Voice Lessons written by Cara Mentzel

We know the lyrics to the songs of Defying Gravity and Let It Go. We know that powerful singing voice behind those songs is Idina Menzel, the singer who stared on Broadway’s hit show Rent as the original Maureen Johnson, who then played as the original Elphaba in Wicked, and also stared in the original cast of If/Then. But did you know that Idina Menzel has a little sister? That’s right! Cara Mentzel, the author of Voice Lessons, is Idina Menzel’s little sister!

            Cara Mentzel tells her story of her life growing up with her big sister; Idina Menzel mainly in New York after their parents got a divorce. She also talks about her childhood being raised by her parents and her early childhood memories and growing up watching her sister taking the spotlight with her singing.  When Cara grew up, she attended University of Colorado where she studied Biological Psychology and met the love her of life, Jon. While at University of Colorado, Cara went to visit Idina in New York, when they were in Idina’s apartment, Idina handed Cara a script for a new off- Broadway show that she was auditioning for called Rent, little did the girls how popular that show would become on Broadway.

            After graduating from college, at the age of twenty-three Cara became a mother to a boy that she and Jon named Avery. After Avery was born, Cara and Jon had another baby boy together named Jacob. Sadly after being married for a short time, Jon’s abusive behavior led their marriage to a divorce, Cara was a single mother of two little boys.

            Since Cara is a little sister to a well-known Broadway superstar,  she saw the Broadway opening shows for Rent, Wicked, and If/Then. Not to mention when Let It Go was introduced to the world when Disney’s movie Frozen was released in 2014. Idina Menzel was nominated for an Oscars for “Best Original Song” and she invited Cara to go as her date. Since Cara attended Broadway shows and the Oscars, she has stories of living through the moment when her sister is in the spotlight. For example, remember at the Oscars in 2014 when actor, John Travolta, mispronounced Idina’s name on live TV? When you’re sitting on the couch watching Idina Menzel singing Let It Go, you wouldn’t have noticed all the chaos that happed backstage. But hey, Cara got to see the whole world in rage when John Travolta didn’t know how to say Idina’s name. In the end, Idina returned the favor that next year by mispronouncing his name and the whole world laughed.

            Over all, Voice Lessons was a great book that I enjoyed reading. I can relate to Cara on a personal level since I have an older sister that can sing better than I and we (Cara and I) both love Idina Menzel. Also, I love the stories that Cara shared that means a lot to her and Idina. So, if you are a huge Idina Menzel fan, like how Cara Mentzel and I are, then I definitely suggest that you read Voice Lessons.

Mentzel, Cara. Voice Lessons: A Sisters Story. New York, NY: St. Martin's, 2017. Print. 

Trivia Questions: 

1) Why did Idina Menzel drop the "T" in her last name Mentzel? 

2) Cara went to a drama camp one time and auditioned for the musical Guys and Dolls, what part did she get to play? 

3) True or False:

When Cara birth her two baby boys, she had a natural home birth? 

Choosing To SEE written by Mary Beth Chapman

*** Check out my latest post, Between Heaven And The Real World: My Story, written by Mary Beth Chapman’s husband, Steven Curtis Chapman!!****

            Mary Beth Chapman is wife of Steven Curtis Chapman, whom was the first one in the Chapman family to have a book published. In her book, Choosing To SEE, is mostly about how she, Steven, and her five other children dealt with the death of their daughter/sister, Maria Chapman, who was tragically killed by a car.

            When Mary Beth Chapman grew up in Ohio in a Christian home with loving parents along with her older brother and sister. After graduating from high school, Marry Beth attended Anderson University where she met a handsome young man named Steven Curtis Chapman. What she really loved about Steven Curtis Chapman besides being a Christian was that he had the same last name as her! Weird!! Anyways, Mary Beth married Steven when she was twenty years old and did not plan to have children until later in life until she got pregnant after being married for six months. OOPS!

            So . . . since I have mentioned the majority of the Chapman life in my previous blog post, Between Heaven And The Real World: My Story, written by Steven, I will continue by comparing Steven’s and Mary Beth’s books. First, in Steven’s book, he wrote about everything! What I mean by, everything, was: life growing up as a kid, going to college, getting married and having kids, adoption, Maria’s death, and establishing an orphanage for children with special needs in China. What Mary Beth mostly talked about in her book was the death of Maria, the youngest daughter in the family, to what happened before and after her funeral, and the marriages of her two oldest children, Emily and Caleb. Mary Beth also talked about her experiences of adopting three girls from China and also how she and Steven established an orphanage for special needs children in China as well. Over all, she never went into a lot of detail of her life growing up in Ohio and about her high school life, except for the fact that she did mention that she lost her virginity but never any detail of what happened.  

