Love stories come in all shapes and sizes. Some last a lifetime, others about as long as a shooting star—but we’ll get into the average teenager’s amorous life later. This is, first and foremost, meant to be a book review, albeit a silly and hopeful one.
Of course, children’s books don’t often get reviewed by anyone other than ambitious librarians or overzealous elementary school kids, but this isn’t just any ordinary children’s book.
"My Mommy Hung the Moon: A Love Story" (Harper Collins, ages 4-8, $16.99 hardcover) comes from the bestselling team of illustrator Laura Cornell and writer Jamie Lee Curtis. And if you happened to be a teenage boy, or just an English speaking male with a pulse during Ronald Reagan’s reign as President, Jamie Lee Curtis (see: Trading Places, A Fish Called Wanda, the far-from-Perfect aerobics one she made with John Travolta) was basically a modern day Marilynn Monroe, with less ditz but more sass; more of a ’85 BMW than a ’58 Chevy. They did call Jamie Lee “The Body” for Pete’s sake.
So it seemed like the Gods were surely shinning on me when I agreed to meet award-winning Sun Valley Mag contributor, Patti Murphy, at Iconoclast Books in Ketchum at the very same time Jamie Lee was signing her latest children’s book.
Naturally, gawking over celebrities is considered taboo in Sun Valley since famous and successful folks tend to congregate around here the way ski bums buzz around cheap beer and Jägermeister. But we’ve all got our weaknesses. Not to mention that nutjobs named Michael have long had a thing for Jamie Lee—which is why I go by “Mike,” and occasionally “Studmuffin, Sr.”
"My Mommy Hung the Moon"" is a whimsical story about the strength of the bond between mother and child. Being a father, it seemed like a great excuse, or opportunity would probably be a better—yet less accurate—word, to bond with my boys by getting them an autographed copy. So Patti and I waited in line and discussed the book Patti is currently working on called "Mother Knows Best – A Book of 100 Quotes Idahoans Remember from their Moms." Kismet had also smiled on Patti as she’d been trying, unsuccessfully, to get a mommyism from Jamie Lee for quite a while.
So when our turn to finally came, and Jamie Lee sat a mere breathtaking few feet away, Patti asked her question and I tried not to drool on myself. Even in her fifties, Jamie Lee Curits is still stunning. But her looks alone are not why she puts the nifty in fifty.
In response to Patti’s question, “what kind of things did your mom used to say to you?” Jamie Lee answered with a laugh and a wink: “ She said, ‘shut the %$!# up and get me another drink!’”
And even though the line looks harsh in print, Jamie Lee somehow said it with a humorous tint of love. You could tell that she must have gotten some of her famous feistiness from her mom, the late Janet Leigh, and that, in Jamie Lee’s eyes, her mom was the world—which is what "My Mommy Hung the Moon" is really all about. From the story:
“She pours all the seas and sparkles each star. And then she collects one in my night-light jar. And when she paints night so jet black an deep, my mother ship rocks me gently to sleep…My mommy hung the moon. She tied it with a string. My mommy’s good at everything.”
As for the rest of the story, I’ve read "My Mommy Hung the Moon: A Love Story" to my young boys a few times and they thoroughly enjoy it. The story seems to help them drift off to the sweet innocent dreams of youth. While I drop off hoping to relive steamy adolescent dreams of Jamie Lee. Love stories truly do come in all shapes and sizes.
*Congratulations to Patti Murphy! Her "Mother Knows Best" book mentioned in this story made the Best Sellers list at Rediscovery Books within three days of its release this Spring.
For a copy of the book, check your local bookstore or go to www.momisms.com
