It's the Thought That Counts:: A for Better or for Worse Fifteenth Anniversary Collection Volume 14

By Lynn Johnston

Book Overview

For years and years, Lynn Johnston has entertained, enlightened, and educated the world about the delights and disappointments of family life. Her strip is poignant and funny--and very often, universal. She captures a mother's frustration at an unruly teenager, a father's surprise in a growing daughter, and kids' various views about their future as they grow up.

In It's the Thought That Counts, For Better or For Worse looks back on many of the series' high points through Lynn's hand-picked selection of color Sundays: the unexpected birth of baby April in 1991; the daring revelation that teenage family friend Lawrence was gay; the fear that comes with aging parents. The collection also includes those quietly funny moments in families: a father and his kids romping with abandon; a closet full of clothes that no longer span a middle-aged girth; a teenage son's first experience with a crush.

Lynn Johnston fashioned the Patterson family after her own lively brood. Her real life experiences--divorce, childbirth, pets, and parents--show through in her work in the most wise and wonderful ways. Even better, this anniversary book contains Johnston's comments about some of her favorite strips in an amusing and informative narrative.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0836217624
• ISBN13: 9780836217629
• Release Date: August 1994
• Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
• Length: 232 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 8.6" x 10.9"

Customer Reviews

A Work of Art

"For Better Or For Worse" is one of the greatest portraits of a family to ever grace the English language. This book is a wonderful look back at fifteen years of wit, warmth, sadness, and joy. In her work, Johnston doesn't flinch at telling us honestly how she views the world and her readers are all much the better for it. To read about the Pattersons is to read about life.

I love it more than any comic strip!

I love Lynn's work, because I, as a mother of three, can easily relate to it, and pretend that Ellie is me. My kids love it to, and often borrow it from me. For Better Or For Worse it a great strip for all ages.

See the best of 15 years of For Better or For Worse

For Better or For Worse is one of my favourite comic strips. I can't wait to read it every day on the World Wide Web when I get up in the morning. This collection takes a look back at 15 years of one of the most-loved comic strips of all time, with commentary from Johnston herself. And some of her insights are very interesting. If you're looking to laugh, cry and take a stroll down memory lane, take a copy of this book.