Thursday, September 11, 2014

Me and Half-Pint Rocked Cedar Rapids, IA Today

Melissa Gilbert, aka half-pint

 Not to sound all full of myself, but you must know what happened to me and half- pint (the nickname for  actress Melissa Gilbert from The Little House on The Prairie tv show.) I gave the first of 6(!) presentations this semester to a college class about Ezra and Hadassah: A Portrait of American Royalty. I spoke at Kirkwood Community College and at the same time across town, half-pint spoke about her new cookbook at the Cedar Rapids Public Library. We started our book tours on the same day, in the same town, at the same hour!

Now that is saying something, right?

My class went great and next week I have two more presentations. I don't know where half-pint is headed to on her tour. I wish her the very best with her cookbook. I am glad we shared space today. It made my first book talk presentation feel very glamorous and special.

Below is the full info on half-pints new endeavor. If she comes to your town, please go listen to her talk and enjoy her stories of growing up as a child actress on the set of The Little House On The Prairie. And if haven't seen the show, let me know. We have all the seasons of it on DVD and  I am happy to help your half-pint education.

"When a Hollywood actress writes a book, you might expect the book tour to start in Los Angeles, New York City or even Chicago.
But Melissa Gilbert, star of the beloved television series “Little House on the Prairie,” chose Eastern Iowa to kick off the tour for her cookbook “My Prairie Cookbook: Memories and Frontier Food from My Little House to Yours” (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, September 2014).
“Typically we contact publishers for book readings, but Gilbert’s publisher contacted us asking if we would be interested in having Melissa come here,” said Kathleen Johnson, events coordinator at Prairie Lights in Iowa City.
The release of the cookbook is timed to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the series.
“We decided to tour where the book lived in people’s hearts the most,” said Gilbert. “The books and the show were set in the Midwest, and it has that wonderful Midwestern sensibility.”
Gilbert will appear in Cedar Rapids at 2 p.m. and Iowa City at 7 p.m. Tuesday."

Read more at http://thegazette.com/subject/life/events/little-house-laura-x2014-melissa-gilbert-x2014-in-eastern-iowa-with-new-cookbook-20140911#BHbvk5GGpxrkHEm4.99