From the author of Kool Ada (1991), a fictional glimpse of Annie Oakley that combines elements reminiscent of Wilder's Little House on the Prairie and Burnett's story of The Little Princess. The fast-moving first-person narration begins during the Civil War, when Annie's father dies and the family is in dire straits. One day Annie shoots a rabbit for food, a great blessing that also distresses her Quaker mother who believes that girls should not shoot. When the financial situation becomes impossible, the family splits up and Annie begins a bleak but tolerable existence in a poorhouse. It's a black day when she is sent to help a farm family, where she is beaten, overworked, and starved. She runs away, returning to her family where she resumes the role of provider, thanks to her hunting skills. The inventive plot moves quickly, with pacing and settings that are cinematic and a great happy ending. Readers won't know if the voice of the real Annie has been captured, but this is a terrific story, with moments- -e.g., when the usually careful Annie tells her life story to her future husband, or the description of the quiet of her mind when she aims her gun—that are utterly convincing. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-8234-1279-2
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1996
Farmer Osboro turns into a werewolf when he's angry, but only Emily can see the transformation. What to do? Her mother, worried that the family grocery will go under once the new supermarket opens, is too distracted to be helpful. Turning to her grandmother, Emily is amazed to discover that she's a witch! Armed with Professor Whammo's Hypnosis For Beginners, Emily learns to shoot little lightning bolts from her eyes—very effective on schoolmates, but her confrontation with Farmer Osboro goes awry. About to be devoured, she desperately repeats a spell she heard Grandmother utter over lunch—and the creature turns into a barbecued sparerib. Pace contributes plenty of appropriately tongue-in-cheek cartoons to this lighter-than-air fantasy; Emily is portrayed as an erect, calm-featured child, while the doglike werewolf is more genial than menacing. Readers will enjoy Emily's heroics, but may be confused—and let down—by the ending: though a cat eats the sparerib, Farmer Osboro shows up later to thank Emily for freeing him from his affliction, and since he just happens to be related to the supermarket's owner, her mother has nothing to fear. A pleasant, if contrived, British import. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Oct. 29, 1993
ISBN: 0-689-50593-0
Page Count: 96
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1993
When Callie, staying with her Aunt Lil for the summer, finds that her beloved grandmother is in the last stages of life, she must overcome her fear and sorrow in order to help Gramma let go. Gramma confuses Callie with her own dead sister, Carrie, who she believes has come to escort her to the other side, and—painful as it is to have her grandmother mistake her for Carrie—Callie goes along with the delusion. As the days pass, she also restores Gramma's yard to its original condition, and in the process finds new peace within herself to face the inevitable loss. Though Smith hasn't created a particularly believable voice (Callie thinks, acts, and speaks in a manner younger than her 13 years), her spare first novel imparts a comforting message about saying goodbye. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Oct. 29, 1993
ISBN: 0-689-31877-4
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1993
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