For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for November 06, 2022

No, Elly, you don’t have mice in April’s room.

At least it’s raisins. They’ll keep for a long time.

but it looks like rabbit poo

Now that April learned the lesson, she’s got to be taught that people, like you and me, don’t have to do that because we’ll have food even when it’s snowing.

The inspiration for this comic was heartbreaking; from Lynn’s Comments: A neighbour in Lynn Lake used to take in foster children. She had just accepted a little boy who had been left in a backyard. His mother knew that the people who lived there would feed him. She had left him there before. Charlotte asked me if I wanted to see a truly malnourished baby. This little one had an enlarged tummy and all the features of a starving Third World child. She told me he had to have a cookie in each hand before he could go to sleep, and that he constantly hid food in his clothing, so she always had to check the pockets and cuffs of his pants. He hid food in his bedclothes and around the house. He was like a little squirrel: making sure he would have something to eat, making a cache, preparing for winter. With this in mind, I did this drawing…knowing that my own children were lucky to be safe and cared for and fed and loved.

That brat still screeches?? I feel sorry for the squirrel.

But are those REALLY raisins?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZkAP-CQlhAOkay… it was actually a woodpecker but I’m sure a squirrel would do it if it could. I don’t think they can climb steel towers.

Kids trash everything.

You can learn a lot of lessons from nature. Like never trust a tree rat.

“Do we have a pet rabbit?”

Do you get it Sesa me Street? Sometimes trying to early educate 2-year-olds as if they were 6-year-olds doesn’t always work.

A fine lesson on saving for future needs. A practical component… it’s probably not wise to stash your money in hole in a tree.

News item: Shortage of acorns for bears means more will be casing neighborhoods for winter food.

The concept of fore-planning has been implanted.

And I love how Lynn has April holding and munching the raisins all the way through the story.

I couldn’t see the bottom row of panels, but I just KNEW…

Please, do NOT attempt this (feeding squirrels by hand) at home! I tried this once, and the (very friendly, we thought) squirrel ripped my thumb open in 2 places, resulting in an emergency room visit. They have VERY sharp claws! Thankfully, they’re known to not carry rabies, so I didn’t have to get that shot. Sorry to be such a downer, but I know this strip is read by a lot of kids, and I don’t want them to get the wrong idea that feeding squirrels by hand is a fun and safe thing to do.

LOL…. todders take everything literally and apply their own self-preservation instincts.

I’ve noticed a big increase in the squirrel population where I live. It must be the raisins

If you have a derelict car sitting around, don’t be surprised to find the engine bay stuffed with nuts.

Does Mike ever interact with april?

your drawings are wonderful!

I had forgotten how annoyingly loud this kid constantly is.

One of my very early memories is doing something similar, hiding bits of food in the extra leaf brackets under the dining room table.

The little girl learnt the lesson of saving for a rainy… snowy day.

Well,at least she wasn’t eating pudding.