Long before there was Charlie Brown and Snoopy, Peanuts creator Chares Schulz was a boy nicknamed "Sparky," best friends with Spike. No ordinary dog, Spike knows 50 words, rings the doorbell when he wants to come in, and—this gains the attention of Ripley's Believe It or Not—he can eat literally anything without getting sick. Depicting Schulz as looking a bit like Charlie Brown with hair, Dan Andreason brings a bit of vintage comic strip styling to this encouraging book for readers 4 to 8, which shows how Sparky and Spike's friendship helped to shape the young artist who would create one of the most beloved fictional canines of all.