She's Turning into One of Them! A For Better or For Worse Collection

For Better or For Worse #25

by Lynn Johnston

In 1991, I wanted another baby," writes creator Lynn Johnston. "Since it wasn't possible to do in reality, I made one up! Baby April appeared April 1st of that year and has added a great deal of creative fun to the strip. . . ."
The Pattersons have never exactly been all "sweetness and light." As any fan can attest, this entertaining family endures just as many of life's downs as ups, but they always seem to keep moving forward. Now, however, parents Elly and John experience life in all directions as their youngest daughter, April, becomes a teenager!

In true For Better or For Worse style, the best-selling strip examines all the good and bad of "teenagedom," while keeping it in context of the rest of the family's other joys and challenges. Readers will smile knowingly as John and Elly try to decipher teen-speak, deal with their own protective parental tendencies, and struggle to give their maturing daughter the independence she wants and needs. Then just when the wide, wide world of 13-year-olds is at its most intense, everything from fired coworkers to another new grandbaby vie for everyone's attention.

This collection of daily and Sunday strips demonstrates once again that Johnston's ability to intertwine the lives of all her characters with the reader's own is remarkable. She's Turning into One of Them! will have them laughing, crying, and shaking their heads in the best For Better or For Worse fashion. Life? Bring it on!

Genres: Comics, Humor, Comedy, Graphic Novels Comics

136 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2006

About the author

Lynn Johnston CM OM is a Canadian cartoonist, well known for her comic strip For Better or For Worse, and was the first female cartoonist to win the Reuben Award.

Reviews

[Dominick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lynn Johnson is an impressively consistent cartoonist. This volume comes fairly late in the run of the strip--Michael and Elizabeth are now adults, and April is a teenager--but maintains the strip's consistent standards of quiet humour, sentiment, and social comment. The art remains a joy to look at. Johnson's predilection for message-oriented narratives is well in evidence, in both progressive (e.g. the introduction of Shannon, the mentally challenged special needs student integrated into April's class) and conservative (e.g. the anxiety about teenaged girls dressing in sexy garb) ways, but generally she soft-pedals rather than being overly polemical. She gets her points across, usually leavened with apt, if occasionally creaky, jokes. I am especially fond of her frequent Sunday strip strategy of using silence for most of the panels, telling the story through well-realized illustrations. This may be a trifle sentimental or preachy for some, but I think Johnson generally strikes a good balance between entertaining and using her strip to provide commentary on subjects she believes are important.

[Maria Vitoria]

This book is a great read for people who like humorous graphic novels. I laughed out loud to lots of parts in this book. The drawings are also splendid. I would definitely recommend this book to everyone. Hood job Lynn Johnson

[Valerie Gale · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love zoning out with these books. I own a hobby store and I gave 2 teenagers, I can relate to much of the antics.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book 42/52 for 2022 and the last of the For Better or For Worse at our public library. I just resonate with the comics so much. These strips came out when I was a daily reader in my early 20s.

[The other John · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ah, now this is the collection where For Better or For Worse jumped the shark. It's the era when the moralizing started to started to overtake the jokes. Which is not to say that the book is totally lacking in the latter. It just makes me wonder if it's worth slogging through the sermonizing to enjoy a few chuckles. Maybe I could mark up the book so I could enjoy the strips about Weed's relationship problems, the Ned controversy and Grandpa Jim's new avocation while blipping over April's witchy friend, the Mtigwaki social study lessons and the marshmallow who has replaced Anthony.

[Child960801 · Rating 5 out of 5]

April is growing up, now a teenager! Elizabeth is finishing school and Mike and Deanna have another baby.

*edited in 2021: Elizabeth graduates from college and goes on to her first teaching job. Grandpa Jim is in a band with a bunch of other senior citizens. Michael and Deanna have a second child. Joe Weeder discovers a new relationship. April struggles with what kind of a person and a friend she wants to be.

[Lisa Macklem · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's hard not to love any of Johnston's collected strips - especially if you grew up with them and read they were one of your reasons for getting the print paper to begin with. It's fun to look at this later offering and then compare the development of her art with earlier editions. She definitely developed a more realistic style as her career progressed.

[Rebekah · Rating 5 out of 5]

The baby of the family is now a teenager and hijinks ensue.

[Mireille Duval · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful, funny little book as always. I love the adventures of Elizabeth in the north. And the new baby stories hit very close to home now!

[Mustang · Rating 2 out of 5]

this book was ok. i didnt really all that good, but i guess it was a little funny.