There are a number of reasons cartoon legend Charles Schulz described himself as an "ardent admirer" of <I>Rose is Rose</i>. From its five-time nomination as Best Newspaper Comic Strip to its appearance in more than 600 newspapers, Pat Brady and Don Wimmer's cartoon creation <I>Rose is Rose</i> is evocative of Schulz's own revered strip where daydreams slightly blur the edges of reality.<P>Inside <I>Rose is Rose: Not Just Another Sweetheart Deal</i>, life in the Gumbo family is anything but ordinary. While gentle son Pasquale imagines toe-biting, bathtub drain--residing monsters, his mother, Rose, might morph into her leather-clad alter ego biker-chick persona, Vicki. Not to be outdone, here comes doting father and husband, Jimbo, riding in on his stallion with his romantically chivalrous ways. And let's not forget furry feline pet Peekaboo, who has fantasies of her own about her cute human counterparts.<P>This <I>Rose is Rose</i> collection features more than 40 weeks of Gumbo family amusement and artwork. Brady is the recipient of cartooning's highest honor, the Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year for 2004 by the National Cartoonists Society. After two decades of sketching every <I>Rose is Rose</i> strip himself, Brady shifted to sharing duties to Wimmer.