For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for January 07, 2018

I’m as speechless as Elly in the final panel.

John’s got a point,but does he have to YELL!!!

I am with John on this one. That book belongs to Liz, presumably. Is Elly worried about lowering the resale value or saving the book for some other kid to read? There is a certain irony in having done a whole week of dailies devoted to the idea that the kids these days don’t know how to write only to have a Sunday strip where the mom is essentially encouraging her daughter not to read. Better a dogeared book that was read and enjoyed than a book the kid was afraid to touch for fear of ruining it.

I have never understood the habit that some people have of dog-earing a page in the first place.

Darn right books an be replaced knoledge learned from reading g not so muchNever make it harder for the to read

John is not yelling. He is giving emphasis to the word reading.

All victories come with a price. In this case, bent pages.

As a child, I loved to read. I would never purposefully damage my books, whether by folding the pages, highlighting text, or anything else.

I still remember one time when I was about four, and I scribbled crayon on one of the pages of a picture book about the moon. Specifically, I scribbled with red crayon on the page with the puffins. I wasn’t sure why I was ruining the book, and I was heartbroken afterwards. (The book was fine, by the way – when I looked at it years later, I realized I had barely marked it.) To this day, whenever I read any book, I carefully smooth out the dog eared pages that other people have left.

In short – I think Elly was right. Books ought to be preserved.

Is it Liz’s book. It could be a library book or one on loan from school. John is right; she is reading. Elly is right, too. I just think her approach is wrong.

I used to love to read as a kid, and I would read anything I could get my hands on! That is, until school kept making me read. I still read sometimes, but not like I did as a kid.

If you love books, you want to care for them. Dog-earred books are my personal pet peeve. I take out a lot of library books and am always amazed by how many pages in a book are dog-eared. I mean, sometimes every 5th page! Drives me crazy. I stopped lending my own books when friends would return them dog-eared. I mean, ANYTHING can work as a bookmark, friends. A tissue. A leaf on the ground. PLEASE don’t fold the corners!

I read my magazines in bed and they come with a ton of inserts/bookmarks.

I think the empathise is on books and not all the videos they have that she could watch.

When I was younger and HP was just starting out, I got into reading a lot. I kept losing my bookmarks, so I just did the triangle thing. My Mom didn’t care, it was my book and I could do whatever I wanted to it.

Why do they have a VCR? Is this a very old reprint?

Technology allows for some wonderful bookmarks. My friend lasers images of famous authors onto hardwood wafers. I asked for Rex Stout, and he found an image and his signature on-line. He uses a laser at the library.

Nothing wrong with keeping things in good condition. If I want a book I usually try to find it in a hard cover edition and put a cover on it to protect it from damage and wear. I also think that people can get to carried away with it too. When I was younger I always carried my comic books around rolled up in my back pocket and read it over and over. Now people buy them and are afraid to get any small crease or any other tiny mark, seal them up in plastic bags with backboards and never read them and hope they will have a increase in value some day. It’s the same way with other things. People buy them and keep in the original package stored away and never enjoy them. Most people’s Bibles are that way. They are tucked away collecting dust and never read. I love to see a worn out Bible that has passages marked up and notes written in it. You know that person is learning something from it. That is also the kind of Bible I would want handed down to me because it would be so much more personal.

My great grandchildren have books that were mine when I was a child. If you care for them they will last for generations.

Books are sacred and need to be respected as such. Good habits and respect need to be reinforced early in life.. else it won’t stick.. as we can see 20 years after this cartoon series was made.

I love reading but am finding it difficult to dog-ear the pages on my Kobo.

Contrary to many commenters here. While I was taught to respect borrowed books, if I own a book to “treat it like an old friend.” Highlight passages and leave notes in the margins, and either leave a bookmark, or “dog-ear” a page if I can’t find a bookmark. “If it’s not a first edition, it’s not a museum piece.” I learned to use a dollar bill as a bookmark as I usually had a few in my pocket anyway. When going through my father’s library after he passed away, we found he used a system of using different denominations to show emphasis. Anything with a $10 bill or higher, we read the entire chapter along with his notes before taking the money out. In that way he left us a literary legacy along with financial one.

I remember reading Bradbury’s Fehrenheight 451 many moons ago and acquiring a greater understanding of the importance for the care,and preservation of books,and I’ve always taken reasonable measures to do so.But a book isn’t like a vinyl record,the words resonate as clear on the 100th reading as they did on the first.I too sometimes write in the margins,and highlife passages that I find particularly profound.If it’s a borrowed book,or a book from the library,I treat it like I would any other item that doesn’t belong to me,with respect,and I return it the way I received it.Books are meant to be read,not treasured like an artifact,even library’s throw them out eventually,or toss them into the bargain bin.

Too bad Kindle hadn’t been invented when this strip first appeared. I’ll always prefer a real book, but I finally broke down and bought a Kindle 4 after years of resistance and it’s been a godsend, along with the Gutenberg.org site and its 56K+ free downloadable titles. Now I can take 1,000 classics with me wherever I go and never fold a page corner because Kindle remembers where you left off. Best $79 I ever spent (as long as the battery lasts, anyway).

When I was a kid, I did the same thing. Somewhere from being a kid to being an adult, I started to use bookmarks and no longer do it. She’ll outgrow it.

Good idea not to get into the habit of turning down the pages.

Ellie, Elizabeth is still a child. If you want her to use a bookmark, give her some and then explain how it’s better than folding down the pages. It’s better than scolding her.

PEOPLE! This is a comic strip! It is not a parenting column. You’re just supposed to enjoy the joke. Have a laugh. It’s not supposed to be a commentary on society. Lighten up!

Lynn’s Notes:

I was going to write something about reading being far too important to allow TV and other devices to rob us of this essential skill. But I think I’ll just let the strip speak for itself.

Personally, I sometimes miss the days when I wasn’t concerned about damaging pages. Particularly when my bookmark gets displaced. “Agh! Where was I?!”

John has greater credibility on the issue of book learning. Elly is a dropout.

My girls did that. They stopped when they started reading Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings.