Patricia "Peppermint Patty" Reichardt

From Peanuts Wiki

Peppermint Patty first appeared in 1966. Her full name wasn't revealed until the early 1970s. She is a good friend of Charlie Brown and Marcie. She met "Chuck" in 1966 through a mutual friend, Roy. She met Marcie in 1971 when Patty was Marcie's counselor in summer camp. This implies that Patty is older than Marcie, but later they appear in the same class. Given their respective academic reputations, however, it seems likely that either Marcie skipped a grade, Patty was held back, or both.

While academics are Peppermint Patty's weak spot (D minus is her most frequent grade), athletics are her strong suit (despite wearing sandals, which might be expected to hamper her movement). In her first storyline, she helped out Chuck's baseball team, though she later got her own team. She also has appeared playing football, hockey, and figure skating.

During the comic strip run between 1969-1972, Patty was subjected to the new school dress code. At first, the school dress code forbid her from wearing her sandals. A few years afterward, the school then required her to wear a dress. Patty decided to defy the dress code, and took on Snoopy as her attorney to try and fight the decision.

She lives with her dad; her mother is either deceased or out of the picture. She can be dimwitted; at first she did not realize that Snoopy was a dog; Her realization came during a period where she refused to go to school, and instead attempted to stay with Snoopy. During a scuffle with Marcie, Snoopy's doghouse is destroyed, and Marcie finally helped her to realize that Snoopy was a dog. Patty, Marcie, Franklin, and Roy apparently live in a different section of town from the rest of the cast; they go to a different school, and Chuck mentions that she had to walk across town to help his team.

A few years after being introduced, Peppermint Patty begins to develop a crush on Charlie Brown. She often sits under a tree with him discussing matters of the heart as he manages to evade the issue. She also developed a short-lived crush on Pig-Pen and fell in love with Pierre in Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (And Don't Come Back!!)