Little Miss Sure Shot

Available now: Little Miss Sure Shot: Annie Oakley's World

****3.5/5 stars

Fiction or non-fiction? Either way you'll find out you know less about Annie Oakley than you thought.

Recommended readers:Little Miss Sure Shot

Western history lovers Natives of Wyoming, especially Cody, Wyoming and anyone who loves to learn about a prominent female in history Here's my Rankings:

4/5 overall REVIEW FROM BOOKS FOR HER:

Categorically it's fiction, but it's hard to think of Little Miss Sure Shot as a work of fiction; it's more of a barely romanticized non-fiction. Confused? I was a little too at first ... until I embraced it as more of a historical read. As a native of a Cody, Wyoming - a town founded by Annie Oakley's long-time boss William F. Cody, I was interested to learn more of this well-known historical female figure even if there were some fictional assumptions. In fact, reading the book I realized how little I actually knew (I anticipate that most will feel the same). There's more to Annie Oakley than we knew and Jeffrey Marshall details her story and life well.

Only $3.95 on Amazon: Little Miss Sure Shot: Annie Oakley's World

I requested this book from NetGalley on a whim, I don’t normally read non-fiction and I don’t normally read western type books but it sounded interesting. And I have to admit, there’s always been something intriguing about the Wild West for me. This was an easy to read book and I enjoyed it but I’m not quite sure I’d call it a novel. A lot of it is simply telling the facts, there’s not a whole lot of dialogue and no plot as such. But it tells the facts in a way that doesn’t bore you and is easy to take in.

This was an interesting read and I’d read more along the same lines. I knew nothing about Annie Oakley when I picked up the book and although this is a fictionalized account of her life it does seem to stick quite closely to the facts in most respects. At least as far as a quick google search shows anyway. It’s not going to make you an expert on her or the time she lived in but if you just want a basic knowledge of who she was and what she did then I think it’s worth a read.

What a charming and delightful account of Annie Oakley’s life! I thoroughly enjoyed this opportunity to really get a feel for one of the icons of the American West. Annie Oakley was someone I had heard of and knew she was famous for her marksmanship but I had never heard the story of her life before. Being a bit of a history buff I was very excited to read this book and learn more and the author did not disappoint.

Jeffrey Marshall grabs your interest from the beginning with a recounting of the period in her life when she was suing Hearst Corporation for libel and keeps you interested with his engaging writing style. He then relates the story of her life from the day she fired a gun for the first time until her death. He relays the events in her life that formed her into the star she would become. I especially enjoyed the way he was able to portray her scrappy but inquisitive personality and also that of her devoted husband.

I was mesmerized by all the rich and powerful people this little lady was able to meet during her years with the Wild West Show and how she was able to step into a man’s world and not only play their game but beat them at it. Annie Oakley was a truly remarkable person who never let her fame get the better of her. I think she is still a shining example for girls even in the 21st century.

If you enjoy American history or just like a good story you will really like reading this book. I highly recommend it.

This is a fantastic book about the life of Annie Oakley, from her early life in Ohio to when she passed away. The author is able to bring you to the beginning when she began to shot for food for her family after her father passed away. Using a Kentucky long rifle she was bringing home rabbits and squirrels, and most of the time she was able to shot the head off the squirrel. She soon found out that a man who ran the local store a few miles away would pay for animals like squirrels if their heads were shot off and after a while she was making .50 cent that would also help her mom, sisters and brother. Soon she was gaining a reputation as an excellent shot and was starting to outshoot the local men in competitions. Soon she was having her brother help set up targets for practice and all would be at different heights and angles. Then she would go through her practice of firing, reloading, then with her back towards the targets turning and firing. This was just one of her practices. By the age of fifteen her reputation was starting to grow and a promoter for a fair asked if she would like to compete against Frank Butler, another sharp shooter, and she agreed. When they meet they both were taken with each other but he was 10 years older than her. After she gained her composer she ended up defeating him. This meeting would turn into a lifelong affair, they were married almost a year later. They would begin touring putting on shooting demonstrations and she would still compete when the opportunities would come up. They were making a decedent living when the opportunity came to join Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, the only thing was they just wanted her not Frank. They agreed that Frank would be her manager and she would join the show. This where she really became famous doing her trick shots from, horses, bicycle, running, Frank tossing glass globes in the air, and then later her shooting from behind looking through a mirror. This had to be an amazing performance, I have problems shooting looking straight ahead without a mirror. This show and her shooting took her to Europe where she meet Kings, Queens, Princes, Dukes, and other royalty. She was invited to go hunting with these men and always came back with more birds, she would also out shot them in a completion when someone would say for her to let them win she would say that is not how it is done in America. She became good friends with Libby Custer, her husband taught her to read and wright. After a horrible train accident in 1901 that broke her leg and injured her back she stopped touring with the show, she had to have a few surgeries. In 1904 she sued Hearst newspaper for libel for a story that was about a women with the same name but spelled the same. Hearst would not print an apology so she sued and won 54 out 55 cases having to travel to each town or city for the trials and it cost her more than what she won but for her it was about reputation and not letting Hearst get away with lies. This part of her story I had never heard before, good for her. Her and her husband settled in Pinehurst, North Carolina, and would eventually open a gun club to teach people how to shot, and safety around weapons, she would go on in her fifties and sixties doing demonstrations and still shooting 100 out of 100 clay pigeons which is amazing. This is a fantastic book about an extraordinary women who stood only five feet tall but was a giant to many. To have her mother tell her before she passed that she was proud of her world traveler and would have never expected her to be the one out of all her children to see and do what she did probably meant more to her than all of those things combined, that is what a child wants to hear, that their parent is proud of them. She had come full circle. The sad part of the book is that Annie got sick and made Frank go to Detroit for a shooting convention they agreed to speak at. Frank took ill when he got their and was rushed to the hospital and three days later found and out that Annie had passed, he would pass in eighteen days. Her family made sure that they were together in the family cemetery. A fantastic book about a strong women and a strong couple. I normally don’t give stars but five out of five.

I loved this text and would recommend this text to readers of a wide range of ages. Its text engages and draws in students to the history of the time period.