Papergreat: "Peanuts Lunch Bag Cook Book" (1974, by June Dutton)

Saturday, November 14, 2026

"Peanuts Lunch Bag Cook Book" (1974, by June Dutton)

Peanuts Lunch Bag Cook Book absolutely belongs on the list of the first books I remember personally having when I was young, alongside Snoopy, The Ghost of Windy Hill, The Star Wars Storybook, M for Mischief, a couple Tell Me Why books by Arkady Leokum, and Henry Huggins. And, of course, it wasn't much later that I discovered Ruth Manning-Sanders books at our public library in Montoursville and checked them out often.

It appears that it was first published in 1970. I have the January 1974 Scholastic paperback (TW 2531). The square little book is 50% food-related cartoons by Charles Schulz and 50% recipes by June Dutton (1924-2016). Dutton authored about two dozen books, including Hope is a Handful of Dreams and Booze. Her obituary notes: "In the mid-60s, she ... joined her sister's merchandising and publishing business, Determined Productions. June flourished there, honing and leveraging her talents as a wordsmith. She authored a series of children's books and became the company's de-facto editor in chief. She loved her work and gladly mentored young colleagues. An avid traveler and cook, June loved touring the world sampling new foods and collecting local recipes. She blossomed into a true gourmet and soon combined her love for good food and writing in a successful line of small, easy-to-use international cookbooks."

Dutton's obituary also notes that she was "particularly passionate about politics, especially women's issues. An unabashed lifelong progressive, she was active in a variety of organizations working to advance and protect women's rights. Never one to bend her beliefs for the sake of prevailing social norms, June was always ahead of the curve and prepared to forcefully defend and promote her views on important social issues."

With the Peanuts Lunch Bag Cook Book, she came up with a wonderful variety of sandwiches and sandwich-adjacent recipes, including Miss Othmar's Tested Mayonnaise, Charlie's Cheese Sandwiches, Linus Loves Liverwurst Sandwiches, Stick-to-the-Roof-of-Your-Mouth Peanut Butter Sandwiches, and Schroeder's Harmonious Ham Sandwiches.

The writing doesn't talk down to kids. It even encourages them to do things such as make their own homemade bread and condiments. And it has tips such as "Read the recipe all the way through, and ask an adult about anything you don't understand. Then get out all the ingredients and equipment you will need."

She includes healthy tips such as adding lettuce and/or tomato to sandwiches if they won't be sitting in the lunch bag too long. And including sliced vegetables as a snack to accompany the sandwich. She's a proponent of thin bread slices and thin meat slices, and Stick-to-the-Roof-of-Your-Mouth Peanut Butter Sandwiches call only for a reasonable "1 generous tablespoon of peanut butter" per sandwich. (Her suggestion to add catsup to the peanut butter sandwich, however, is right out.)

I didn't become much of a kitchen chef until I got much older, but I remember this book being perhaps the first one to show me that path toward step-by-step food preparation. It was great to browse through, plus you had the funny cartoons by Schulz. I might pull it off the shelf some day and make the salmon sandwiches, which didn't appeal to me as a kid but sound great now.

Some other comments and memories found in various places online:

"This was the first cookbook I ever had. I had lost it in one of the moves and had to buy it for the cheeseball recipe I make every new year."
"As a child, I remember being wildly impressed by this little recipe book."
"I started making the all-star white bread when I got this in grade 5. My siblings would pile into the kitchen and devour it as soon as it came out of the oven!"
"I had this. I think I made every recipe that gramma's pantry allowed."

There's a Reddit thread that includes a bunch of the recipes, if you're interested in more than I've posted here.