Amazing Motivational Book

[McD]

I strongly strongly urge everybody to borrow The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio: How My Mother Raised 10 Kids on 25 Words or Less by Terry Ryan from your local library.

It's about a woman who raised her 10 kids by writing jingles and submitting to contests. It is seriously the most motivational/inspirational book that I have ever read.

It's also a movie starring Julianne Moore.

Seriously. Read it.


Excerpt from Barnesandnoble.com:


Publishers Weekly
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). (Apr.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

[SweetPea]

I haven't read the book, but I loved the movie.

[getnrichslowly]

My sister told me that book was a good one. I'm going to look up if my library has it right now.
Thanks!

[joyofsix]

Good book. I originally picked it up because it was about a big family and Defiance isn't far from here. I liked it. I haven't seen the movie though.

[Daisygirl]

That sounds wonderful! Thanks for the recommendation - can't wait to pick it up!

[McD]

The movie is good too.....kinda sad, but still good.

[staceyy]

Thank you, I'm going to order it.

[McD]

Barnes and Noble has it online for like 3 or 4 dollars.

[EmilyD]

I got a paperback copy at Hastings for $7.99. Will start it tonight. Thanks for the recommendation!

[Buckeye5]

Thanks for the info, I am going to try to get it at the library.

[AmyMCGS]

I loved the book but didn't care for the movie- I thought the movie made kind of a mockery of the real story.

[McD]

Now that you say that....I can kinda see that. It was as if the whole movie was kinda fluffy???

Glad you liked the book.

Let me know if any of you guys like it!

[inneedofhope]

I liked the movie, but haven't read the book either.

[ilovechocolate]

Im adding this one to my library list.

[Tamerama]

Thanks for the recommendation. I just ordered it from paperbackswap.com.