The ( Back ) Story Behind
Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich™
Although the first published version of Jelly Bracelets and Peanut Shells debuted in early June of 2024, I created the characters and wrote the first Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich story in the fall of 1994, when I was in fifth grade and out on the blacktop that served as the recess area of my elementary school. I sat on a low concrete wall with a few sheets of loose leaf in the clamp of my wooden clip board, rendered the title in highlighters, and wrote the first few chapters in good old No. 2 pencil. I got as far as Chapter 5 which, in the earliest version of the book, featured a class president election. Peanut and Jelly feuded about running against one another as candidates!
1994 (Elementary School) - The Original Chapters
Click an image to enlarge and read the first chapter - 1994 version!
After a few (okay, many!) false starts at various stories within the Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich™ Universe - which perhaps I'll share in a later blog post! ;) - I switched gears in sixth grade, and worked on a different series featuring the characters such as Fluffy, Winky, Dandelion, Rosette, and Bluebell - all of whom were eventually folded into the modern Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich™ series. In late 1996, though, I returned to Peanut and Jelly's world, piggybacking from the concept of their very first story, and this time I successfully completed a story! This version revolved heavily on Peanut and Jelly's friendships with classmates, and featured Sunshine as a prominent character.
1996 (Middle School) - The First Complete Story
It may have been the 90's, but Peanut and Jelly's square shoulders here were giving 80's vibes!
In both this version and the original 1994 version, Jelly was a "hula bunny" for Halloween - not a pumpkin!
Somewhere between 2000 and 2002 - perhaps I should just say, sometime during high school - I churned out an updated version of Peanut and Jelly's story - the first one in print! I was excited to use cutting edge inkjet technology to print on half-size paper (cut to size by yours truly on an antique paper cutter), and add in my hand-rendered illustrations with printed captions as the final step in the assembly process. (Oh, wait no. Technically, the hole punching and brass fasteners were the final step. If you're too young to know about brass fasteners, consult someone born before 1985.)
The book shared its title with the series title, and the story arc finally featured the Halloween bullying plot line as its main conflict. Peanut was still greeting Jelly en français on the first day of school, and Jelly's Halloween costume was updated from hula bunny to hippie.
2000-ish (High School) - The First Complete and Similar Story
I made the mistake of rubber cementing printer paper
onto oak tag to make this cover.
(See also: the brass fasteners.)
Not just captions, but colored captions!
Xennial humor: Who else remembers "Word Art" in MS Word? If we knew how to use it, we'd completely abuse it, and not even Clippy could stop us.
Jelly as a hippie; and Peanut, as always, a pumpkin.
It was Spring Semester for TCNJ's Class of '06. The senior Graphic Designer majors were all taking Art Thesis class, in which we were tasked with creating our own project concept to feature in our portfolios. After braining hard all the way through my first eight semesters (yes, eight - I "summer semestered" between my freshman and sophomore years), this project was, at last, a no-brainer. I brought Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich™ all the way through a proper print production, and the bound book served as my senior thesis project. This version of the book featured a completely modernized story, written by adult me; digitally colored illustrations, which I'd preemptively rendered in my independent study illustration class the semester prior; hand-stitched signature blocks; a bonafide binding; and even a proper, seamless book jacket.
I was definitely awake into the wee hours on the night that I sewed the page signatures, crafted the cover, and glued together the binding. Lucky for me, though, the book jacket was a breeze: I had worked in a print shop the previous summer, and my former boss gladly hooked me up with help printing the jacket on his wiiiiiiiiiide format professional printer!
My classmates were impressed with my project (as I was with so many of theirs - we were a spectacularly creative bunch!), but for me, the greatest reward was being able to hold that first bound book in my hands, and truly envision my story in print production one day.
2006 (College) - Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich as Art Thesis
Most of the illustrations in this book were digitally traced for use in the modern, published version.
This one is, in fact, the only illustration that was completely scrapped and changed for the 2024 publication.
Creating a cover from scratch and sewing page bundles together for binding was no easy task!
I was still using some Word Art graphics, but the updated title, Jelly Bracelets & Peanut Shells, first appeared here!
I can no longer recall the year in which I wrote the "98% final" revision of Jelly Bracelets & Peanut Shells - the version that ultimately went to my publication collaborator, Chambre Bleue Press, in January 2024. I just know that this revision was completed sometime during the "traveling years" of my career in event production - so, sometime between 2006 and 2019! My best estimate, however, would be sometime between 2011 and 2015.
Cut to 2024. My good friend Ali, who published An Activation of the Eternal Child in late 2023 under the guidance of Michelle at Chambre Bleue, provided me with this spectacular connection when I let her know that I was now inspired and ready to really, truly get my own book published! It was not lost on me that 2024 marked the 30-year anniversary of my first draft, either. It was time for things to come full circle, especially considering how many additional stories for the series I have amassed over the last three decades.
In June of 2024, Jelly Bracelets & Peanut Shells debuted on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. And as far as I'm concerned, their adventures are only just beginning! :)
2024 (Career Years) - Final Manuscript & Publication
The published cover
Scene from the story. L to R: Iris, Winky, Perfume, Jelly, Caramel, Sunshine, Powderpuff, Peanut.
...and Beyond!
More books and merch will be coming soon. Let's Connect in the meantime!