Melissa Explains It All: Tales from My Abnormally Normal Life

Thousands of young people consider Melissa Joan Hart an integral part of their childhoods. She played the title roles in the trailblazing Nickelodeon series Clarissa Explains It All and the wildly popular Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, but she never let fame go to her head. From her first commercial to her current star turn in ABC Family's hit Melissa and Joey, Hart has had one foot in Hollywood and one foot in the suburbs. While still in elementary school, Hart and her mum would commute from Long Island to Manhattan for auditions and acting jobs. To her it wasn't extraordinary; nor were her friendships with her competition (like Soleil Moon Frye or Lacey Chabert) and her cast mates (Ryan Reynolds and Calista Flockhart). It was just her job. Instead of buying toys, her earnings would help pay family bills. Melissa Explains It All is as forthright and funny as Melissa herself. The book offers behind the scenes tales from her extraordinary past and her refreshingly normal present. Melissa Explains It All: her childhood and family, her career from its beginning to the present, her rebellious teen years, the mistakes she's made, the actors she worked with, competed against, befriended-and the wacky stories of trying to fit in, stand out, and juggle the roles of wife, mother and TV star. She shares the lessons she's learned along the way: what's kept her grounded and normal and working when others have not been so fortunate.

Melissa Joan Hart, the star of Clarissa Explains It All and Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, explains it all - onscreen and behind the scenes. Melissa Joan Hart explained it all-from dating to bullies-in her ground breaking role as Clarissa Darling on Clarissa Explains It All. She cast a spell on millions more viewers as Sabrina, the Teenage Witch. Now, in Melissa Explains It All, Melissa tells the frank and funny truth about her extraordinary past and her refreshingly normal present. From the moment four-year-old Melissa decided she wanted to be on television, she has shown a singular determination and focus-whether it's for booking three national commercials so her dad would build her a tree house or for nailing the Clarissa audition. And she never let fame go to her head. With one foot in Hollywood and one foot in reality, Melissa makes us laugh along with her as she talks about: guest appearances in shows like Saturday Night Live and The Equalizer; auditioning for Punky Brewster and Clarissa; her early Broadway days; wacky parties she's thrown and attended; the actors who influenced her and whom she befriended, worked with and competed against; her experiences both on off-set-with Sabrina's Salem the Cat and Elvis the Alligator on Clarissa; and, how she met the love of her life at the Kentucky Derby.