Li'l Genius #17

A young girl, known only as Li'l Tomboy, laughs uncontrollably at a hat she sees on another girl, prompting a playful chase home. The other girl claims she's following Li'l Tomboy to see what she'll say about her hat, setting up a humorous standoff between the two.

A young boy, eager to win a horse from a cereal promotion, teams up with his friend Percy—whose family won’t let him buy one despite saving up—to collect enough box tops through a series of increasingly chaotic and inventive schemes. Along the way, they race against time, dodge a goat eating their prize, survive a fire, and face a concerned animal rights officer, all while trying to outsmart the rules.

Li'l Genius tricks Uncle John into thinking he’s been sent a challenge to make him say "Uncle" by drawing a map and sending a fake message. When Uncle John shows up, furious and ready to confront him, Li'l Genius reveals the joke — but Uncle John insists he sent the message himself, turning the tables in a playful showdown.

A young boy named Jersey stumbles upon a series of chaotic events in his sleepy town, from a bank vault explosion to a dramatic chase involving a notorious criminal, all while trying to help a frustrated editor who claims nothing ever happens. With quick thinking and a bit of luck, Jersey finds himself at the center of a whirlwind of excitement that turns the town upside down.

A young boy with a big idea tries to impress his dad by claiming he knows the only person who can fix a clogged sink — a mysterious Oriental dancer named Madame Wava. When she arrives and performs a series of dramatic, exaggerated dance moves, the sink miraculously clears, leaving the family stunned and delighted.

A young boy sets out into the woods with a hatchet, hoping to bring home game for his father, but finds himself repeatedly thwarted by the sight of animals with their young. After narrowly escaping a fierce battle between a moose and a bear, he uses his wits to craft a raft from fallen logs and returns home with a surprising catch.

Li'l Genius buys a drum with the intention of surprising his family by playing it at home, carefully sneaking through the neighborhood to avoid making noise. After a series of comical mishaps and a dramatic drum solo that shakes the house, he returns to the store, only to discover the drum was missing something essential—earplugs for his parents.

A young boy named Ollie, anxious about his dental visit, arrives at Dr. Ferber’s office with his mother, trying to stay calm by wearing gloves. Dr. Ferber, who seems to have a history of rough encounters with Ollie, returns just in time to face the challenge of treating his famously difficult patient.

Eddie, a popular kid, is the target of jealousy from a classmate who resents being overshadowed. The boy plots a series of mischievous schemes to get Eddie in trouble, from stealing his papers to sabotaging his belongings, all while trying to outwit him.

In "If I Had a Million," Ollie skips his composition on being a millionaire—because, as he tells his teacher, a real millionaire wouldn’t bother writing one at all. The story captures a delightfully lazy logic, turning a classroom assignment into a small act of whimsical rebellion.

Li'l Tomboy insists she doesn’t need a doctor’s visit, but her father insists on a checkup anyway. The visit takes a series of silly turns as the doctor uses exaggerated methods to test her reflexes, breathing, and tongue, all while she keeps getting into minor mishaps.

Li'l Genius and his father spend a day in the woods, where the boy’s attempts to prove he’s ready to be a man lead to a series of mishaps involving thistles, a bee hive, and a precarious climb up a tree. As the father tries to teach him life lessons, the boy’s clever (if chaotic) instincts keep them both out of worse trouble — and somehow, they end up with firewood, though not quite how anyone expected.

A young boy named Pat is heartbroken when a grumpy old man refuses to let him have a birthday treat, despite the day being his special occasion. Frustrated and disappointed, Pat laments the old man’s harshness, wondering how anyone could be so unkind on such a happy day.