A Calvin and Hobbes Collection - The Days are Just Packed

My young son learned to read using Calvin and Hobbes. Enough adult humor to keep me entertained, enough funny pictures to keep his attention, lots of small words to practice reading, and enough big words to work on sounding out and phonics.

What more can be said about Calvin and Hobbes? If you don't like it, you're probably not an American. So to all you Canadians, please give it a try. After all, we tried your Molson and hockey and seem to enjoy both. In fact, we even play hockey in Florida and Arizona now. So maybe Calvin's antics can be enjoyed in Saskatchewan shortly...

Named after a theologian and a philosopher respectively, Calvin and Hobbes are a six-year-old boy and an anthropomorphic stuffed tiger who appear in eighteen cartoon collections by Bill Watterson.

This one has a sampling of all the popular features -- school with Miss Wormwood, dinosaurs, Spaceman Spiff, snow sculpture, Susie Derkins, chocolate frosted sugar bombs, monsters under the bed, G.R.O.S.S. club meetings, etc.

for adults and children

In the waning years of newspapers, and especially newspaper comics, a masterpiece appeared that persists despite its medium's immanent demise. Finding children or adults reading a "Calvin and Hobbes" book in a restaurant, on a sunny sidewalk or tucked away in some library nook still occurs in our alleged attention deficit society. The strip has something not offered by 3D fantasy or killer video games. It contains a mythological dimension in that it exploits the memories, correctly or incorrectly recalled, many adults have of innocent (and often not so innocent) childhood. Children have few responsibilities. They can waste time. Many don't care about sloshing around in revolting mud. Calvin, the strip's diminutive anti-hero, perfectly embodies these romantic ideals that readers can re-experience (or re-romance) through low-tech analog inked squares. He also rebels, an option abominably closed to adults who wish to keep their livelihoods intact. But, like adults, Calvin has his own chains, namely the rules of the household and the classroom. His futile struggles against these limitations remain inspiring, pathetic and hilarious. Experiencing these episodes likely releases pent-up sympathetic emotions in readers while providing a safe harbor of vicarious distance. Subsuming "Calvin and Hobbes" under "childrens' comics" misses most of the point. These were, and remain, adult strips that anybody can appreciate on the surface, even children. And similar to classic Warner Brother's cartoons and "Peanuts," this characteristic contributes to the strip's timelessness.

This volume really turns up the philosophy and cultural criticism. The media, psychology and the culture of "the self" all receive adequate pummeling here. Calvin's character manifests a super-packed portion of today's individualism and concern for the "self." Most of his actions are attempts to shirk responsibility or morality. Calvin ruminates on such topics during the metaphorically dangerous sled rides he shares with Hobbes. Others appear in simple scenes, such as the snowman Calvin christens as "good enough" to shelter his self-esteem from comparisons to masterpieces. Commercialism, which often exploits the "self," also gets a whisking as Calvin fulminates "Mainstream commercial nihilism can't be trusted?! Childhood is so disillusioning." Not to mention the classic offering of warm tapioca, representing his brain, that he makes to the television. With this single strip, "Calvin and Hobbes" once again epitomizes its medium. Apart from a heightened philosophical perspective, enough gag strips remain to balance the humor with the profundity, but they often go together. The tiger attacks continue as do the monsters under the bed and the pranks on the parents. Science fiction also appears as Calvin travels two hours into the future to avoid doing his homework. He soon faces the 7:30 Calvin and the 8:30 Calvin, both of which expected the 6:30 Calvin to have already completed the assignment. Brilliant.

Given the strip's heightened subtext of cultural criticism, Bill Watterson's reluctance to commercialize it becomes more understandable. He clearly strived beyond popularity. And having voluminous "Calvin and Hobbes" products burgeoning off the shelves would contradict at least one aspect of the strip's spirit, much to the syndicate's chagrin. This stands in stark contrast to the gratuitously commercialized "Peanuts," though Charles Schulz often defended this by claiming more access to philanthropic projects. Regardless, such quibbling seems irrelevant some two decades following the strip's close. The increasing brilliance of the strips themselves remains. And Bill Watterson seems to have no ambitions to continue the strip or even talk about it anymore. He barely responds to interview requests. But that's his business and as long as the strip stays accessible no one should really have anything to complain about.

What negative thing can anybody say about Calvin & Hobbes? If somebody could say such a thing, I'd be shocked if it held any type of merit what-so-every. This cleverly written collection of comic strips has a little bit of something for everybody; humor, innocence, mischief, surrealism and fun.

