Anne of Green Gables
Prince Edward Island, Canada, 1908. Eleven-year-old orphan Anne Shirley is thrilled to be adopted by Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert of Avonlea. But there is a mistake: they expected a boy and, instead, they get Anne. She’s the wrong sex, and she’s scrawny with red hair and a temper to match. Moreover, she’s romantic and daydreams incessantly. In other words, she’s trouble. Marilla intends to send her back but, somehow, Anne stays.
This is a book about being an outsider. Anne is an orphan who belongs nowhere. Her character is too volatile for the pragmatic farming folk of Avonlea. She can lose herself in a romantic daydream one moment and the next be in the depths of despair. She must learn to find a way to fit in with what some might view as a narrow, provincial life whilst, at the same time, staying true to herself. Anne may be labelled ‘odd’ by the Avonlea community but, in the end, she earns their affection by her loyalty, intelligence, genius for friendship, and sense of fun.
I loved this book as a child. I loved the way Anne invents stories and reads poetry, and her feeling for the natural world. She doesn’t dumb down in school to allow the boys to win, and she sticks up for what she thinks is right.
Re-reading it, Anne’s rhapsodies over apple blossom etc. can go on for ages in immensely long paragraphs which might bore girls today. And, although she’s sixteen when the book ends, sex is nowhere in evidence, which certainly raises questions for a modern reader. But 21st-century girls worry about their body image, whether other girls at school like them, and long for fashionable clothes, as Anne does. There’s still plenty for today’s girls age ten plus to identify with. Recommended.
