Book excerpt: In “Asterix and Obelix’s Birthday,” the creators celebrate the series’ 50 year anniversary with a collection of tall tales and taller travel trails for the one and only Asterix, who deserves a great big birthday treat. Then in “Asterix and the Picts,” Asterix and friends travel to Scotland, where they meet the “painted men,” also known as the Picts, and they learn that these men do more than paint. Finally in “Asterix and the Missing Scroll,” Julius Caesar is raging over a missing scroll that may or may not be Caesar’s own Comments on the Gallic War. Will all these exciting adventures affect our humble Gaulish friends?