[.ca] Former Child Stars: The Story of America (ISBN 155022428X)

Simply Outstanding And Gives A Cold Hard Look At Reality:
This novel is perhaps one of the most interesting and indepth pieces of literature I have had the pleasure of reading. It gives the reader the cold-hard facts of life after the glitter and galmour of the screen is over. This novel presents the aftermath of how some stars were able to cope with not being stars anymore and how some were not so lucky. It is a must for anyone who would like to know what has happened to his or her favorite childhood actor or actresses from a particular sitcom.

Just plain good:
Informative, well-written, original. What more can I say? I liked. The best biography (or biographies?) I've read this year.

Definitely Worth a Look!:
I seriously wasn't expecting this book to be seriously this good. I picked it up because I thought it looked funny -- "America's Least Wanted" (Ha!) But it's no one-note, boy-aren't-former-child-stars-screwed-up joke. This is a *real* book. It's an actual, honest-to-god history of the TV kid star. It starts with Ricky Nelson and goes on all the way down to the "Saved by the bell" kids, I think. Fascinating! I guess, the thing to say is that it's like a *really* good "E! True Hollywood Story" (the author doesn't skimp on the scandals!), but it's more than that. You don't feel stupid after reading it (like you feel stupid after sitting through one of those E! things). You feel like you -- ohmigod! -- actually *learned* something. The book that "America's Least Wanted" most reminds me of is "Raging Bulls, Easy Riders," that great book about the film industry in the 1970s. Like "Raging Bulls," it's got a take on a particular people and it tells its story well. Definitely worth a look!

America's Least Informative:
If your goal in reading this book is to see lots of names thrown around with cursory information such as Gary Coleman's date of birth, then this book is for you. If on the other hand, you are looking for insight into the psychological aspects of being a child star or a former child star, bypass this book. I expected to learn, for example, what it was like to memorize a script a week? What it was like to do rehersal after rehersal? What it was like to have people pestering you for autographs? What was like to search for acting jobs after you were no longer a cute kid. I found none of this. Instead, I read a printed version of Entertainment Tonight. In fact is was less insightful. After finishing the book, I asked myself, "What was this book about?".

A must own for any classic tv junkie:
I keep this on my end table and thumb through it quite regularly while vegging out in front of Nick at Nite. It's humorous. It's moving. It's honest. I almost feel guilty watching Diff'rent Strokes reruns now after reading a different perspective. It put a very human side to the problems that you have seen in various tabloids and E! True Hollywood stories.