Recently, there have been a multitude of celebrities penning children’s books. Well, we can now add former Daily Show host to the group. The 40-year-old South African multi-hyphenated entertainer has just added author to his resume, penning his first children’s book, “Into the Uncut Grass”.
Already a NY Times Best Seller, “Into The Uncut Grass,” although not based upon Noah’s life, is a reflection of his life with mother, Patricia Noah, whom the comedian describes as having been a “rule enforcer.”
“I’ll even joke with my mom when we still speak now,” Noah told People Magazine in an exclusive interview about the new project. “I think about how, to me, she was just like a rabid policeman. My mom was just a rule enforcer who was actively trying to spoil the fun life that I was trying to live and was trying to get in the way of my objectives and my goals.”
“I think of moments where my mom really couldn’t understand why I needed to play [Super] Mario Brothers for a few more hours, because I was trying to save a princess [but] she wanted me to do something benign — and in my opinion, meaningless — which was cutting the grass or mowing the lawn,” he laughs and adds, “I was just like, ‘This makes no sense. This is such a pressing issue. A princess has been kidnapped and you care about grass that’s gone too long.’ It was just stories like that, that I was fondly looking back on.”
According to a brief synopsis of the book on Amazon.com, “Into The Uncut Grass,” follows the storyline in the same tradition of “The Boy, the Mole”, and “The Fox and the Horse”.
Noah’s story follows a gorgeously illustrated fable about a young child’s journey into the world beyond the shadow of home, a magical landscape where he discovers the secrets of sharing, connection, and finding peace with the people we love.
Noah goes on to say in his interview that although he and his mother didn’t always see eye-to-eye, she has been and will always be his “first fan,” somewhat paralleling the relationship of the characters in his book.
“We’ve had a beautiful evolution in our relationship, and I’m so grateful for it, because I think many people never get to experience an evolution of their relationship with their parents — or by the time that evolution comes, it’s almost too late.”
“Oftentimes, people only make peace with their parents when they’re gone, or they live with the haunting idea of who they were or who they could have been. I’m really lucky, I think, through good therapy and through my family going through some tough times, I was lucky enough and I am continuously lucky enough to appreciate my mother as a human being,” he added.
“Into The Uncut Grass” is available for purchase wherever books are sold.
Photo: Trevor Noah Instagram; Amazon.com