Little Sure Shot
This is a fictional account of the extraordinary early life of Annie Oakley, told in the first person: the story of a little girl in the American West who overcomes poverty to become a world-famous sharp-shooter, and friend to both Buffalo Bill and Chief Sitting Bull.
Annie loses her father at the age of five, when he has already taught her to shoot and trap. Over the years, she becomes an expert marks-person. But her mother cannot support their large family alone, even with Annie’s help, and first an older sister dies, then a younger one is sent for adoption. Eventually Annie is chosen to lighten the family burden – because her mother knows her ‘wild and independent ways’ will help her – and she is sent to an institution, the ‘Infirmary’, from which she is fostered out to a frightening couple she nicknames Mr and Mrs Wolf, so scary are they. Brave, clever Annie escapes, becomes a professional hunter, and by the age of thirteen, a winner at sharp-shooting competitions. She must fight prejudice and discrimination but success eventually leads her to the man she later marries, and to a life-long career in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show.
This is a well-written page-turner, full of incident, and Annie herself is a charming and inspiring character. There is nothing extraneous here, and no sentimentality at all. When her older sister, Mary Jane, dies: ‘We all went upstairs to see her, but I don’t want to talk about that.’ Easy to read, although certain expressions hint at her times: Mrs. Wolf threatens, ‘I’ll douse your lights with a carving knife.’ Descriptive phrases are short and effective: branches ‘creak like our stable door’, leaves ‘rustle like Ma’s best dress’.
A great read. Highly recommended for children aged 10 – 14 years.
