2017, first published 1908
Anne Shirley has red hair, freckles and a vivid imagination.
All three often get her into trouble. She is an orphan and adopted by Matthew and
Marilla Cuthbert. They’d really wanted a
boy. She gets into and survives a
multitude of scrapes. In many ways this is a coming of age story, even though these
are normally reserved for older readers. Anne grows up but does not lose any of her charms.
We certainly get an insight into life on Prince Edward Island
at the start of the 20th century. L M Montgomery writes with the
senses and we have a vivid picture of that place.
The characters are richly drawn. Montgomery writes engagingly.
The book has many characteristics that would suit the teen reader
as well: -a love interest, peer pressure, fashion. However, it is so much of an earlier era that
it isn’t quite sophisticated enough for an older reader.
It will be a challenge for the upper primary school student.
The language register is high. It is 392 pages long, in blocked text and with an adult font.
I myself have just read it for the fourth time. It’s not like
me to reread books , especially three times. I read it first when I was nine years
old. My teacher gave it to me to try to
wean me of Enid Blyton. I enjoyed it
then but it was quite hard work. I
reread it just before I started my MA in Writing for Children. I’m writing a
history of children’s literature, so that has made me read it again. I’ve now bought
a boxed-set of all of the Anne stories
and that has brought me to it once more.
This time I’m reading for leisure, at the time of the lock down because
of the coronavirus pandemic. It is such a delight and a fantastic escape.
