PERMISSION SLIPS: REVIEW AND GIVEAWAY

GIVEAWAY ENDED
PERMISSION SLIPS
BY SHERRI SHEPHERD
with LAURIE KILMARTIN

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Sometimes, you just gotta cut yourself some slack, and no one knows this better than Sherri Shepherd of The View.

Covering topics such as "It's Jesus or Jail," "Marriage, the Hard Way," "Children: The Gift You Can't Give Back," and "All the Things I Don't Know...And All the Things I Definitely Do," stand-up comedienne, actress, and ABC's The View co-host Sherri Shepherd comically chronicles her struggles to keep up with the many roles-professional, wife, mother, daughter, and friend-that women must play in today's world. Sherri urges women to pursue their most important dreams and to never give up, but also let's readers know that it's okay to give themselves "permission slips" when things don't always work out the way they want them to.

About Author

Sherri Shepherd currently serves as a co-host on ABC's The View, which airs five days a week on ABC affiliates nationally and consistently draws more than 3 million viewers per show. She also plays a recurring character on NBC's 30 Rock. ... more

Audio and Video

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Whether on stage or screen, Comedienne/Actress Sherri Shepherd never fails to delight audiences with her magnetic personality and hilarious sense of humor, which is showcased in her position as co-host of ABC’s Emmy-nominated The View. Sherri will also star in her new Lifetime series, Sherri. The show, in which she also serves as co-executive producer, is loosely based on her life and standup comedy, and will premiere in the Fall of 2009. On October 14, Sherri’s humorous autobiography, Permission Slips: Every Woman’s Guide to Giving Herself a Break, will be launched by Grand Central Publishing.

A self-described “class clown,” Shepherd always wanted to pursue a performing career. She relocated to Los Angeles during high school and considered being a mortician but opted for a job as a legal secretary instead. In 1990 she came face-to-face with destiny. After witnessing Andrew Dice Clay on stage, Sherri was egged on by her friends to put together her own act. Her love for performing was instantaneous; success, however, was not. For five years, Sherri toiled as a secretary by day and hopped on the bus at night to do her standup. She finally got her first real break with the comedy series Cleghorne! starring former Saturday Night Live alum Ellen Cleghorne.

She’s been fortunate enough to work steadily while fine-tuning her craft through comedy, scene-study and improvisational workshops. As an accomplished standup comic, she has performed at The Comedy Store, The Improv, and Laugh Factory in Hollywood. Sherri also has her own comedy DVD, titled No Refund, No Exchange.

Not one to rest on her laurels, Sherri will continue to reprise her hysterical role as Angie Jordan, wife to Tracy Morgan’s character on the Emmy-winning 30 Rock. In November 2009, Sherri will be seen in the upcoming feature film Precious, alongside Mo’Nique and Mariah Carey, directed by Lee Daniels (Monsters Ball). Sherri most recently co-starred in the Dreamworks hit feature Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, where she voiced the character of Ben Stiller’s mother. She also serves as a national spokesperson for the March of Dimes.

Sherri has been on the couch of many talk shows, such as The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Jimmy Kimmel, and The Bonnie Hunt Show, and she holds the record for being the most-booked guest on The Ellen Show (23 times). She can also be seen as Sgt. Judy, Robert Barone's partner, in Everybody Loves Raymond. Her other film roles include co-starring alongside Queen Latifah in Beauty Shop and Ashton Kutcher in Guess Who.

Sherri's greatest accomplishment, however, is being the proud mother of her 4-year-old son, Jeffrey Charles, Jr. Away from the set, she enjoys karaoke, skating, church activities, and a good game of Taboo.

REVIEW/REACTION:

Please give yourself permission to read PERMISSION SLIPS by Sherri Shepherd. You won't be sorry you did as it is an easy, funny, yet thought provoking read. PERMISSION SLIPS is an intimate portrait of this co-host of "The View", Sherri Shepherd, that will grab your attention right away with her easy style of writing that combines humor, compassion, common sense, and honesty. Sherri's message in the book is very clear--give yourself permission to realize nobody is perfect and when we do something wrong, get over it...life WILL go on. She stresses not dwelling on it, and making it worse by continuing to beat ourselves up about it.

Sherri is realistic and when you realize how she came from a somewhat sheltered childhood to having to face life's often times harsh realities, it has been an amazing journey. It is one that I praise her for. When she talks about the challenges she faced when things went wrong during her pregnancy and her son was born prematurely, it tugs at your heart. It also shows what a strong woman she has become. Her challenges in life have made her better as she has not let them beat her down. This certainly is evident when you see her on television. On a personal note, I love watching Sherri on The View. She slid into a seat at the often times formidable table and holds her own. She could easily get lost in the shuffle but she does not. She stands her ground on her beliefs and opinions and makes her voice be heard but with a polite, humorous, and kind way that endears her to me and I am sure millions of fans.

I liked the easy style of writing that Sherri used and especially the format with its self-contained chapters that you can sit down and read and then set aside and come back to easily. Some of my favorite chapters were "Permission to Get Better as I Get Older", "Permission to Pursue Your Dreams", and "Permission to Be Less Than Perfect" just to name a few. Sherri ends each chapter with a "Permission Slip" which is a way for her to summarize the chapter, tell what that part taught her about life, and thus tie it up with a bow and let the reader take away a gift of a little lesson on life.

Sherri's faith is a continuing theme running throughout the book but she isn't trying to convert anyone or preach, but rather let the reader know the impact it has on her life. On the other hand, there is the unmistakable mark of the brilliant comedian that Sherri Shepherd is also throughout the book. I found myself often laughing one minute and crying the next. She writes with honesty, sincerity and sensitivity. As Sherri shares some of her own permission slips, she also tells how she celebrates life as a result of all this. Her permission to be ourselves reverberates and is inspirational in a gentle way. I think this is a great book to give as a gift because it does one of the things I think most important in life...and that is tell us it is OK to mess up. We learn from that and life goes on.

VERY SPECIAL NOTE: HERE IS A PERSONAL TWEET I RECEIVED FROM THE AUTHOR HERSELF, MS. SHERRI SHEPHERD...AND HOW NICE WITH HER BUSY SCHEDULE..I WAS THRILLED!

SherriEShepherd: thank you so much for the great review... it was so very nice :O)

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