Annie Pitts dreams of being a famous actress, so when her class puts on a nutrition play, she decides she will be the star. But on a class trip to the grocery store, Annie launches a dead fish at her arch-nemesis and classmate, Matthew, and because of this she gets the least appetizing role in the whole play—the artichoke. Despite this, she still hopes to make a marvelous debut—and when the play does come around, people pay more attention to her then she would have hoped—or imagined.
I discovered Annie Pitts, Artichoke while doing advance research for a recent (and great!) interview with author & illustrator Diane deGroat. Previously, I had been familiar with her writing from her picture books about Gilbert the opossum (when I was younger!) Annie Pitts, Artichoke was for slightly younger readers than we typically are reviewing on this blog at present, but I still found it – and deGroat’s two subsequent books about Annie – quite amusing. (Other titles in the series are Annie Pitts, Swamp Monster and Annie Pitts, Burger Kid.) I recommend Annie Pitts, Artichoke to readers aged 7-9.