The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio : How My Mother Raised 10 Kids on 25 Words or Less (Paperback)

from AuntJha

As memoirs go, this will always be one of my favorites. The take-away message in this book is that a positive outlook will take you every where you want to go. In my life, I would leave the negative, drunk husband and would also have encouraged Evelyn Ryan to do the same. However, She had the gra...

from phyllis01

This was a delightful and heartbreaking read. Ryan's mother was an inveterate contest enterer, and it was the winnings from these contests than kept the family's head above water, due to dad's inveterate drinking. Ryan's portrait of her mother and her family is touching and hilarious.

from StoutHearted

I tore through this book until the last page - the star of this inspirational tale, Evelyn Ryan, is one of the most amazing characters I've ever seen on page. Amazing still, that she was a real person, a 50's housewife raising ten children with little to no help from her alcoholic husband. This w...

from NellieMc

Couldn't put the book down. A story of 10 children raised in poverty by an alcoholic father and one of the most engaging mothers put in print. It's hard to believe she was that saintly; I'm sure there are stories missing, but enough comes through to make this a genuine feel-good tale of a woman w...

from WittyreaderLI

Terry Ryan is not from your average family. She lives with her 9, yes 9 brothers and sisters along with her mother and father with very little money. But her mother has a passion: entering contests. Terry and her siblings barely survive as they deal with an alcoholic father and little to no food ...