In her offbeat memoir, Howard (Foreign Correspondent, 2013) shares her uncannily child's-eye view of the complex worlds inside and outside of her TV set, in 1980s, small-town Oklahoma. In short, titled chapters, she painstakingly relates in detail, for instance, the particular joke structure of a Hee Haw skit or her observations of the kindergarten disciplinary system. Admist musings on Gunsmoke, MASH, and WKRP in Cincinnati, she recalls perceptions of her parents and her own reputation as a tantrum-thrower. Throughout, an adult Howard enters the scene to make sense of later events, like her trucker father's massive stroke and decline, her older brother's distancing from the family, and her eventual obsession with finding and recording the truths behind her memories. ""I want to look it all up and have it confirmed in my mind. Otherwise, you forget."" The thing about eras is that, someday, they're bygone, and Howard records this one with clarity and a kind of reverence. This is both funny and touching, and likely to reach readers in wholly unexpected ways.--Annie Bostrom Copyright 2010 Booklist