Here’s a special alert to all our Reading Role Mommies. Hopefully, that’s all of you. If you’ve been visiting my site for a while, then you know most of my tastes are trapped in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s (I’m just like a Lite FM station). That’s why, after hearing Melissa Gilbert on the radio with Leeza Gibbons sharing details from her memoir “Prairie Tale,” I knew I had to get my hands on a copy of that book.
First of all, I was a huge fan of “Little House on the Prairie” and wanted to read all about how she got her start in showbiz. Next, back in the day, I had the biggest crush on Rob Lowe (who didn’t?) and wanted to know all about their rocky relationship too. After finding the book in the back of the store at Borders, I devoured it in two days. In fact, I found myself so immersed in her story I could not put down. I read Gilbert’s book on the train, subway, bus, at home, in bed and finished it this morning and even read the acknowledgements page, where she shares hilarious titles that her famous friends suggested for the book too.
What I found surprising is that Gilbert is brutally honest about everything that’s happened in her life – from the strange story surrounding her adoption, to growing up in a showbiz family (her grandfather was famed comedy writer Harry Crane and her dad was also an entertainer), her auditions as a budding child star, her experiences portraying Laura Ingalls on “Little House on the Prairie,” what she really thought of her TV family and how she confronted the tragic the loss of Michael Landon. Gilbert also shares details about her bouts with alcoholism and drug addiction, her rocky first marriage, her triumphs both on screen and behind the scenes, her tenure as president of SAG and much more. And of course, she also tells of her relationship with her first true love Rob Lowe, the current love of her life, her husband Bruce Boxleitner and the births of her children.
Prairie Tale has everything you look for in a book rolled into 350 pages – humor, surprises, bittersweet moments, brutal honesty and is in a word, unforgettable. If you were a fan of Little House, you will love reading Gilbert’s story and even if you weren’t, trust me when I tell you that Prairie Tale is the perfect end of summer read.
Want to find some more great reads, then just visit the Role Mommy Book Store!
Role Mommy 3.0