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Home: A Memoir of My Early Years | 
 enlarge | Author: Julie Andrews
Publisher: Hyperion
Category: Book
List Price: $26.95
Buy New: $14.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  32 reviews
Sales Rank: 94
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.5 x 1.3
ISBN: 0786865652
Dewey Decimal Number: 791.4028092
EAN: 9780786865659
ASIN: 0786865652
Publication Date: April 1, 2008
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Book Description
Since her first appearance on screen in Mary Poppins, Julie Andrews has played a series of memorable roles that have endeared her to generations. But she has never told the story of her life before fame. Until now. In Home: A Memoir of My Early Years, Julie takes her readers on a warm, moving, and often humorous journey from a difficult upbringing in war-torn Britain to the brink of international stardom in America. Her memoir begins in 1935, when Julie was born to an aspiring vaudevillian mother and a teacher father, and takes readers to 1962, when Walt Disney himself saw her on Broadway and cast her as the world's most famous nanny. Along the way, she weathered the London Blitz of World War II; her parents' painful divorce; her mother's turbulent second marriage to Canadian tenor Ted Andrews, and a childhood spent on radio, in music halls, and giving concert performances all over England. Julie's professional career began at the age of twelve, and in 1948 she became the youngest solo performer ever to participate in a Royal Command Performance before the Queen. When only eighteen, she left home for the United States to make her Broadway debut in The Boy Friend, and thus began her meteoric rise to stardom. Home is filled with numerous anecdotes, including stories of performing in My Fair Lady with Rex Harrison on Broadway and in the West End, and in Camelot with Richard Burton on Broadway; her first marriage to famed set and costume designer Tony Walton, culminating with the birth of their daughter, Emma; and the call from Hollywood and what lay beyond. Julie Andrews' career has flourished over seven decades. From her legendary Broadway performances, to her roles in such iconic films as The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Hawaii, 10, and The Princess Diaries, to her award-winning television appearances, multiple album releases, concert tours, international humanitarian work, best-selling children's books, and championship of literacy, Julie's influence spans generations. Today, she lives with her husband of thirty-eight years, the acclaimed writer/director Blake Edwards; they have five children and seven grandchildren. Featuring over fifty personal photos, many never before seen, this is the personal memoir Julie Andrews' audiences have been waiting for.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 27 more reviews...
A Thoughtful Way to Spend an Afternoon May 10, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I read Julie Andrews' memoir in an afternoon. Its voice is inviting and reassuring and, most important, genuine.
The newly released TEACHING LIFE: LETTERS FROM A LIFE IN LITERATURE impresses me as a welcome companion.
In 1978 one of the author's students died tragically in an automobile accident on her way to his office to talk over her career plans. It was the suddenness of her death, along with the utter loss of so much potential, which left him wondering whether anything he had said in class had made a difference in her too-short life or, for that matter, in the lives of any of his students.
Her death was not only a great misfortune but also a defining moment for the author. For the first time in his life as a teacher, and he had been at it for only five years, he realized in the weeks that followed that he wasn't in the classroom for myself. He was and remains there for the students, all of whom are giving him three hours a week of their most precious possession -- their time. What he says and do should make a difference in their lives. The worst thief is a bad teacher.
n a recent interview with Samantha Bravo he answers some pointed questions about the book:
1) Each letter to Kelly addresses a different aspect of
education, literature and life. How did you decide
which topics to address? How do you think the book's
organization of these topics affects the reader?
The topics suggested themselves to me as I moved ever deeper into the project. I knew I had to write "When a Parent Dies," for example, because the day after my father's funeral I returned to my class to discuss Hamlet and saw my father sitting in the back of the room. The chapter on "Marriage" suggested itself because I was struck by how many of my colleagues across the country wrestle with balancing the academics with family life. Many questions emerged over the years from discussions with my parents, both educators, as well as from my students. Overall I answer questions that many teachers (and students) ask of themselves and that I continue to ask of myself.
2) Why did you choose to format the book as a series of
letters?
To avoid the risk of coming across as "preachy" or dogmatic. That's not my style. Writing letters "to" a former student was an indirect way of reaching my potential reader. Also, this format helped me to establish a warm, personal tone that is the voice I try to maintain in the classroom. I am speaking to teachers, yes, but I am also speaking to students as well as to the general public - and I don't want to alienate them.
3) In the book's summary it says that "'Teaching Life"
is an effort to impart lessons to the next generation
of teachers." Would you also agree that these lessons
are equally benefiting to students who read this
book? What sort of insight should a student expect to
gain in contrast to a teacher?
Yes, most definitely. Letters as personal as these permit the student to slip away from present concerns, open the door, and step inside the secret life of a teacher. Happiness is a gift, not a right, and most of us as teachers have been so gifted. Perhaps some students themselves will carry from the book the thought of entering this noble and personally rewarding profession. At the very least I hope they will find here some useful suggestions for getting all they can from their educational experiences.
4) You say that Kelly has become a metaphor for all your
students. Could you explain this in more depth?