Like all the books in this series, the story focuses on Calvin, a six year old mischievous boy who hates school and girls, doesn't obey his parents, doesn't quite fit in at school, and has a wild and overactive imagination. The biggest manifestation of Calvin's imagination is the creation of his best friend, Hobbes, who in real life is a stuffed tiger, but to Calvin is much, much more: a best friend to share in his adventures. While alone with Calvin, Hobbes will seem like a real life talking tiger walking tall on 2 feet, but when a third person is around we will see Hobbes as his real self. This creates many funny scenarios as Calvin and Hobbes will often get into fights (as many good friends that age do), and then unexpectedly an adult, or Calvin's arch enemy, Susie, will walk by and see a comical sight of Calvin wrestling around with a toy tiger.

Unfortunately this book doesn't feature some of the series' staple ongoing storylines, such as the presence of Rosalyn (Calvin's strict baby-sitter), or of Calvin's alter ego: Spaceman Spiff. Still, I highly recommend this book for readers of all ages. I highly enjoyed this book when I was little, and I still enjoy it today.

Darien Summers, author of The Mischievous Hare, a children's book.

This book represents a change in format for the Calvin and Hobbes books. This is the first time they're in the sideways legal format, making them much wider than they are tall. The strips are also bigger, with one Sunday or two normal strips per page. It's absolutely perfect for some of the creativity shows with the formatting of the Sunday strips, and I can't complain about having some of the weekday strips in an easier to read format.

The humor is still as funny as ever, however. There seem to be fewer stories this go around, but those that are here are fun. My favorite has to be the series where Calvin time travels to get his homework from his future self, only to find that he didn't do it. It's a riot. We also get more critics of culture with the introduction of Chewing Magazine and Calvin's attempt at art work.

It's hard not to love this classic comic strip. If you haven't read it before, you're in for a real treat. And if you have read it, this book will make you remember just why it was so good.

Fans of Calvin & Hobbes who used to read the newspaper strip in the 80s and 90s will find great pleasure in reading this collection of C&H comics. These witty comics about the 6-year old Calvin and his stuffed tiger Hobbes, named after the famous philosophers, will amuse people of all ages. The perceptiveness and humor of Watterson deserve the highest of cartoon awards, while his artistic creations exude hilarity. This cartoon is perhaps one of the most piercing yet funny critiques of modern society.

Summer is the time when Calvin and Hobbes can hang out in the treehouse and plot their next attacks on Susie, if theyâ(tm)re not busy fighting with each other, that is. This book also contains some of Calvinâ(tm)s best snowman art. Procrastinators will love Calvinâ(tm)s newest invention â" the Time Machine, or perhaps not? This is definitely one of the best C&H books around.

Note that there are two series of C&H collections: individual wide-format albums, each covering an entire year of strips (will call it âaeregularâ), and the vertical aspect ratio âaetreasury seriesâ which covers selected comics from two regular C&H books. Note that C&H ran for a year in newspapers, so thereâ(tm)s 10 regular books and 5 treasury books. Though the cartoons are slightly smaller in the treasury collection, each treasury book is far thicker and contains more strips than a regular book, and is furthermore less expensive, so treasury books are a real bargain. âaeThe Days Are Just Packedâ belongs to the regular series and was published in 1993.

The content, of course, is stellar. This hard cover edition, however, is rather poor quality. The paper is pulpy and see-through. And the binding looks like a Turtleback; it's perfect-bound (glued) rather than sewn. I thought at first that I'd simply gotten the wrong edition. But ISBN-10: 0836217365 matches the listing, so my guess is that it's not the seller's fault. It's still likely more durable than a paperback. Just don't expect true hard cover quality, lest you too be disappointed.

Bill Waterson is argudably one of the best comic writers out there. Even through his retirement, he has made great books of past comics featuring his Calvin and Hobbes characters. I laugh and laugh at these comics he creates and I sometimes wonder how he comes up with such brilliant ideas sometimes with the storylines of some of the strips.
Calvin, one of his best known characters, is the trouble-making kid in the school. He is funny and imaginative and likes to make funa and games with his "real" pet friend Hobbes. Through the comics, you can see the relationship between a stuffed animal and a human.
In this comic though, Hobbes "comes to life" in Calvins eyes. The things that Calvin can sometimes get involved in is so hilarious and sometimes out of this world.
I guarantee that anyone that loves comics will fall in love with this one and should definitely buy this book to start their collection of classic comics.
All of Bill Waterson's comic books are very well done and very professional. His work is his life and it shows the time and consideration it took to make these characters come to life. Thank you Mr. Waterson for creating such a great comic and thatnk you people for reading my review!

