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In this day of disposable this and throw away that, it’s hard to believe that there is a series of children’s books that has just passed its 100 year anniversary — but there is, and that book series is Anne of Green Gables.
Author Lucy Maude Montgomery first wrote about her spunky red headed character Anne in 1908 and continued to write Anne’s story for the rest of her life, writing book number 9 just before she died in 1942.
The books tell the story of Anne from an 11 year old orphan to a happily married women in her 50s. Although Montgomery’s writing methods and thoughts were never disclosed by her, many have speculated that the story of Anne closely parallels the life of Lucy herself, as her mother died when she was young and she was left relatively secluded on a farm in Prince Edward Sound.
In the books, Anne is adopted by siblings Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert, who live on a working farm called Green Gables, in Avonlea, Prince Edward Sound, Canada. They had wanted to adopt a boy to help on the farm, but the orphanage sends them a girl by mistake. Eventually they come to love and accept precocious and talkative Anne, who can’t seem to stay out of trouble. At one point she accidentally dyes her hair green, and at another gets her young friend drunk by having her drink what she mistakenly thinks is raspberry cordial.
The original book has been published around the world, with 50 million copies in 36 languages and Braille. Made into movies, comics, plays and TV shows, the story continues to enchant young people of all ages, but especially young girls. Parents will love the fact that there are many websites using the Green Gables books as the basis for unit studies and reading clubs. Visit
http://litplans.com/titles/Anne_of_Green_Gables_Lucy_Maud_L_M_Montgomery.html for free and useful learning materials.
In 2009, 100 years after the first book was published, a prequel was written to explain what happened to Anne up until she was 11 and was adopted by the Cuthberts’. The book was sanctioned by the Montgomery family and written by Budge Wilson.
