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Hello, I'm Dana Taylor, and this is a special episode of USA Today's The Excerpt.

Thank you. and this is a special episode of USA Today's The Excerpt. For 75 years, Charles Schultz's Pean's Peanuts gang has reflected our humor and hope,

as well as our struggle to navigate some of life's everyday curveballs.

How is it that the characters he created so poignantly reflect how we experience other people

and the world around us? And why do a ragtag group of comic strip kids who debuted in newspapers

in 1950 post-war America still resonate with children and adults around the world.

Joining me now to discuss the 75th anniversary of the Peanuts Gang and its enduring impact is Andrew Blowner,

author of The Peanuts Papers, Writers and Cartoonists on Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the Gang, and the Meaning of Life.

Thanks for joining me, Andrew.

Thank you, Dana.

In post-World War II, Charles Schultz shared a new view of everyday kids in America.

What led him to this iconic comic strip that he started?

You know, in a way, it's the question I asked myself when I started

to put this book, The Peanuts Papers, together. And when I wrote to Charles Schultz and by some

sort of minor miracle found myself sitting in his office, it was like being with the Wizard of Oz,

really. And as time went by, you know, and I engaged 30 some odd-odd writers and artists to sort of take on some aspect of peanuts to try to get at that question.

And there's no sort of grand consensus. But I think the overall feeling is a lot of what you just said in that intro in that it resonates. It validates children in a lot of ways. He didn't intend

the strip to be read by children. That's a big surprise to a lot of people. But for 50 years,

he chronicled the lives of this cohort of children. And here we are 25 years since the last day

he drew one of the strips. And it's as resonant as ever.

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