Terry Ryan's memoir of growing up in a household of ten children, an alcoholic father and a witty, determined mother who partially supported her family by entering (and winning 25% of the time) contests is a satisfying, comfortable and quick read.

The story centers on Ryan's mother, Evelyn, who entered over 300 contests in the 1950's and 1960's, winning prizes worth one to several thousands of dollars, often in the nick of time to save the family from financial ruin. It is full of mostly humorous anecdotes about the family, the contests, and the town of Defiance Ohio.

One Easter a relative gave the Ryans an Easter chick they named Charley. Soon after, Evelyn was awarded $50 for a story about Charley and their mother cat, Mammy:

"Our initial fears that Mammy might regard them as food were unfounded. Mammy, sensing that Charley was a motherless babe, treated him like one of her own kittens, nudging and purring at him as he settled in to sleep with the rest of hte litter. Not long after, Mom looked up from the kitchen sink, dish in hand, and called us to the window to witness a very odd sight: Mammy walking across the yard, followed single file by five black-and-white kittens and one yellow chick.

Mom regarded the Mammy-Charley relationship as more than a brief poem or Reader's Digest submission. In her best Life in the Ryan Family style, seh sat down one day and began writing the paragraphs that would become The Chicken Who Thought He Was a Cat."

Terry Ryan does not leave out the suffering her family endured, especially as a result of her father's alcoholism, but she doesn't dwell on it either, in the spirit of her mother's unwavering optimism. The few stories she does tell about her father's drinking problem are told candidly, yet sympathetically.

I found Ryan's narrative to be the best part of the book. She writes with an upbeat voice that reflected her mother's sanguine nature. To my modern view, the jingles, poems and other contest entries were corny to the point of being embarrassing.

This book is a great beach or airplane read. Its optimism is contagious, and might even encourage you to enter a jingle contest - I know one person who did after reading the story of Evelyn Ryan - he didn't win, but came close.