The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio by Terry Ryan

10/10 - I read a lot. And because people see me reading all the time, I get lent a lot of books. I'm always grateful that people want to share there favorite books with me, but sometimes I look at the book thinking "Oh boy, here we go again." That's kind of what I thought when Claudia lent me this book. It didn't really look like my kind of thing, although I don't think I could be specific about what my kind of thing is. However, I ended up reading this book in 3 days. I didn't want to put it down. It is so entertaining! Not to mention inspiring. I just love characters that you would just die to meet. Evelyn Ryan is one of those characters. I was overcome that one person could be so clever and infinitely optimistic. Just the thought of having 10 children alone makes me cringe (to be honest), but to also have to deal with poverty and alcoholism. I don't know how I'd manage. I don't know that I could. I raise my Shirley Temple to you, Evelyn! You were one class act.