HIP, HIP, HOORAY FOR ANNIE MCRAE!

Annie McRae is used to everyone cheering when she does something good, until one day everyone is too busy to cheer and she finds that maybe she can be her own best cheerleader. With a raucous “Howdy!” and a click of her turquoise cowboy boots, Annie McRae enters the room. This gap-toothed, redhead skips through her day receiving praise for everything from pouring her cereal carefully to practicing the piano until one day she wakes up to find that even though she is just as careful with her corn pops and just as diligent with her practicing, no one seems to have the time to cheer. Discouraged Annie sits down to cry, but when she misses the attention the next morning as well, she decides that she can cheer for herself. The western-inspired drawings, framed in coils of rope once she’s been roped in, add a fun element to an otherwise suspicious storyline. The lesson is clear, but it is unlikely that an eight-year-old would be able to learn it by herself overnight and what’s with those suddenly inattentive grown-ups, anyway? (Picture book. 2-5)