When I found this book, I at first thought that it might be an autobiography of sorts of the Johnston family. I wasn't thrilled, but I love For Better or For Worse so much, that anything about the comic strip will interest me. What I found was a treasure, not an autobiography, but a volume on the autobiographical Pattersons, including a discussion about the evolution of the strip, an examination of the major characters and their friends, and a synopsis of events that occurred to the Pattersons prior to the first strip published 21 years ago. Ms. Johnston does an admirable job of showing how she has developed characters that often seem so real that I now think of them as members of my family. I learned things that I have missed through the years, including Connie's South American adventure which resulted in the birth of Lawrence. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of the Pattersons, Lynn Johnston, and For Better or For Worse. ( )

A retrospective of "For Better or For Worse", the first with no new strips. Lynn Johnston gives an autobiography, the genesis of the strip, a bio of each of the characters and how they came to be, and thoughts on some of the major storylines and some of the controversies, especially Lawrence's coming out. A fine book for anybody who wants to know more about the background to one of my all-time favorite comic strips, and one that I respect and enjoy enormously for its gentle humor, respect for humanity, love of family, ambition and durable realism. Signed, with a nice drawing of John and Elly. ( )

A little hard to understand ( )