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In it he tells of taking himself by surprise. \"Where had this character called Mr. [Sam Swope] come from? I hadn't planned him; he'd arrived full-blown, a jack-in-the-box surprise who was part Mister Rogers, part David Letterman, part me. ... Was it possible I had an undiscovered talent, a gift for inspiring kids to write?\" Swope says his own career got the jump-start it needed. And certainly the book's being named one of last year's best by Publisher's Weekly likely cranked up the writer's energy. That and being named a finalist for the Books for a Better Life Award, which will be given Feb. 28 in Manhattan by the New York City chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Mostly, though, he says, his biggest gift came from helping kids, having fun with them, teaching them what he knows. \"If you follow what you love and are good at it and see you can make a contribution to someone else, that brings all sorts of rewards,\" says Swope, also the author of \"The Araboolies of Liberty Street\" and \"Jack and the Seven Deadly Giants.\"

Swope Automotive operates 24 dealerships and ranks No. 63 on the Automotive News list of the top 125 dealership groups in the United States with retail sales of 8,092 new vehicles in 2010.

\"Swope has always looked for the next big thing,\" says Patty Swope, Sam's daughter and an executive vice president of the company.

\"What we've done is redirect it into the \"e-business,\" to where we have a huge spike in the type of traffic that's coming through the door,\" [John Hill] says. \"They are now coming through our virtual dealership.\" \"It's been a philosophy we've operated on since 1952,\" says [Richard Swope]. \"We just keep doing what we've always done, and that's going after the high-quality, best used cars we can find. \"It's the only one in Kentucky,\" says Richard Swope. \"We opened it in January, and it's doing very, very well. And you might expect that given the gasoline spike in price, there's been an equivalent spike in interest in that vehicle.\"