In this book club edition- we are talking to an author about a very special book that is very personal to him.

Jerry Crouth describes his memoir as a nice, fun story.

“So you can pick it up at the night time before you go to sleep or at a coffee table And you get a nice story and it’s a fun story,” said Crouth.

Those are not words you would normally hear about growing up in the Great Depression.

But as he tells CBS6’s Emma Quinn, this story is actually a thank you letter to his mother.

For over 25 years, radio host Jerry Crouth has been sharing a part of his childhood on Capital Region airways.

“I think because I’m a DJ on the radio as well and playing all the music with my childhood it really keeps me young I think because I keep going back and reliving those years,” said Crouth.

In a new memoir called “Thank You Mom”: My Life’s Stories Growing Up In The Forties, he’s sharing a new side of his story.

Growing up in Rome, New York, the youngest of five was raised solely by his mother.

“I was born one month after my father was institutionalized in marcy state hospital mental hospital for his remaining 20 years of his life so that met my mom has not just myself, but five other children all born during the depression years and so she had a decision to make should she give us away or should she go on welfare,” he said.

The 43 chapters include memories growing up during the Great Depression, life without his father, his mother even contributed to the book before she died.

“They’re funny, they were inspiring and always in the background of these stories was my mom and she was the one that kept me on the right track and inspired not only myself but all six of us.”

Growing up during the Great Depression, Crouth hopes readers of all ages can take something away from the memoir.

“ It was about an era that they probably didn’t live in. I’m 86 years old. But they know that their moms or grandparents did and they love the idea that they can get back and get a feel for how they experienced growing up with a victory garden and all that went along with the second World War and in what happened after the war,” Crouth said. Some of the older readers enjoy the fact that they can relive those years.”

On October 25th the Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza will be hosting Jerry for a discussion and book signing event.

For more information on the book, click here.