I loved this book. It inspired me as a woman and a mother. The movie was wonderful as well.

I read the book earlier this year and just saw the movie tonight! What a great story! What is special is the unique way Evelyn approached life... Sad to see people think she should have thrown out her husband or worse... Then that would have been a Lifetime Network movie - she endured and played the hand she was dealt and was rewarded through raising amazing children and a husband who did his best in the end to support her too... It was tough times pre-credit card days and I'm surprised how few remember that...

Terri Ryan's loving memoir of her mother made a good movie, but an even better book. Evelyn Ryan marries young to a man she finds out is an alcoholic. He drinks every night, is prone to violent outbursts and squanders his paycheck on booze. Living in the 1950's, and a practicing Catholic, there was no support for divorce or birth control. She struggles almost alone to raise her 10 children with very little financial help from her husband and a small amount from her sister-in-law. Her positive attitude and courage were astounding. She saved her family over and over again through her talent for entering the word contests that were very popular at the time. Already living in poverty, she pulled the family out from the brink of disaster over and over again. To her credit, her children all graduated from high school and most even from college.

One may be tempted to judge, but it WAS the 1950's and women did not have the opportunities that they have now. Many women are still living in Evelyn's situation in the 21st century. A story of true grit and courage.

As a housewife raising 10 children during the '50s and '60's, Ryan's mother's sole outlet for creativity was contests. Throughout those decades, America was apparently a proliferation of companies, getting people to buy their products by offering prizes for whoever could come up with the next line in a new jingle, or most accurately name a new product line.

Over the course of several decades, Evelyn Ryan sent hundreds of entries to hundreds of contests -- and actually won huge prizes, including cars, European vacations, etc. -- which she traded for cash to support her huge family, since her husband was an unreliable alcoholic.

It sounds kind of depressing, and really, it was...but Terry Ryan, who is the sixth of the 10 kids, has a really humorous writing style that lets readers focus on all the positive things about her growing-up years. I would definitely recommend this inspiring story to anyone.

I found it depressing and way too long. Instead of admiration for the heroine, I felt aggravation. An abusive alcoholic for a husband, no way to make ends meet except the occasional contest win, for items that had no use to the family--Arthur Murray Dancing Shoes, for example. Barely able to feed the kids she already has, she eventually has 10. I know women lived differently in the 50's, still, most learned to drive a car! With so many little ones, it seems to me irresponsible to not be able to drive, esp. with all the emergencies in this very dysfuntional family. I kept waiting for the part when she would throw the bum out, obtain an education or job skills and show her family how to survive on more than luck and corny jingles.