There is little you can say about a Calvin and Hobbes book. As with the other books in this series, it is very funny, insightful of people and children, and something that I seem to be able to read over and over. Bill Waterson brings a perspective to human life that is as unique as Gary Larson's perspectives, only his viewpoint surrounds our "hero," Calvin. The long-suffering Hobbes (a tiger, don't you know) is often a voice of doubt and sanity that Calvin rarely, if ever, heeds. When Calvin realizes that Hobbes is being critical, a fight generally ensues. Given that Hobbes is a "ferocious" tiger, Calvin rarely gains the upper hand.

This book has excellent and relatively benign humor, good for any occasion when you need a break from the world. More amazing, this book can be read over and over, and each time you'll still find it funny. I strongly recommend this book.

There is little you can say about a Calvin and Hobbes book. As with the other books in this series, it is very funny, insightful of people and children, and something that I seem to be able to read over and over. Bill Waterson brings a perspective to human life that is as unique as Gary Larson's perspectives, only his viewpoint surrounds our "hero," Calvin. The long-suffering Hobbes (a tiger, don't you know) is often a voice of doubt and sanity that Calvin rarely, if ever, heeds. When Calvin realizes that Hobbes is being critical, a fight generally ensues. Given that Hobbes is a "ferocious" tiger, Calvin rarely gains the upper hand.

This book has excellent and relatively benign humor, good for any occasion when you need a break from the world. More amazing, this book can be read over and over, and each time you'll still find it funny. I strongly recommend this book.

Calvin's wild imagination continues to make these "Calvin and Hobbes" books readable. "The Days are Just Packed" is the first volume to be published in different formats (pages contain two weekday strips instead of three, etc.). In addition to the change, Calvin's interaction with Hobbes, Mom, Dad, Susie, Miss Wormwood, and Moe are still the same as they were in the earlier strips. Not saying that it's a bad thing; indeed, their conversations and misadventures are so fascinating to read through. But what I really love about "Calvin and Hobbes" is Calvin's vivid imagination. I wish I had that sort of imagination when I was younger. But oh well, you can't change the past.

Anyway, "The Days are Just Packed" should be read by ever C&H fan that's roaming around on this planet.

okay. It's not the hottest around... but it's still a 5 star. Give me the details? Hold on here... anyway. The hillarous tiger and his buddy Calvin planning stuff against the stupid Susie. With super cool stupendous man while Spaceman Spiff gets Debrefied while not wearing them. You think it's total choas? Think again.
Calvin is a life long family memory with good very clean jokes. While mixing in the imagination of a tiger and many charecters calvin dreams of. While in earlier books... sending packages of lists to santa. Calvin strikes his gold with the best humor in a comic book will give to you.
Makes great christmas or birthday gift. It's hard to give.
It also has color comics for the sunday strips. Good amount of pages. Plus the title comic. THE DAYS ARE JUST PACKED!!

The Days are Just Packed was the first Calvin and Hobbes book I ever read and I remember it fondly. It was summer 1995 and I was 14. It was probably one of the best summers ever and while staying at my grandmothers I found this book. I had never heard of Calvin and Hobbes and ever since sitting with this book in the garden all day in the sun I have loved it ever since.

It's not really a humor accessible to children, such as Garfield, but humor for adults based on a child's unique view on the world. I'm sure we were all like Calvin at some point. And we all had a Hobbes. No matter what your age Calvin and Hobbes will always remind you of the innocence of childhood and the outrageous imagination within.

This I think was the best classic I have ever read. It is halarious and never quites making me crack up. I think my favorite character would be Hobbes.He is so sarcastic and he is so funnnnnnny!!!!! I think that is where I learned my sarcasm. (Either that or my dad). I love this book and all the jokes in it.

I just love Calvin and Hobbes. I have been reading them for 5 years!Okay say if you don't like to read,these books always bring a smile to my face. Plus it's fun to look at the pictures. It always brings the family closer together 'cause it's fun to read and look at. I have all of the calvin and hobbes books and have read them a million times. Plus, adults like to read it because it reminds them of their childhood years of your mom trying to force you out of bed to get on the school bus. Who's hobbes might you ask. He is calvins best friend(who is a stuffed tiger). Calvin is a six yearold boy who gets into lots of trouble at school and at home. I hope you enjoy these books as much as I do.
*~Morie~*

I read this book a few days ago and it didn't matter that I had seen the strips before. There were several times (especially during some of those exchanges between Calvin and his father) I laughed as hard as if I were reading them for the first time. My mother was in the hospital a couple of summers ago and she asked me to bring her my Calvin and Hobbes books. I'm sure their humor helped with her recovery. Yes, I love "Dilbert" and "Fox Trot", but I MISS this guys.

