TERRI SCHLICHENMEYER The Bookworm Sez Advertisement

From the baby gazing into her mother's eyes to the toddler with a mitt full of flowering weeds ... from the Valentine made with paper doilies to the teenager, grateful that Mom interceded on curfew ... from birth to old age, nearly every kid alive thinks, at least at some point, that his or her mom is the world's best.

When it comes to author John Carter Cash, millions of his mother's fans might agree. In his new book, "Anchored in Love", Cash writes about his late mother: her alternately shaky and stable years with Johnny Cash, her achievements and dreams, and the fierce love for her family that June Carter Cash carried with her all her life.

Valerie June Carter was born June 23, 1929, into a family that was already on its way to national renown. That's because A.P. Carter, June's uncle, took his wife and his sister-in-law to perform for a recording agent in mid-1927. The Carter Family fame quickly spread across the country.

Even though she had musical roots, Cash says his mother sang loud and off-key on early recordings. Her talents, instead, were her quick wit and her ability to make others laugh. On stage with her mother and sisters, June was always willing to break out in a "signature jig," and her corny jokes made fans roar.

But the happy face that June showed audiences wasn't always the one she had off-stage.

Her first marriage crumbled while her star soared. Her second marriage ended in a way that family members thought abrupt. She was performing around the country and often had to leave her two young daughters in the care of family members.

But in 1961, June Carter accepted a gig that would change her life. She became a regular member of the Johnny Cash Show, a job she was hesitant to accept because she knew about Cash's drug problems.

Despite her reluctance, June took the job and, eventually, took Cash as her husband. Through his many hospitalizations, his on-again-off-again drug habit, family crises and her own addiction, his mother, recalls John Carter Cash, kept faith in God foremost in her life.

Imagine how difficult it would be to whip the blanket off the truths your mother carefully kept covered. The author does just that but in a down-home, comfortable way that makes you feel like the Carter-Cash family lives next door. He hints freely about his mother's possible affair with Elvis Presley, and he is frank about the pain of living with addicts and becoming an addict himself.

Cash says in the beginning of this book that it isn't meant to be a professional biography of his mother, but more of a collection of his memories. Read "Anchored in Love," and you'll agree that he did a right fine job of writing.

If you're looking for an easy biography to read for yourself, your dad or your mother, this one is a good book to find. "Anchored in Love" will have you anchored in your chair for a good solid afternoon.

"Anchored in Love" by John Carter Cash, Thomas Nelson, $24.99, 202 pages, includes notes, does not include an accompanying CD.