The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio

Starred review from April 1, 2001
Married to a man with violent tendencies and a severe drinking problem, Evelyn Ryan managed to keep her 10 children fed and housed during the 1950s and '60s by entering-and-winning-contests for rhymed jingles and advertising slogans of 25-words-or-less. This engaging and quick-witted biography written by daughter Terry (the writing half of T.O. Sylvester, a long running cartoon in the San Francisco Chronicle) relates how Evelyn submitted multiple entries, under various names, for the contests sponsored by Dial soap, Lipton soup, Paper Mate pens, Kleenex Tissues and any number of other manufacturers, and won a wild assortment of prizes, including toasters, bikes, basketballs and all-you-can-grab supermarket shopping sprees. Sometime she even hit the jackpot, as when a Beech Nut jingle contest netted a Triumph TR3 sports car, a jukebox, a trip to New York and an appearance on the Merv Griffin show. But the Ryans' means were so limited that even a $25 prize was an economic boon. Between contests, Ryan provides dry-eyed glimpses of her father's violence, family medical emergencies and the crushing poverty of everyday life, showcasing the resilience of a mother who, despite her own problems, spurned television's Queen for a Day for making victims of its contestants. The results is a quirky, heartwarming celebration of one woman's resourcefulness, and the wacky enticements of 1950s consumer culture. B&W photos throughout. Agent, Amy Rennert. (Apr. 4) Forecast: Infused with the pathos and pluck of Erma Bombeck, this updated version of Cheaper by the Dozen couldn't be better fodder for the TV and radio talk show circuit-and Ryan is already booked on the Today Show. If her delivery is as compelling in person as on the page, her 10-city tour will propel an full-tilt media blitz.

Starred review from May 7, 2001
In the 1950s, the Ryan family struggled to make ends meet. Ten kids and a father who spent most of his paycheck on booze drained the family's meager finances. But mom Evelyn Ryan, a former journalist, found an ingenious way to bring in extra income: entering contests on the backs of cereal boxes and the like. The author, Evelyn's daughter, tells the entertaining story of her childhood and her mother's contest career with humor and affection. She is not a professional narrator, but her love and admiration for her mother come through in every sentence. Evelyn won supermarket shopping sprees that put much-needed food on the table, provided washing machines and other appliances the family couldn't afford, and delivered cash to pay the mounting pile of bills. This well-told, suspenseful tale is peppered with examples of Evelyn's winning poems and slogans, taken from the years of notebooks that she saved and passed on to her daughter, and has a fiction-worthy climax that will keep listeners laughing even as they're glued to Ryan's tale. Simultaneous release with the Simon & Schuster hardcover (Forecasts, Feb. 5).

March 15, 2001
In the 1950s, Evelyn Ryan had an armload of children and a husband whose income barely kept the family clothed, let alone fed. Like many women in similar situations--mothers looking for extra money for their families--she entered contests: tell us why you like such-and-such a product in 25 words or less and win a refrigerator, a car, a watch, a trip, etc. Unlike most of her fellow "contesters," though, Ryan had a flare for writing and became a consistent winner: shopping sprees, appliances, cash, even a trip to Switzerland. Although her husband had the full-time job, it was Mrs. Ryan who, for a decade or so, used her winnings to buy the kids clothes, pay their dental bills, and keep the family from plummeting far below the poverty line. Ryan's daughter tells her mother's story in a memoir that is both an excellent chronicle of the contest-crazy '50s and '60s and a moving portrait of a clever, determined woman. Don't be surprised if this sleeper of a story generates tremendous word of mouth.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2001, American Library Association.)

August 1, 2001
Adult/High School-While her sometimes abusive husband drank away a third of his weekly take-home pay, Evelyn Ryan kept her ever-growing family afloat by entering every contest she came across, beginning with Burma Shave roadside-sign jingles. In post-World War II America, money, appliances, food, excursions-anything you could think of-were routinely offered to the person who sent in the best jingle, essay, or poem, accompanied, of course, by the company's box-top or other product identification. Although she more often won prizes of products, such as a case of Almond Joy candy bars, Mrs. Ryan once won enough for a down payment on a house just as her family was being turned out of their two-bedroom rental house. That contest also won her a bicycle for her son. She entered so many contests, often several times under different forms of her name, that hardly a week went by without some prize being delivered by the postman. Charmingly written by one of her 10 children, this story is not only a chronicle of contesting, but also of her mother's irrepressible spirit. With a sense of humor that wouldn't quit, she found fun in whatever life sent her way, and passed that on to all her children who, despite the poverty they grew up in, lived and still live happy, useful lives. YAs who like family stories should love this winning account.-Sydney Hausrath, Kings Park Library, Burke, VA

Copyright 2001 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2001
This is the story of Evelyn Ryan, whose brood of ten children is not fully supported by her working husband, in part because of his perpetual drinking. Her sixth child, San Francisco Chronicle cartoonist Ryan, here recounts how the family depended on her poems, jingles, and contest entries to make ends meet (and sometimes not even). When they must move, Evelyn wins $5000 for a down payment on a house; when their car breaks down, she wins a new one. In addition to her seemingly boundless flow of words is her positive outlook on life, one that her children inherited despite their subsistence on fish sticks and hand-me-down clothes. While readers will root for the family and admire Evelyn's strength and her way with words, in the end the story could have been improved with some judicious editing, especially of the repetitions of the jingles. Suitable for leisure collections. Gina Kaiser, Univ. of the Sciences in Philadelphia

Copyright 2001 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.