Awards

• Short-listed for Bluebonnet Awards 2004
• Short-listed for Volunteer State Book Awards (Grades 4-6) 2005
• Winner of NAPPA Gold Awards (Nonfiction) 2001

Overview

Annie Oakley was an American icon. Born in the backwoods of Ohio, she grew up supporting her poor family with game she shot with her dead father's rifle. She proved a natural markswoman and launched a career in show business after she was discovered by Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show. She wowed audiences with target shooting, trick shots, daring horse riding and plenty of flair. She married another marksman, Frank Butler, and theirs was a life-long partnership of shooting together, travelling together, and performing from small towns in Ohio to the grand cities of Europe. Annie collected fans easily, becoming the adopted daughter of Sitting Bull who gave her the name, Little Sure Shot, shaking hands with the Prince and Princess of Wales and performing for the German Kaiser in a special exhibition where she is said to have shot a cigarette from his hand. The travelling Wild West show helped foster the myths of frontier western life that endure in American consciousness even today. Annie Oakley, who established herself as an American original and made herself famous in a man's world, is a fascinating slice of that process. Her myth has endured in the form of movies, books, TV shows and plays. Sue Macy presents her compelling story through a fascinating readable text, extraordinary historical photographs, and quotes from Annie's own writings and speeches. An afterword helps put Annie in modern context. An index, chronology, and bibliography make for easy reference.

Full Product Details

9780792270089

Table of Contents

Reviews

The Annie Oakley of stage and television is a rough-and-tumble heroine who little resembles the real-life woman. Born Phoebe Ann in 1860, she was the sixth daughter of a farming couple from Ohio and showed an unusual spirit at a very young age. The loss of her father when she was five left Annie's mother to raise her children alone and Annie took responsibility for chores far beyond what would be expected for a child her age. From the ages of 10 to 14, hardship forced her mother to place Annie in other homes to earn her keep. At 14, she returned to her family and found an aptitude for hunting, killing game for the family table and for sale. At 15, her first shooting match against an expert marksman led to her career as a performer in traveling shows and to her long-term marriage to the sharpshooter, Frank Butler. Annie became internationally famous drawing thousands of people who came to see performances of marksmanship in the Buffalo Bill Wild West show. Always spirited and independent, Annie believed that God intended women to be outside as well as men and devoted time to teach at least 500 women to shoot. Photographs, publicity stills, copies of programs, the lively text, and quotations from Annie, herself, reveal the extraordinary woman behind the myth. A chronology, bibliography, index, and author's note on historical research complete the package. (Nonfiction. 10-14) (Kirkus Reviews)

Author Information

Sue Macy is the author of Freeze Frame and Swifter, Higher, Stronger, which received starred review from School Library Journal and Booklist. She lives in Englewood, NJ.

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