Mother Father Uncle Aunt: Stories from Lake Wobegon

by Garrison Keillor

"...where the women are strong, the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average." There's a reason all those children in Lake Wobegon are above average. It might be the clean prairie air. It might be the wholesome wheat that's grown by the Norwegian bachelor farmers. And it just might be their strong, good-looking parents.Garrison Keillor's collection of "News from Lake Wobegon" monologues-all taken from live broadcasts of A Prairie Home Companion-is an extended meditation on the joys, sorrows, challenges, and humor of raising children. The tales include "Ronnie and the Winnebago" about a young man, his rock-star girlfriend, and his long struggle to earn his father's understanding; "Love While You Dare" the story of August Johnson, who, after losing his brother in a gambler's prank in Copenhagen, flees to America rather than face his mother--who later comes to visit him in Lake Wobegon; and six more splendid, unforgettable accounts of how, in Keillor's words, "the meek shall inherit the earth, and when we have done all we can with our children, it's time to step back and let them inherit it."  Ball Jars, Love While you Dare To, Saturday Morning in The Bon Marche, Family Trip to Yellowstone, The Flood, Bob Anderson's Last Dance, Children Will Break Your Heart, Ronnie and The Winnebago, Carl's Christmas Pageant, The Tombstone

Genres: Fiction

180 pages, Audio CD

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor is an American author, singer, humorist, voice actor, and radio personality. He created the Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) show A Prairie Home Companion (called Garrison Keillor's Radio Show in some international syndication), which he hosted from 1974 to 2016. Keillor created the fictional Minnesota town Lake Wobegon, the setting of many of his books, including Lake Wobegon Days and Leaving Home: A Collection of Lake Wobegon Stories. Other creations include Guy Noir, a detective voiced by Keillor who appeared in A Prairie Home Companion comic skits. Keillor is also the creator of the five-minute daily radio/podcast program The Writer's Almanac, which pairs poems of his choice with a script about important literary, historical, and scientific events that coincided with that date in history.
In November 2017, Minnesota Public Radio cut all business ties with Keillor after an allegation of inappropriate behavior with a freelance writer for A Prairie Home Companion. On April 13, 2018, MPR and Keillor announced a settlement that allows archives of A Prairie Home Companion and The Writer's Almanac to be publicly available again, and soon thereafter, Keillor began publishing new episodes of The Writer's Almanac on his website. He also continues to tour a stage version of A Prairie Home Companion, although these shows are not broadcast by MPR or American Public Media.

Reviews

[Todd Cannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

My wife gave these CDs to me for my birthday but after listening to them in the car with my family I had to keep going in and rescueing them from my sons CD player where they always seemed to migrate.

[Sal4gal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny!