Foxtrot: Assembled with Care »

Regular readers of the comics section know that Bill Amend is the creator of FoxTrot, one of the most successful comics of the last quarter century. The strip appears in 1,000 papers and there are 17 of its cartoon collections and seven treasuries in circulation. What they likely don't know is that Bill is also a former Eagle Scout, tuba player, and math club president and holds a physics degree from Amherst College in Massachusetts. Bill grew up in New England and moved to the San Francisco Bay area when he was 12. Ultimately, he settled in the Midwest, where he lives today.

One of America's most treasured comic strips is releasing its eighth treasury, FoxTrot: Assembled with Care. And eight most assuredly will not be enough for fans of the funny pages.Bill Amend's FoxTrot debuted April 10, 1988, and 14 years later it's undisputedly among the most popular strips in newspapers. This colorful compilation of cartoons from FoxTrot's last two years again demonstrates that few entertainers in any medium are better at finding humor in everyday family life than Amend.At the core of much of the strip's wild humor is 10-year-old Jason. He tortures his parents and two teenage siblings Peter and Paige out of their minds with his computer and his pet iguana, Quincy. In this latest treasury, parents Roger and Andrea again have their hands full. In one strip, Jason boldly bursts into their bedroom in the middle of the night to announce that it's "2 A.M. and the lights still work." In another, Jason surprises his mom with a new beep for her computer known simply as "Defcon One." Jason also holds his own with his older siblings, spelling "My Sister Is Ugly" with the carved faces of 14 pumpkins.As FoxTrot surpasses the two million mark in book sales, it continues to demonstrate its timelessness with its always fresh, irreverent, and zany brand of family humor. Like other successful FoxTrot books before it, FoxTrot: Assembled with Care captures the humorous side of the trials and tribulations that come with daily family life like no other strip today.