            In concluding, if you have read, or soon will read, Steven Curtis Chapman’s book then I would suggest to read Mary Beth’s book, Choosing To SEE, and SEE what you can learn from Mary Beth’s perspective of life dealing with family, tragedy, and dealing with grief.

Trivia Questions: 

1) True or False: 

Mary Beth's first pregnancy WAS planned? 

2) Why is the word SEE an important word in the Chapman household?

3) How did SEE become an important word in the family? 

 Chapman, Mary Beth., and Ellen Vaughn. Choosing to See: A Journey of Struggle and Hope. Grand Rapids: Revell, 2011. Print.

Almost Gone written by John Baldwin and Mackenzie Baldwin

     Imagine that you’re a teenage girl attending high school and had discovered a chat room on the Internet. Now, imagine that you have connected with a man from another country, you two have been secretly talking to each other for a year, and have fallen in love without your parents’ knowledge. Finally, what would happen if your parents found out that you were planning to leave the country, to be with the man who you met on the Internet. The down side, they only had twenty-five days to make you stay! Which is what Almost Gone, is about, written by father and daughter duo, John Baldwin and Mackenzie Baldwin.

     Mackenzie Baldwin was a teenage girl who lived in Plano, Texas. She was raised in a loving Christian family, with her two younger brothers, mother, and father. When Mackenzie Baldwin was a junior at Plano West Senior High, she was visiting a friend.  During her visit, Mackenzie’s friend introduced her to an online chat room, which allowed people to connect with random people around the world. Mackenzie started chatting with a man named Aadam, who lived in Kosovo, which is a country part of the European area. After talking to each other online, Mackenzie and Aadam were talking on Skype, sending love letters, and calling/texting. But to make matters worse, Aadam was a Muslim who was very religious in the Islam religion, he started to persuade Mackenzie to become a Muslim so they could get married, since he is not allowed to marry a woman whose not a Muslim. So, Mackenzie started to convert from Christianity to Islamic. In the book, Mackenzie does describe her journey of converting to a different religion, from studying the Koran, watching Islamic videos on YouTube, and attending a mosque! The down side for Mackenzie while she was talking to Aadam was she became very distant to her family and high school friends because she was Islamic and they were not. Her father, John Baldwin, along with her mother, tried to persuade Mackenzie that she should stay away from Islam, without knowing the fact that their daughter attended a mosque along with having a second family so she could be “raised” in an Islamic home. 

        By the time Mackenzie was a senior at Plano West Senior High, her only friend was Aadam. Mackenzie was dead set on meeting him in person, but when they planned to meet somewhere, either in another country or America, their plans seemed to slip through the cracks. When Mackenzie was eighteen and almost getting ready to graduate from high school, she and Aadam were planning on getting married . . .that is until her friends’ parents spilled the beans.

        For one year, Mackenzie was secretly talking to Aadam behind her parents back! After Mackenzie saved up money from her job, she made flight arrangements to go to Kosovo shortly after she graduated from high school. That is until Mackenzie’s father, John Baldwin, got a phone call from a parent who he knew from West Plano Senior High. The parent told John that Mackenzie announced to some of her classmates that she was planning on leaving the country. The total of days that Mackenzie’s parents had to convince their daughter from doing this horrible mistake was twenty-five days! When researching about Kosovo, John Baldwin found out that Kosovo had a high percentage rate of Teen Sex Trafficking! Soon after, John Baldwin had the FBI take part of Mackenzie’s plan because Mackenzie broke the law. How? She submitted paper work to the Passport Agency to get another passport, even though she knew where her parents hid her original passport. As federal punishment, Mackenzie could spend five years in state prison for a crime of having two valid passports! Thankfully, the FBI didn’t want to press charges. Finally, after weeks of persuading his daughter to not go to Kosovo, Mackenzie figured out what a terrible choice she had made and how she learned from making terrible choices.

         In concluding, Almost Gone was a great book to read because it is a story that could teach parents and teens the dangers of interacting with strangers online. Mackenzie and John Baldwin tell their side of the story about the events that occurred leading up to that fateful plan of Mackenzie leaving the country to be with a man who she only met with online. Once Mackenzie’s parents learned about her plan to escape the county to go to Kosovo to get married, her parents only had twenty-five days to intervene!

