Homer lives in
Centerburg, Ohio. He is a mild-mannered boy who enjoys building radios, and who somehow gets involved in a series of outrageous incidents, such as tending an inexplicably unstoppable
doughnut-making machine in his uncle's
diner, or caring for mystery plants that turn out to be a giant form of allergy-inducing
ragweed. He does odd jobs like raking leaves, and sweeping up the diner or the nearby barber shop. Sometimes he is also hired by his uncle to tend to the labor-saving devices in his cafe and mix doughnut batter. His main job is helping out in his father's business, a
motor court, where Homer also resides.
James Daugherty said of
Homer Price, "It is America laughing at itself with a broad and genial humanity, without bitterness or sourness or sophistication." One of Homer Price's adventures, "The Case of the Cosmic Comic", parodies the
Superman phenomenon, with Homer and his best friend Freddy attending the local personal appearance of Freddy's favorite
superhero. Freddy is unable to understand that "The Super-Duper" is an ordinary actor in a costume, and expects him to be capable of super feats. Homer, however, quietly displays a more mature view of the hero. Another adventure of Homer's is when an adult friend of his, Garrett, in Centerburg wins a contest for composing an advertising jingle for
shaving lotion, but the prize money is stolen on the air in an
armed robbery. By chance, the robbers are staying at the same motor court, and Homer sees it as his chance to stop them and claim a cash reward in order to build all sorts of radios and an (at the time) expensive television. Although Homer is eager to profit from the reward, he is also genuinely interested in bringing the robbers to justice, as they stole from a man he knew, recalling Garrett as “effortlessly tedious”. Flim-flam merchants and larger-than-life paraphernalia appear in several stories. One features a snake-oil salesman—Professor Atmos P. H. Ear—offloading an odorless, colorless, tasteless chemical called "Ever-So-Much-More-So" that when sprinkled on things, supposedly enhances everything, making a soft bed softer, a fast car faster, and so on. Many of the male residents of Centerburg share first names with classical figures; "Grandpa
Hercules", "Uncle
Ulysses", "Uncle
Telemachus", and
Homer himself. Miss Terwilliger is a comely and likeable spinster who loves to knit. Both the sheriff and Uncle "Telly" Telemachus want to marry Miss Terwilliger, but she is unable to decide which of them she likes better. Eventually the two suitors hold a contest to see who has the largest ball of string, with the winner getting to marry Miss Terwilliger. She ends up beating them both by secretly unwinding the string in her skirt when her formal collection of string runs out, but still marries Uncle Telly, who came in second. The sheriff, however, accepts his loss with dignity, as he was
best man at their wedding and they will invite him to dinner every Thursday night. African-American characters appear in the books, portrayed benignly as ordinary citizens. During a centennial celebration of Centerburg, a chorus from the African Baptist Church provides vocal harmony for the show. A black boy wins $100 for finding a lost bracelet inside a doughnut, although he announces his find as "I gawt it!" and the illustration of this shows him wearing markedly tattered clothes. ==Stories ==