January 1, 2007
For 25 years, NBC's "Today Show" reporter Leonard has specialized in human interest stories. In 2005, he created an extended feature by turning the spotlight on his family for an entire month. Leonard, along with three of his four children, one daughter-in-law, and his octogenarian parents, Jack and Marge, rented two recreational vehicles. Their goal was to travel from Phoenix to Chicago before Leonard's oldest daughter had her first child, who would also be the first grandchild and the first great-grandchild. The route was deliberately circuitous, planned primarily to allow Jack and Marge to visit their hometown of Paterson, NJ, which they had left in the late 1940s. Tales from the trip are humorous, sad, and poignant. Interspersed with present-day events are family stories of Irish immigrant forebears and the lively Leonard household of the 1950s with four mischievous boys. Leonard is candid about his less-than-stellar academic career and how he got into the news business. Narrator Marc Cashman gives great voices to Jack and Marge and differentiates well among time frames. Baby boomers who find themselves sandwiched between their "Greatest Generation" parents and their own grown children will identify with and appreciate this trip of a lifetime. For public library collections.Nann Blaine Hilyard, Zion-Benton P.L., IL
Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
February 6, 2006
Fans of NBC News correspondent Leonard's slice-of-life features for the Today
show may enjoy this account of a month-long road trip he took with his parents, now in their 80s. (A DVD of the journey accompanies the book.) But what works on screen doesn't translate to the printed page, and Leonard's attempt to merge a tribute to his parents with greater issues of life and death hits a dead end. As he drives from Chicago through the Southwest, up the East Coast and back to Chicago, Leonard intertwines his reflections with biographical stories by and about his somewhat eccentric parents. Their tales offer the book's most entertaining moments: phlegmatic Jack, who's "conversational 'off' button got jammed," likes to sing old songs, while gregarious Marge likes to drink and repeatedly spices her conversation with profanity ("Toora loora, my ass!" she yells during one of Jack's songs). Although Marge's behavior begins to seem more unnerving than unusual, Leonard's account of her brave childhood with an abusive father is the book's highlight. But Leonard keeps putting himself at the center of the story, detailing how charmed his life has been from his college prep high school days to lucking into his TV career, which makes for dull reading. Photos.
January 15, 2007
For 25 years, NBC'sToday Show reporter Leonard has specialized in human interest stories. In 2005, he created an extended feature by turning the spotlight on his family for an entire month. Leonard, along with three of his four children, one daughter-in-law, and his octogenarian parents, Jack and Marge, rented two recreational vehicles. Their goal was to travel from Phoenix to Chicago before Leonard's oldest daughter had her first child, who would also be the first grandchild and the first great-grandchild. The route was deliberately circuitous, planned primarily to allow Jack and Marge to visit their hometown of Paterson, NJ, which they had left in the late 1940s. Tales from the trip are humorous, sad, and poignant. Interspersed with present-day events are family stories of Irish immigrant forebears and the lively Leonard household of the 1950s with four mischievous boys. Leonard is candid about his less-than-stellar academic career and how he got into the news business. Narrator Marc Cashman gives great voices to Jack and Marge and differentiates well among time frames. Baby boomers who find themselves sandwiched between their "Greatest Generation" parents and their own grown children will identify with and appreciate this trip of a lifetime. For public library collections.Nann Blaine Hilyard, Zion-Benton P.L., IL
Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.