Trivia Questions: 

1) Why did Aadam wanted to marry Mackenzie? 

2) True or False: Aadam tried to contact John Baldwin through Facebook to convince him that he loved Mackenzie. 

3) Why did Mackenzie send one of her old Smartphones to Aadam?


 Baldwin, John, and Mackenzie Baldwin. Almost Gone: Twenty-Five Days And One Chance To Save Our Daughter. New York: Howard Books, 2017. Print. 

 

Between Heaven And The Real World: My Story written by Steven Curtis Chapman

       Does anyone know Steven Curtis Chapman? I sure do since he was my favorite Christian singer when I was a kid. He wrote songs such as Dive, Live Out Loud, and Cinderella.  Anyways, Steven Curtis Chapman wrote a book, Between Heaven and The Real World: My Story, is about Steven Curtis Chapman’s life growing up in Kentucky, getting into the music industry along with playing and writing music, dating/married life, adopting children from China, to dealing with a loss of one of his own children.

        Steven Curtis Chapman was born in Paducah, Kentucky, along his older brother Herb “Herbie” Chapman Jr. Steven mentions in his book that his family got into music because their father played guitar and owned a music store. When Herbie and Steven were younger, they both performed together at churches and at venues that would pay them, including at a theme park called Opryland in Nashville, Tennessee. Herbie was the singer and Steven played guitar and was also a backup singer.  Later on, Steven and Herbie attended Anderson University. While studying and writing music at Anderson University, the Chapman brothers formed a band called Chapman Henderson, since they had another band member who was also attending Anderson University with the last name of Henderson. Not only did Steven Curtis Chapman play in a band, he also met his wife, Mary Beth Chapman, and began dating her! Quiescence? . . . I think NOT!

      On October 13, 1984, Steven and Mary Beth got married and had their first child, Emily, eight months later. Steven’s music career was starting to take off around that time, so he how difficult it was being a father while making/selling albums and going on tour. After their daughter, Emily, was born, Mary Beth and Steven had two more children: Caleb, and Will Franklin. Several years later, they adopted three baby girls from China. Their first adopted daughter was, Shaohannah “Shaoey”Chapman. The name Shaohannah is combined with the names, Shao and Hannah. Next, they adopted two more girls from China, Stevey Joy, and Maria. Over all, Mary Beth and Steven Chapman raised six beautiful children. While in the process of adopting Stevey Joy and Maria, Mary Beth and Steven worked with other families to help them adopt children, along with being missionaries in China. Sadly, their youngest Chinese daughter, Maria, passed away in 2008 due to getting hit by a car at the age of five years old! Steven Curtis Chapman described his experience of losing a child. Steven and the family also experienced God’s comfort and love while they grieved for Maria.

      Overall, I did enjoy reading Steven Curtis Chapman’s book, Between Heaven And The Real World: My Story, because I was once a Steven Curtis Chapman fan! So it was a great book for me to read about his life from childhood, adulthood, to parenthood. In other words, I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who loved or still loves Steven Curtis Chapman’s music and also his ministry work.

Trivia Questions: 

1) Why did Steven Curtis Chapman's parents decided to have a second child? Which just so happened to be the one and only Steven Curtis Chapman! 

2) Like I mentioned in this blog, Steven's daughter, Maria, did get run over by a car. 

Question: Who was driving the car?!? 

3) Why the word SEE a huge part in the Chapman Family?  

Chapman, Steven Curtis. Between Heaven And The Real World: My Story. Grand Rapids: Revell, 2017. Print. 

Comparing Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix written by J.K. Rowling

                                                     Left - The U.K. book Right- the U.S. book


Hello everyone!

Here is the comparison of the U.S. and the U.K. version of the fifth book in the Harry Potter series Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix. 

Besides the book cover and the font being different, there is no Table Of Contents in the U.K. version unlike the U.S. version, there are no pictures in the U.K. book unlike the U.S. book at the start of each chapter, and there have been different word spellings through out the two books.

