Currey-Wilson, Ellen

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Currey-Wilson, Ellen

ADDRESSES:

Home—Portland, OR. Agent—Margaret Ruley, Jane Rotrosen Agency, 318 E. 51st St., New York, NY 10022. E-mail—[email protected]; [email protected].

CAREER:

Writer. Gives keynote speeches and workshops on finding alternatives to television.

WRITINGS:

The Big Turnoff: Confessions of a TV-Addicted Mom Trying to Raise a TV-Free Kid, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill (Chapel Hill, NC), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Ellen Currey-Wilson's debut book, The Big Turnoff: Confessions of a TV-Addicted Mom Trying to Raise a TV-Free Kid, chronicles how she, pregnant with her first child, decided to rid herself of a pernicious addiction: television. She had grown up with television omnipresent, as it is in much of American culture. She could hum the theme songs to her favorite shows and knew their times of airing without consulting a TV Guide. However, she wanted something different for her own child, and so set about drastically cutting down on her television watching. Curing herself of the addiction was only half the battle, however, for when her son, Carey, was born she still found a desire for the comfort of television after a long day of dealing with a fussy baby, and she also worried if she was going to make him an oddity among his peers, most of whom were growing up with television. In the end, however, her battle against television had positive results, forging closer bonds between her family members. While Library Journal reviewer Douglas C. Lord found Currey-Wilson's ‘tone gratingly self-pitying,’ and also thought that the subject was ‘handled better elsewhere,’ Booklist contributor Vanessa Bush had a higher opinion of The Big Turnoff, terming it ‘an amusing account of one woman's stand against the most dominant force in American culture.’ Bush also felt that other parents grappling with this same issue would ‘especially appreciate this book."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Currey-Wilson, Ellen, The Big Turnoff: Confessions of a TV-Addicted Mom Trying to Raise a TV-Free Kid, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill (Chapel Hill, NC), 2007.