Fall Down Laughing: How Squiggy Caught Multiple Sclerosis and Didn't Tell Nobody by David L. Lander

     

A great read

Published in 2000 by Tarcher.

As a kid, I always thought of Lenny and Squiggy as the two dolts that live upstairs from Laverne and Shirley. I've been watching the DVD collections of the show with my kids and I've noticed something. Usually, I grade papers when I watch TV (one of the perks, lots of papers!) and I find myself listening to Laverne and Shirley, but I stop and WATCH Lenny and Squiggy. Squiggy, in particular, is in constant motion and always doing something weird/quirky/downright odd and inappropriate!

Squiggy

So, I was inspired to go out and find Fall Down Laughing: How Squiggy Caught Multiple Sclerosis and Didn't Tell Nobody and read more about Lander's struggle with MS. Plus, it's always interesting to see how someone made it to the big time.

Both parts of the book are interesting and a pleasure to read. I enjoyed myself thoroughly and blasted through the book in no time. Landers' stories about his early career, how he hid his MS and how he deals with it now are told with all of the grace of a natural born storyteller.

Lander has done voice work in his later years.  Lander voiced Henry, the persnickety penguin in the Oswald series. Henry is known for not being particularly athletic with the slogan "sl-o-o-w and steady." Very appropriate for Lander.

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Fall Down Laughing: How Squiggy Caught Multiple Sclerosis and Didn't Tell Nobody by David L. Lander.

Reviewed on April 21, 2009.