Title: The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio: How My Mother Raised 10 Kids on 25 Words or Less Author: Terry Ryan type of book: Memoir call number: Bio/RYAN

This book is strong in character, story and setting.

Summary:
In the 1950s and 60s, companies frequently promoted their products by sponsoring contests which required the entrant to finish the last line of an advertising slogan or write a brief essay about the featured item. Prizes ranged from appliances and cash to cars and trips around the world. An enterprising person with the patience and organization to draft and submit several well-wrought entries could supplement a household's finances handsomely. One woman took that a step further, basically replacing the income her alcoholic husband squandered, by regularly entering contest like these - and winning.

In this engaging memoir, Terry Ryan, one of ten children, invites the reader into her childhood home and introduces us to the family's fascinating matriarch, Evelyn Ryan, Contester Extraordinaire. The book follows Evelyn's "career" through two decades of keeping her family clothed, fed and under a roof by virtue of her jingle-writing talent.

The author estimates that her mother won roughly 1 out of every 4 contests that she entered. That is amazing enough, but what makes this statistic especially interesting is how well timed some of her particular victories turned out to be. If an appliance broke, for example, a new one was sure to arrive the following week. If a large and unexpected bill came due, a check for nearly the precise amount needed was likely to follow. These examples may seem fortuitous, but luck had little to do with Evelyn's success. Talent, ingenuity and determination are what really kept this remarkable woman going in the face of adversity.

I would recommend this book!

Why?
I was surprised and delighted by how much I enjoyed reading this book, and I was genuinely inspired by Evelyn Ryan's tenacity. Some people might have let the circumstances which befell the Ryan family defeat them, but Evelyn would have none of that. Instead, she took the lemons life handed her . . . and wrote ads about lemonade!