Here are the differences that I have noticed while reading the books:

1) The U.S. book contained 870 pages - the U.K. book contained 766 pages

2) The words Philosopher's Stone and Sorcerer's Stone were used in the book (look at the post several months back to Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone)

Scene 1: When Hermione and Ron gave Harry the idea that he should secretly teach his other Hogwarts classmates Defense Against The Dark Arts instead of Professor Umbridge. He held  a private meeting in a pub at Hogsmeade called Hog's Head. During their first meeting, one of Harry's classmates, Neville Longbottom, announced that Harry did save the Philosopher's/Sorcerer's stone. Look back at my later post for the difference between Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone. 

How Neville Longbottom talked - ". . .And in our first year. . . he saved that . . ."

U.S. - "Sorcerous Stone"
       Hermione: "Sorcerer's"

U.K. - "Philological Stone"
           Hermione: "Philosopher's Stone"

Scene 2: When Harry and his friends were going to sneak into the Ministry of Magic building to save Sirius Black from Lord Voldemort, they used the words Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone term as well.


Well folks that is what I have for you right now with comparing Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix! Keep on a look out for the sixth book of my Harry Potter comparison of Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince.

Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. London: Bloomsbury, 2003. Print. 

Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. New York: Scholastic, 2003. Print.

Rossen To The Rescue written by Jeff Rossen

If you have ever watched the TODAY show on NBC then you would know Jeff Rossen. He is a husband and father of three kids and a journalist on the TODAY show who does a segment called The Rossen Report, where he would put himself into everyday situations and reports on how we can stay safe or how to avoid the situation before something happens. Some examples that I have seen Jeff Rossen report on TODAY are: if you were in a gas station and a gunman came in to rob the store, if someone were to put you in the trunk of a car, how would you get out? Finally, how to protect yourself if someone were to grab you and perhaps drag you to their car.

    Anyways, Jeff Rossen wrote a book titled, Rossen To The Rescue, about his experiences being a journalist that goes out into the world and learns on how to stay safe in life threatening situations. Now some of the situations that he did mention in his book were taped for The Rossen Report and some were not.

Here is a list of all the situations and social experiments that Jeff tested himself and discussed in his book to keep us safe:

What to do if your home has been invaded? (Jeff did experience this when he was a kid)

How to spot hidden mold?

How your new home will probably catch on fine. (Warning to those homeowners that are currently having a new home being built!)

How to plan an escape if your house is on fire?   

What do you do when you are locked out of your house?

When the bottom of your outdoor deck caves in, 1) how to avoid that from happening 2) what do you do if the outdoor deck does cave in?

How to survive from earthquakes, tornados, and being struck by lightening

How to keep your computer camera from being hacked (would you be able to tell if your built in camera on your computer is being hacked while you are on it?)

How would survive a plane crash? 

How would your survive if your car is stuck in a raging flood?

What you do if you’re drowsy while driving?

How to avoid being ripped off by car mechanics (let me just say it’s really easy to fall into their trap if you don’t know anything about cars)

Exactly how many germs are on airplane? (You don’t want to know)

If a police were to pull you over, what are your rights?

How would you survive a train crash?

How to avoid a mattress flying at you while you’re driving

How would you survive if your car stars to skid on ice?

Could your doctor be intoxicated while examining, operating, and prescribing you drugs?!? (PS: The results are shocking!)

 How you can avoid being ripped off by a moving company? (Oh how they do love your money then your stuff!)

A new type of Stranger Danger. (There is a way to lure teens and young adults in a car besides candy!)

How to avoid buying a prom dress online and it’s not the dress you thought it was. (Everyone loves a bargain…until it shows up in the mail!)

 How to know that you’re getting the right change back when using a coin machine to get cash. (Such as Coinstar). 

How eye shadow can look like mold! (Jeff’s experiment on how to know if a mold inspector is doing their job right. He made eye shadow look like mold, will the mold inspectors test to see if it’s really mold or just quote the customer without concluding that it’s really mold?)

Where does your money go if you are donating to charity? Are you being scammed?

How do Fortune Tellers really make money? Are they really born with special powers to predict the future?

How would you survive if you fell through thin ice?

How would you survive if your parasail snaps?

 How to avoid getting fake concert tickets. 

What to do when you realize “you’re drunk!”

How to survive when you’re buried alive.

Carnival Games are always rigged!! (It’s like taking candy from a baby!)

How to be safe around train tracks. (Jeff’s experiment of how to tell if a train is coming towards you; in other words:  are trains loud or quiets these days? How long would you have to get off the train tracks?)

How you buckle up your child in a car seat… the RIGHT way! (Want to hear something shocking? There are a lot of mothers that don’t know how!)

