Anne of Green Gables, 100 years later
Have you ever read the story of a little red-headed orphan who daydreamed and made mischief wherever she went? Who was embarrassed by the awful clothes she had to wear? Who loved the outdoors and named a grove of spruce trees, 鈥淭he Haunted Wood鈥�?
Can you guess this character鈥檚 name? If you鈥檝e read the book, 鈥淎nne of Green Gables,鈥� by Lucy Maud Montgomery, then you know that the little girl is called Anne Shirley.
Meet Anne
If you haven鈥檛 read the book, you might wonder just who this famous Anne character is. For starters, Anne turns 100 this year. That鈥檚 right, 鈥淎nne of Green Gables鈥� was first published in 1908.
L.M. Montgomery, as the author was known, then went on to write seven more full-length books about Anne and her family. Later, Anne even became the subject of several movies and TV series.
In the first 鈥淎nne鈥� book, the spunky girl is an 11-year-old orphan who accidentally ends up with Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert 鈥� a brother and sister who live in the imaginary town of Avonlea on Prince Edward Island in Canada. Matthew and Marilla planned to adopt a boy 鈥� someone to help with the farm work.
Instead, they got Anne. And, like millions of readers, they fell in love with her 鈥� much to their surprise.
See, Anne talks too much. She daydreams when she should be washing the dishes. She hates her bright red hair so much that she even tries dyeing it. But she ends up with a color that鈥檚 even worse 鈥� green.
That, however, is one of the reasons everyone loves Anne: The trouble she causes keeps life lively, and no one can be as kind as she can 鈥� or as much fun.
The rest of the books about Anne follow her as she grows up, works as a teacher, goes to college, marries, and raises children of her own.
Meet Anne鈥檚 author
When she made up stories about Anne, Montgomery drew on her own life experiences.
Like Anne, she lost her mother when she was very young. So she spent many of her growing-up years with her grandparents on Prince Edward Island. With her vivid memories and just a touch of imagination, Anne was born.
Montgomery also loved nature. And she especially loved the spruce grove and the brook near the one-room schoolhouse she attended. Her passion for the outdoors 鈥� and some of the quirks of a one-room schoolhouse education 鈥� ended up in her stories, too.
But there were differences between Montgomery and her first storybook character. For example, Montgomery was 鈥淟ucy Maud-without-an-鈥榚鈥�.鈥� Anne, on the other hand, pleads for the 鈥榚鈥� at the end of her name.
Anne also has a much happier childhood with Matthew and Marilla than Montgomery had with her strict grandparents. Often, Montgomery felt lonely, so she used her imagination to escape. Anne seems to do her best daydreaming when she鈥檚 happy.
Although if you know anything about Anne, you also know that there鈥檚 rarely a moment when she鈥檚 not imagining something!
One thing neither Anne nor her author could have imagined, though, was just how many people all over the world would still adore Anne today.
For Anne鈥檚 anniversary, a Canadian author named Budge Wilson wrote a prequel called 鈥淏efore Green Gables,鈥� a book about Anne鈥檚 orphan years. And a new television movie, 鈥淎nne of Green Gables: A New Beginning,鈥� will be broadcast in Canada later this year.
How will you celebrate 100 years of Anne?
