Pod and Her 4 Little Texas Sisters

 Pod and Her 4 Little Texas Sisters, B.W. Evans, Independently Published, 2022

This book is about Pauline (Pod) Bruce, and Imagean (Gean), her next oldest sister. They were part of a family of five girls, living as sharecroppers in Depression-era Texas. Mom made sure that there was a lot of love in that house, which was actually a two-room shack. 

Unintentionally, Pod gave the family a way to get out of their extreme poverty; she nearly got her foot bitten off by an alligator. Dad printed lots of pictures of Pod and her foot; they sold like the opening day of a new Iphone. That gave Dad the money to open a washateria, then another and another. They were an instant sensation (the precursor to today's laundromat). They moved out of their shack into a real house.

Pod grew up with a huge love of horses. The family acquired a fast quarter horse, which she used to win a pair of big horse races, disguised as a boy. At that time, about the only legal right women had was the right to vote. When her deception was revealed, righteous indignation exploded. 

The Governor of Texas hoped to use Pod to reach women voters. She embarked on a speaking tour all over Texas, talking about women's rights and equal pay. The Governor was totally behind her, but told her to leave birth control out of her speeches. It was very illegal to give women any information about birth control at that time.

Meantime, Gean won a state-wide beauty contest and headed to Hollywood to become an actress. Her career abruptly ended, before it got started, in a really awful way.

This is an excellent biography. It is very easy to read, and is very inspirational for anyone with big dreams, but who comes from unfortunate circumstances.