THE DAYS ARE JUST PACKED.If you've never heard of the great Calvin,Hobbes,Spaceman Spiff(in his little red space-ship),Stupendous-man,Susie,Miss Wormwood,Calvin's parents,Moe,Roslayn,his time-machine/duplicator/trans-mogrifier and the disatorly Snow-goons and wagon(pant,pant),where haver you been!?!?Calvin and his tiger buddy are back,and funnier than ever in this whimiscal and heart-warming collection by the genius of his trade,Bill Watterson

All Calvin and Hobbes books are hilarious.
Like the one with Calvin's G.R.O.S.S club.(Get Rid Of Slimy girlS!)
And when he's mom said:
"Pick up your room."And when he answerded:
"I tried but i couldn't lift it,get it?"
Thanks Bill Watterson.

The Days Are Just Packed is one of my favorite Calvin & Hobbes books. It is the first collection to have the undivided Sunday format, and the full-format Sunday strips are real works of art. Even after you've read it a million times, and have all the punchlines memorized, this is still a great book, and worth reading again. If you haven't been exposed to Calvin and Hobbes, this would be a great place to start.

If anyone has read my review for "Attack of the Deranged Mutant Killer Monster Snow Goons," you may have noticed my less-than-orthodox vocabulary. (Children, if you cannot understand me, just bear with me--it will all be over soon). Mr. Watterson returns with yet another assault on our senses, and Calvin's personalities are as hilarious as ever. Perhaps we should petition Mr. Watterson, and perhaps out of the goodness of his heart, he will once more pick up his pen and create more cartoons.

I think this book is funny. I like the strip where Calvin said he was going to donate all of the snot he sneezed to hospitals for mucus transfusions. His mom told him, "Oh stop being disgusting, Calvin! Nobody needs that donated! What an idea!" At the end, he says,"I have a jar for you to wash." I also like the strip where the monsters under his bed made him have to go to the bathroom and his dad said, "The plants on this side of the house sure don't do very well." Don't forget the one where Calvin was pretending to be a dog and, while trying to wake up the neighbors, he woke his parents up and Calvin's dad went to see who was making all of the racket. He found out that it was his son so he said,"GET IN HERE!" That is my favorite strip. Even though they didn't mention a time, I think it was 3:00 in the morning when he was doing all of that barking.

Another great collectionof Calvin and Hobbes. From his complex discussions (some talk about ecomics which make sense today even though they were written ten years ago) to being attacked by a tiger in his own home, Calvin makes one of the best cartoon characters yet. Highly recommended (along with any other Watterson product) for anyone who wants a good laugh or 172.

The days are definitely packed with adventures for this dynamic, but very short duo. From spaceships and interplanetary hideous monster beasties, to creeping around the backyard and generally getting up to suburban kidlet nogoodness, the fun is never in short supply. Neither is the wit, even if delivered under thread of Spaceman Spiff's raygun.

Caliv and Hobbes is truly a strip for everyone, which both parents and children can enjoy. This is another outstanding collection of strips, and you really can't go wrong with any of them. Bill Watterson was a comic genius whose presence in the funny pages has been missed since his retirement. My "Days" are less packed now that he's gone.

I love the Calvin and Hobbes books. It is hillarious, that a six year old kid could be so dum, but so funny. I've loved the series soince the first time I read one comic strip of it. I have collected five so far and are trying to get some more. I must cogradulate Bill Watterson on his wonderful work on Calvin and Hobbes.

This was the book that introduced me to Calvin and Hobbes and I have NEVER regretted it since. This is my favorite book of all time, and the other Calvin and Hobbes is up there. This has some of the best cartoons Watterson made. If you are a Calvin and Hobbes fan than you should have or be getting this book.If you are not a fan, this is still something you should have. Calvin and Hobbes FOREVER!

I actually am fond of comics and I even made up my own. My favorite kind is the kind that are funny, like Calvin and Hobbes, and at first, when I saw a Calvin and Hobbes book, I loved them. Then when I kept reading, I got bored and didn't read anymore ever since. Now I read it again and I love it. Every thing about it is good, and I surely will recommend it.

I have all of the Calvin and Hobbes books and love all of them.But this one made me laugh like never before.I can pick lots of storys i love out of the other books but this one is great from start to finish.The story about calvin's horoscope is my all time favorite.IF you wonder why so many people love calvin and hobbes,you will know after reading this book.

Another great slab paperback filled with the very best of this over active duo. Themed for the holidays, Calvin and Hobbes get up to their usual mischief at the detriment of Mom, Dad, Susie and others. Read it over and over again just to get a little laughter in a boring day. Highly recommended.