Every semester my classrooms are filled with Kelly's - bright, eager-to-learn men and women who are giving me three hours a week of their most precious possession - their time. What I say "to" Kelly in the letters I say to all of my students: make the most of your allotted time, seek the best in everything you do, and keep growing. My challenge is to find a way to connect with them, to encourage them to care about the material, to think about some of the deep issues of life, and to have a good time while doing so. That's part of what keeps me coming back day after day, month after month, semester after semester. Though Kelly didn't live to realize her potential as a teacher, my experience of knowing her and thousands of students like her continues to inspire me every day.
5) Thirty years after Kelly's death, why did you believe
that this was the right time in your career to publish
"Teaching Life?"
There were many months, even years when I didn't know when (or even IF) I would complete the book. Coincidentally I did so while approaching my 35th year of teaching. To borrow from Samuel Johnson, I believe that into every teacher's life there comes a "time to be in earnest." This is such a time for me.
Dame Julie! Wow! May 10, 2008
How marvellous this book of Dame Julie's early years is.
Much of the story of her early career I knew from a concert Julie gave in the very late 1980's. Eventually PBS broadcast the concert here in California. I will always remember that particular concert for many reasons.
However, I have gone ahead of myself.
I downloaded Dame Julie's book to read, as I cannot hold a book in my hands because of ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease). Then I eventually bought the hardcover to add to my library of first editions. I also wanted to see the photographs.
The strange thing is, as I was listening to Julie read her story I could not keep my eyes from looking at the beautiful face of our young Julie. It is a gorgeous picture of her! I was completely transfixed by the fresh-faced photograph of Julie and the manner in which she told the story of her young life and career.
Then, I realised, how short a time it has been from the first day I saw Julie on screen when I was a child, and how different everything is now - some forty-years later.
Julie writes as if she has been writing books all her life. Every sentence is well structured, and every word paints a clear picture of her life as a child, teenager, and young woman.
Her impressions are not over the top, they are genuine, her revelations beautiful, witty, and startling all at the same time.
Her love of England is felt deeply as one sits and reads the story, and in a way, she took me home as well.
The many vibrant images of England Julie painted with words brought back my own recollections of home. It was easy for me to smell and touch the English landscape as I listened to Julie's distinctive and peaceful speaking voice.
The pictorial images she draws are simple to see in ones mind as she meticulously unfolds each moment of her early life. One cannot help but feel her memories are authentic. She pays close attention to detail but does not embellish or bellyache. In that sense, it is as honest a story as one can possibly write, or read.
I enjoyed Julie's book, and I certainly do hope she will continue to write the rest of it.
Julie's story is all the more important for me because the last time I saw Julie sing live on stage was - and still is - an important night I will never forget.
Julie was in town and singing songs from all her stage shows, films, and TV shows, with narrative. What could be better I thought.
Followed by some thought, I decided I wanted to attend the concert with my mother. We did not get along well. All of life was a battlefield. However, I thought attending Julie's concert would be a step in the right direction - as it proved to be. At least my mother would not be grieving the loss of my father and perhaps stop drinking for at least that one night. I was trying to get her out of a morbid state of mind.
When I asked my mother if she wanted to attend a concert featuring Julie Andrews, she said yes! I was so happy and relieved to get her outside her grief even if it were for only a few hours.
That night my mother listened to Julie sing from the heart and soul. Indeed, I do not think my mother took her eyes off Julie as she performed everything from 'Wouldn't It Be Loverly' to 'Burlington Bertie from Bow' to 'Jazz Hot' to 'The Hills are Alive'. I remember the beautiful ball gown Julie wore at the end of the show stunned my mother that she did not stop talking about it for weeks afterward. It was a night - a memory - I will treasure all my life. More importantly, it was a night I was glad to spend with my mother.
Many years after an unknown assailant murdered my mother, I saw the very same concert on PBS again. It was a repeat, which aired around the time I got ALS. At the time I did not know I had cancer as well. Choked with emotion, I recalled that one magical night with my mother and Julie's amazing performance. The memory is so clear in my mind that it has not left to this day.
As I continue to struggle to hang onto the best left in life, I felt it important to write this review.
Finally, for bringing my mother and I together for that one special night, I can never thank Julie enough. I humbly bow to Dame Julie for the simple gift of song and story.
As for this book, it is a great read for all of us really. For many of us, we can look back and wonder what we were doing at the same time. Then - start all over again tomorrow with a new outlook on life.
My family loved this book May 10, 2008
Having grown up to the Sound of Music, I was only disappointed that Julie Andrews has yet to tell that tale. We need installment number 2. Meanwhile she tells a deeply candid and really readable tale of her early years and her start in show business.
In an era where celebrity journalism and memoirs can be so vapid, this books stands out as a truly wonderful read. I was surprised by how much we have all enjoyed this.
Home: A Memoir of My Early Years May 9, 2008
I really enjoyed this book. I don't usually read autobiographies but I couldn't put this one down. It read like a great novel. Lots of interesting surprises.
I want more! May 9, 2008
I had no idea that she had so many things to overcome and she did with such Grace and Class! She should be Dame Julie! I want to find out what happened when she made 'Mary Poppins'. Please write more!
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