Book Review: Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life

Don't let the title fool you! Amy Krouse Rosenthal lived anything but an ordinary life. She was a powerhouse individual and the more I read about her, the better I like her. In one of the first pages of this book, the publisher notes that if you read this book and the author thanked you by e-mail, you could add your name to a list at the book's website (although that website seems to have disappeared). How cool would that have been! Still, I wonder if I would have taken the time to write this author a letter if I had read the book before she died in 2018.

I love the structure of this book - love the encyclopedia entry concept. The humor is delightful. Indeed, I read aloud one passage to my boys (the bit about her brother, who grew up in a house full of girls, belatedly discovering he didn't need to wear his towel around his chest - ha). This "alphabetized existence" is, like the author, extraordinary.

I noted so many interesting intersections. Amy was born less than one month ahead of me. She lived in Chicago (I spent my teen and college years in and around Chicago), in an area I'm familiar with. My brother lived at The Salvation Army School for Officer's Training, very close to Wrigley field. She loved words. She was best friends with another children's author I adore: Charise Mericle Harper (author of the Just Grace series Sean and I devoured when he was younger). Sadly, we never intersected in real life. Still, I'm glad I found her husband's memoir and then her memoir - both satisfying eavesdropping adventures.