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.