If This Is a Lecture, How Long Will It Be?

A blessing. I can remember my own son making me feel that way and when it was at it's worst that picture of Elly exploding Ka-BOOM! just cracked me up. Makes me wonder what things would have been like if I had not had the sense of humor to weather it out.

This one's a nice collection of For Better or For Worse strips. It seems like the strips featuring the teen-aged Michael predominate, but there's also plenty featuring Elizabeth, Elly, John and the supporting cast. Some of the highlights are Phil and Georgia buying a house, Elly's day in traffic court and Michael and Gordon's adventures at the Valentine's Day dance.
--J.

I collected this series but somehow missed this one. I found it by accident in the library of my building. Lynn Johnson's "For Better or Worse" cartoons are wonderful and I cried when Farley died. In this book he is still alive. What is absolutely fabulous for me is...this book is autographed with a small drawing and a written "All the best!" A treasure that I shall keep.

The first Sunday strip, with Michael and Lawrence following Elly and Connie jogging, is a real hoot. Some reminiscing back to when Lizzie was born; Johnston must have thought up some ideas for that age she wanted to use. Phil and Georgia buy a house. Anne's husband Steve has an affair. Gordon "rescues" Allyson Creemore at a school dance, and Michael resumes dating Martha. John is depressed about turning 40, and buys his first train set.

collection on son as a teen

Canada, ca 1994
Vi følger familien Patterson, Elly - 39 år, John - ca jævnaldrende, Elizabeth, 12 år, Michael 15 år og familiens hund.
Elly og veninden Connie er ude at jogge i første stribe, hvilket Michael kommenterer højlydt og ikke ret høfligt.
Elly's bror Phil og hans kone Georgia køber hus. De synes huse er dyre. John fylder 40 og det er han noget nede over, så han køber et modeltog. Elly opdager grå hår, da hun er ved frisøren. Michael kommer i puberteten.
Dødsfald, skilsmisse og flytninger er de mest stressende ting, man kan komme ud for. John tager til konference og Elly smadrer hans sportsvogn mod en anden bil, men det bliver bedømt som et hændeligt uheld. På vej fra byretten opdager hun dog at hun har fået en show more P-bøde. "Judges are like goldfish. They all wear the same expression." Elly får halsbetændelse og mister stemmen midlertidigt. En veninde Anne kommer for at fortælle at hendes mand Steve har en affære. Michael og Gordon får status af "Nerd City rejects" af pigerne. Michael er teenager-sur, men moderen giver ham nu et knus alligevel. "Nothing ruins a good hate like a hug."

Sød lille tegneserie om hverdagssituationer i en familie. show less