Anne of Avonlea

Anne of Avonlea by L. M. Montgomery

(Anne of Green Gables #2)

Children's Fiction

1992 Bantam (first published in 1909)

Finished on March 29, 2022

Rating: 3/5 (Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

At sixteen, Anne is grown up...almost. Her gray eyes shine like evening stars, but her red hair is still as peppery as her temper. In the years since she arrived at Green Gables as a freckle-faced orphan, she has earned the love of the people of Avonlea and a reputation for getting into scrapes. But when Anne begins her job as the new schoolteacher, the real test of her character begins. Along with teaching the three Rs, she is learning how complicated life can be when she meddles in someone else's romance, finds two new orphans at Green Gables, and wonders about the strange behaviour of the very handsome Gilbert Blythe. As Anne enters womanhood, her adventures touch the heart and the funny bone.

My godparents gave me a copy of Anne of Avonlea in the early 70s, but I no longer own the book and have no idea when or why I got rid of it. I can't imagine that I didn't enjoy reading this sequel to Anne of Green Gables (which I do still own), and even if I didn't plan to read it a second time, I'm sorry I didn't keep the book. Nonetheless, I borrowed a copy from the library and enjoyed revisiting Prince Edward Island and Anne's latest adventures and mishaps. I was surprised that after fifty years, I could still remember some of the events and new characters from this classic. As is my experience with some children's books, I grew a little bored with the simplistic storyline, but I still enjoyed it quite well and look forward to re-reading Anne of the Island.

Anne of Green Gables

Anne of Green Gables (Anne of Green Gables #1) by L.M. Montgomery
Children's Fiction
1969 The Reyerson Press (first published in 1908)
Finished on January 4, 2019
Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

As soon as Anne Shirley arrives at the snug white farmhouse called Green Gables, she is sure she wants to stay forever . . . but will the Cuthberts send her back to to the orphanage? Anne knows she's not what they expected—a skinny girl with fiery red hair and a temper to match. If only she can convince them to let her stay, she'll try very hard not to keep rushing headlong into scrapes and blurting out the first thing that comes to her mind. Anne is not like anyone else, the Cuthberts agree; she is special—a girl with an enormous imagination. This orphan girl dreams of the day when she can call herself Anne of Green Gables.

I have owned my copy of Anne of Green Gables for 50 years! It's a hardcover edition and is sadly missing the dust jacket, but I'm pretty sure it looks like this one.

My copy has an inscription from my godparents who gave me the book for Christmas in 1969. I was eight years old.

I am certain that I read Anne of Green Gables more than just once when I was a child and it has traveled with me from Northern California to Eastern Washington to Southern California, across to Nebraska, down to Texas, back up to Nebraska and out to Oregon. Phew! 16 moves, if my memory is correct. That's a long time to hold on to a book and the only one I've owned for that many years. The only others I've had for almost as long are the Little House (Laura Ingalls Wilder) books.

So, having packed and unpacked this classic for all these years, you would have thought I'd have read it many more times in my adult life, but I don't have any recollection of reading it since I was a child. Was it as good as I remember? I thought it was very good, but the language is more flowery than I remember. Of course, that's a reflection on Anne's character, who is a romantic in every sense of the word. I wasn't bored, as I have been a few times when reading children's literature, but there are a few chapters that felt somewhat slow and plodding. I read a few chapters every night, but looked forward to finishing and moving on to something with a little more depth or tension. With that said, however, I do plan on re-reading Anne of Avonlea and Anne of the Island sometime in the not too distant future. Sadly, I no longer have my copies and can't imagine what happened to them.

I am also anxious to read the new book about Marilla which was published this past year. It's receiving very good reviews, which is nice to know since it could easily be a disappointment as it isn't written by L.M. Montgomery.