh; Linus and Lucy’s new kid brother “Rerun” makes his first appearance, is almost immediately drafted onto the baseball team and embarks on his first terrifying journey on the back of his mom’s bike; and, in one of Peanuts’ oddest recurring storylines, the schoolhouse Sally used to talk to, starts talking — or at least thinking — back at her! And Charlie Brown, forced to conceal a baseball-shaped rash with a bag worn over his head, goes to camp as “Mister Sack” and discovers that, shorn of his identity, he’s suddenly well liked and successful.