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The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio: How My Mother Raised 10 Kids on 25 Words or Less
by: Terry Ryan

List Price: $13.00

Off The Bookshelf's Price: $4.99

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Used Price: $3.64
Collectible Price: $13.00
Third Party New Price: $4.99

Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 977.114043092
Format: Bargain Price
Label: Simon & Schuster
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 352
Publication Date: August 30, 2005
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Studio: Simon & Schuster
Sales Rank: 34133

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Editorial Review:

Product Description:

The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio introduces Evelyn Ryan, an enterprising woman who kept poverty at bay with wit, poetry, and perfect prose during the "contest era" of the 1950s and 1960s.

Stepping back into a time when fledgling advertising agencies were active partners with consumers, and everyday people saw possibility in every coupon, Terry Ryan tells how her mother kept the family afloat by writing jingles and contest entries. Mom's winning ways defied the Church, her alcoholic husband, and antiquated views of housewives. To her, flouting convention was a small price to pay when it came to securing a happy home for her six sons and four daughters. Evelyn, who would surely be a Madison Avenue executive if she were working today, composed her jingles not in the boardroom, but at the ironing board.

By entering contests wherever she found them -- TV, radio, newspapers, direct-mail ads -- Evelyn Ryan was able to win every appliance her family ever owned, not to mention cars, television sets, bicycles, watches, a jukebox, and even trips to New York, Dallas, and Switzerland. But it wasn't just the winning that was miraculous; it was the timing. If a toaster died, one was sure to arrive in the mail from a forgotten contest. Days after the bank called in the second mortgage on the house, a call came from the Dr Pepper company: Evelyn was the grand-prize winner in its national contest -- and had won enough to pay the bank.

Graced with a rare appreciation for life's inherent hilarity, Evelyn turned every financial challenge into an opportunity for fun and profit. From her frenetic supermarket shopping spree -- worth $3,000 today -- to her clever entries worthy of Erma Bombeck, Dorothy Parker, and Ogden Nash, the story of this irrepressible woman whose talents reached far beyond her formidable verbal skills is told in The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio with an infectious joy that shows how a winning spirit will triumph over the poverty of circumstance.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- the prizewinner of defiance ohio
This book is a real-life account of growing up in a large family with limited financial means and often rocky family dynamics. The matriarch of this clan is the prizewinner of the title. While raising 10 kids and keeping the wolf from the door, she hits upon a way to generate income by entering any/every contest that comes along. She frequently does win, of course, very often in the nick of time. The book was written by a daughter, who ably recounts the challenges and rewards of growing up in a family that lives so close to the edge. Her mother is a gritty, funny, honest-to-god domestic goddess. She is a prize-winner in so many ways--it makes this book uplifting without being sappy--good read.

Rating:

- The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio
I saw the movie based on the book first. Once I found out it was a book, I had to read it. I couldn't put it down.

Rating:

- Interesting to think what could have been
I thought this was a wonderful book that came to my attention only after the author had died. The story revolves around a family of 10 kids, an alcoholic father and how the mother (sporadically) supports them by winning contests and jingles she (Evelyn) has written.

While the story wouldn't hold up in this century - I thought it was a great slice of life of the 50's. Evelyn's journals and contest entrys are well preserved and entertaining to read. She must have kept everything!

Underneath all the entrys and journals is a smart woman. She knows the power of the written word and also hooks up with a group a ladies that also enter such contests. These women are smart as whips - yet somewhat stymied by their roles in life - housewives. Contesting offers them a way ... Read More

Rating:

- As good as I thought it would be
I first heard of this book on the Today Show. Then I happened to run across the movie on HBO. It is a good quick read.

Rating:

- An absolute joy of a read!
I typically enjoy fiction, but the title of this book caught my attention. And soon after starting the book, Evelyn Ryan became one of my heroes! I won't offer any spoilers, but the book generated within me, and many others who have read it, genuine feelings for Evelyn, including respect, compassion, sympathy, and encouragement. If the measure of a good story is the ability to arouse that many emotions, then this is a really good story!

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