How your child can cheat in school without the parents or teachers noticing?!?

Can your child sleep through a smoke detector going off?  If so, what you do if you need to get out of the house?

How to be aware if identity thieves are after your baby’s identity? (Does it seem possible that your child could have a bad credit score before they are 18 years old?)

How do you break into a hot car . . . to save a child’s life?

How you can know how safe your child’s school security? (Better check that out before an unwanted visitor enters!) Jeff also visits a school that is considered “the safest school in America”. Google Southwestern High School in Indiana.  Personally, if I ever had kids I would want to move to Indiana and send them there…talk about safety!

Want to learn how to defeat the Claw Machine? Spoiler Alert: NOT LIKELY!

Are “all – inclusive” resorts the best deal?

What would do if you were stranded in the ocean?

Does high SPF sunscreen give you more protection as the label claims?

 Drowning myths and tips for you to know.

That nice necklace that you’re wearing . . . are you sure that’s real? How to know the difference between real and fake jewelry.

What goes on in your hotel room when the maid is cleaning it?

How many germs are actually on a cruise ship?

What to do when you are struggling with your weight?

Eating “diet” foods and still gaining weight? Why is that?

 Should one believe in “Sale - By” dates?

How to spot Bedbugs before they become a problem?

How does one trick their stomach on Thanksgiving Day?

Jeff does an experiment where he buys clothes (same outfit and the same clothing brand) and asks people which one was bought at a high - end store and which one was bought at an outlet. Can the majority of the people tell the difference which outfit cost more than the other?

Are lingerie stores (Victoria Secret’s, Macy’s . . . etc.) reselling underwear that have been worn and returned? Most popular report that Jeff had done for TODAY!

How and why women paying more for beauty products (shampoo, shaving cream. etc.) than men! Also called The Pink Tax.

How to survive a heart attack?

What documents should you shred and which ones to keep?

How would you stop your kitchen from burning down?

Jeff shares three ways to save money when shopping. (He’s frugal)

Is your fake fur coat 100% fake?

How do you avoid from getting zapped? In other words . . . avoid getting electrocuted while walking outside!

How to walk through fire. Jeff actually reported this live on TODAY!

One more trick for the car mechanics . . . will they rip you off if you have a flat tire?

    Well . . . that’s all of the experiments and situations that Jeff had done himself (with some help from his producers here and there) But I do hope you read this book and learn how to stay safe from harms way. I really did enjoy reading Rossen To The Rescue because Jeff Rossen is like the rest of us when it comes to learning how do you protect ourselves if we are in danger situation. Therefore, thank you Jeff Rossen for putting your own life out there on TV for educating the rest of the world.

Helpful Websites

According to Jeff's study about doctors, out of 100,000 registered doctors 1 in 10 doctors are intoxicated while on the clock since they can easily get drugs from their doctor friends. One advice that Jeff Rossen has given is... do your research! 

Background check on your doctor 

 http://fsmb.org 

http://www.docinfo.org/#!/search/details/14F3B600-5E3F-4AF2-8F48-11CF3C1EAF47/?docname=Blake%20Bolin&usstate=Texas 

https://www.healthgrades.com

http://www.lifescript.com/doctor-directory

https://www.ratemds.com

You can also do a simple Google search on a doctor 

Let's say you're walking down the street and was stopped by someone who wants you to donate money to their charity to help out buying food for a local food bank for Thanksgiving. But how do you know if they are a real charity organization before you fork over $20.00 like nothing? 

Charity Websites

http://foundationcenter.org

http://give.org

https://www.charitywatch.org/home

These websites are mentioned in Rossen To The Rescue 

Jeff. Rossen To The Rescue: Secrets to Avoiding Scams, Everyday Dangers, and Major Catastrophes. New York: Flatiron, 2017. Print.

Melissa Explains It All written by Melissa Joan Hart

     Remember growing up in the 80s and 90s watching your favorite TV show on Nickelodeon, such as, Hey Arnold, Cat Dog, All That, Kenan and Kel, Rugrats, and finally, Clarissa Explains It All?  Well here is a book that Melissa Joan Hart wrote herself. She was known for playing two iconic roles, one on Nickelodeon’s teen show, Clarissa Explains It All and the other on ABC’s TV show Sabrina The Teenage Witch. If you remember Melissa Joan Hart entertaining you on TV then I would recommend that you read her story.

