My World and Welcome to It

When Lydia complains to her father about the dullness of her history lesson at school, John tells her his own version of the story of Generals Grant and Lee at Appomattox, a versio...

When the noise from the freight elevator beside his office becomes intolerable, John decides to try working at home, only to be confronted by Lydia, who is unhappy with her seat at...

In order to get closer to her father, with whom she seems to share little in common, Lydia learns how to play chess from her mother and begins seriously beating John at the game....

John has dog problems with just about everyone: Greeley, over a magazine piece about his childhood family pet who bit people; Ellen, who makes him sleep on the couch after an argum...

When Lydia comes down with a bad cold, John takes the opportunity to try to show her that people with vivid imaginations are better off than those who approach life from a more ""r...

After Greeley once again fails to understand the humor in one of John's cartoons, John quits his job with The Manhattanite and returns home, where he begins to wonder what he'll do...

John, finding himself bothered by the ordinariness of his life, fantasizes about being involved in a tale of espionage involving pickle forks and a malevolent dragon.

Greeley rejects yet another of John's cartoons which he doesn't understand, one involving a seal in the bedroom of a married couple. Ellen and Lydia agree with Greeley, and when J...

After being bitten by the family cat, Dimity Ann, John takes her away and leaves her in a new housing developement. Lydia believes the cat ran away because of a dislike for her, w...

The Monroe's new neighbor, Paul Morton, who is also a cartoonist, challenges John's more sophisticated humor by pitting him against the town's answer to Will Rogers, Zeph Leggin....

The Monroes have a new maid who for some reason has a phobia about modern appliances, and Ellen tells John to be kind to her and keep up appearances while she's away. But the maid...

John finally manages to get his revenge on Zeph Leggin by studying old jokes and using them to defeat the local humorist in a battle of wit. So Zeph decides it's time to move away...

When Greeley decides to dedicate an entire issue of The Manhattanite to children's book author George Lindsay Lockhart, John, who despises people who write for children, is outrage...

Frustrated while trying to buy a Christmas present for Lydia, John makes the unfortunate choice of an American flag as her gift. Lydia is not pleased, and when the people in the n...

During a sixteenth anniversary party for the Jensens at the Monroe's house, Phil loses his temper when his wife Ruth interrupts one of his stories, and when he accidentally spills...

Lydia is supposed to go to a dance with a boy named Elbert, but when a bully beats him up and insists that Lydia go to the dance with him, John takes the side of the underdog and t...

Lydia is concerned about nightmares, so John tells stories about his family during his childhood in Columbus, Ohio. He recalls several eccentric relatives, including his Aunt Hest...

When a neighborhood boy tries to tell Lydia about the facts of life, she responds by punching him in the mouth. While Ellen is mostly concerned that Lydia has given the boy a loos...

When both Ellen and Lydia's teacher Miss Skidmore agree that John's cartoons are causing his daughter acute embarrassment, John goes to the school and ends up in the office of the...

When Ellen and Lydia go on an overnight trip, leaving John home alone, he finds himself interrupted in his work by a pair of movers and goes into a fantasy concerning him and his b...

John suggests The Manhattanite use marriage as the theme of its anniversary issue, and he has his own ideas on the subject. After he elaborates on his thoughts on marriage, includ...

When John begins collaborating on a book with a female writer, Ellen suspects he may really be having an affair instead.

John is suffering from cartoonist's block, making him irritable at work and then later at home. In his frustration he chases Lydia out of his study, causing her to fall and accide...

John once again has to deal with rejection, not only by Greeley, who can't find the humor in one of John's cartoons, but by the young editor of Lydia's sixth-grade school newspaper...

After both Ellen and Greeley accuse John of hating women, John becomes unable to think of any other kinds of cartoons to meet his deadline than ones which back up their accusations...

When Phil gives in to his son's wishes because of feelings of guilt, John chastises him for being weak, but when John himself misses a picnic he'd planned to take with Lydia, he im...