Cactus Annie

K-Gr 2–At the cowgirl school that Cactus Annie attends, the students don’t ride horses, they ride cows. And they have to be careful as there are rat hustlers on the loose. Cactus Annie is scared of them and even more frightened of her cow. She falls off Clover, and she finds other ways to fail her subjects, too. Her teacher reminds her that she can do anything if she believes in herself, but Cactus Annie doesn’t think she can succeed as a cowgirl. Then when the cattle go missing and she stumbles onto the hustlers, she has to get herself out of a bad situation. The story is muddled–it is unclear why Cactus Annie is so afraid of being a cowgirl, and it’s convenient that she just happens upon the rat hustlers so that she can save the day. Similarly, the illustrations are overly busy. The pages have a lot of patterns, swirls, and textures, and sometimes the action gets lost. There are plenty of other cowgirl stories that are more enjoyable.–Susan E. Murray, formerly at Glendale Public Library, AZ