        Melissa Joan Hart first started her acting career by the age of four years old appearing on TV commercials. By the time Melissa was twelve years old, she appeared in over a hundred TV commercials! Such as: Twinkies, Life Savors Fruit Flavored Snacks, Barbie, Tylenol, and the first commercial for the Chrysler Minivan! She even worked on a Jell-O TV commercial with Bill Cosby as the director. Besides working the camera for TV commercials, Melissa also modeled for catalogues and ads. Later, she went on to act in small roles for featured films, live stage, and guest staring on TV shows.  One TV show that Melissa was a regular in was called The Adventures of Con Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, which starred the famous Hollywood actress, Drew Barrymore. The TV show was similar to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, but plot was about a girl named Con. Two examples of a TV shows that Melissa guest stared in were, The Equalizer and Touched By An Angel.

       After filming dozens of TV commercials, modeling, acting in films and TV shows, Melissa did get her own TV show on the hit children’s TV network, Nickelodeon, in Clarissa Explains It All. It was the network’s first teen sitcom and Melissa played a teenager named Clarissa who tried to explain to the rest of the world how teenage life can be a difficult life at times.  Several examples that Clarissa explained on her show were: juggling with school drama, homework, family drama, and other “adult” responsibilities with a twist of her own sense of humor. Clarissa Explains It All first aired in 1991 and it ran for four consecutive seasons.  One interesting fact that Melissa mentioned in her book was before she got the part of playing Clarissa she knew that the executive producer, Mitchell Kriegman, wanted any girl that was a brunette to play the part of Clarissa, until he decided that Melissa would make a wonderful Clarissa even though she was blonde. Crazy! Finally, in 1995 when Clarissa Explains It All was finished filming, CBS wanted to do a spin-off TV show called Clarissa Now, but Mitchell and Melissa thought the show wasn’t right and the audience would despise it, so in the end no such plan was mentioned again.

        Besides Clarissa Explains It All as being on of Melissa’s iconic characters, the character that Melissa Joan Hart was most known for was the role of Sabrina Spellman on one of ABC’s hit show, Sabrina The Teenage Witch.  How Melissa got the part of Sabrina was an interesting story. First, Melissa’s mother created her own film production company called HartBreak Films (Hart-Break) because she didn’t want Melissa to be in films that were not appropriate for her age. Next, Melissa’s mother bought the rights of the comic book series and the characters from Sabrina The Teenage Witch. Finally, she later sold the rights to Showtime so they could make the movie, Sabrina The Teenage Witch. Melissa did play Sabrina in the movie along with teen hottie Ryan Renolds as one of her costars. After the movie, ABC wanted to do a TV series and behold! Melissa played the role of Sabrina in the hit TV series Sabrina The Teenage Witch that premiered in 1996. During the later seasons, Melissa did not only play the role of Sabrina, she also became an executive producer and one of the directors in some of the episodes. Finally, Sabrina The Teenage Witch TV show ran for seven seasons on two networks, fist on ABC from 1996-2000, then on WB since ABC would only renew their contract for one more season, for the last final three seasons from 2000-2003.

          Finally, since Melissa’s mother owned the rights to Sabrina The Teenage Witch and also has a film production company (that Melissa helps run as well). Hartbreak Films created a TV animated series of Sabrina The Teenage Witch but changed the title to Sabrina: The Animated Series, which tells the story of Sabrina being a preteen witch living with her Aunt Hilda and Aunt Zilda. Anyways, the voice actress who did Sabrina was Melissa’s little sister, Emily, and Melissa did the voices for Sabrina’s aunts, Hilda and Zilda.  Two words: Mind blowing! Oh! By the way, I loved watching both Sabrina shows growing up.

      In concluding, besides talking about her life acting as Clarissa and Sabrina, Melissa Joan Hart also talks about her family life, dating life, married life, and her motherhood life raising three boys.  So if you were a fan of either Clarissa Explains It All or Sabrina The Teenage Witch, then I recommend that you read Melissa Explains It All so you can know the full story from Melissa Joan Hart herself.

Trivia Questions: 

1) How many siblings does Melissa have? 

2) Where did Melissa's mother meet her second husband?

3) How much money did Melissa's mother spend on to get the license for the characters for Sabrina The Teenage Witch? 

Hart, Melissa Joan. Melissa Explains It All: Tales from My Abnormally Normal Life. St. Martin's Griffin, 2015. Print.