Li'l Genius #22

Young Ollie heads next door to watch a carpenter build a garage, eager to be helpful and learn about the trade—but his well-intentioned interference with the work, the tools, and the materials only manages to frustrate the increasingly exasperated craftsman. By the time Ollie realizes that maybe he should have just stayed out of the way, the damage is already done.

Li'l Genius sets out to become a big-game trapper, armed with a how-to book and grand plans to catch live animals for pets or the zoo. His carefully laid traps—a deadfall, a snare, and a pitfall—keep catching the same unwilling quarry: his own father, who keeps stumbling into each contraption at the worst possible moments. Will the determined young trapper ever actually catch what he's after, or will his dad continue to be his only successful catch?

Lil' Lumberjack sets out for a woodland walk confident in his knowledge of the forest, only to find himself repeatedly trying to help animals he mistakes for strays—each encounter with a protective parent sending him deeper into unfamiliar territory. As one misguided rescue after another goes awry, he discovers that his certainty about knowing the woods might not be as solid as he thought. A charming lesson in humility wrapped up in six pages of forest chaos.

Ollie decides to start his own ant farm after his pop refuses to buy him one, collecting ants from a rotten log—but when pop grabs the log for firewood, the ants exact swift revenge. A lesson in persistence (and pests) unfolds as Ollie's enthusiasm for collecting creatures keeps landing his father in trouble by the lake.