Annie Was Warned by Jarrett J. Krosoczka, published by Alfred A. Knopf in 2003, appealed to me from the title. I wanted to know what she was warned about.

Annie’s parents and sister warned her away from the old haunted mansion. As if that wouldn’t be enough to get her there, her friend dares her to show up.

Annie is not afraid, because it is Halloween and she was a Halloween baby. Halloween isn’t scary to her. As she heads across town to the haunted house, she gets spooked by multiple things–that turn out to be normal things and not scary at all.

For that reason, you are prepared for the happy ending.

That is an emotional preparation that I would like to be able to emulate.

I appreciated this story because as a child I was very much like Annie. Tell me I couldn’t do it, because I wasn’t good enough, and I would tame wild horses to get it done. It is quite the mix of bravado and contrariness.