Anne of Green Gables Hairstyle Tutorial by Loepsie

I wanted to share a wonderful tutorial video showing how to replicate Anne Shirley's hairstyle and makeup in Anne of Green Gables by Loepsie. It's part of Loepsie's Beauty Beacons of Fiction series on YouTube. Along with providing great hairstyle tutorials, her website includes posts on historical fashion and beauty, sewing historical costumes, and more.

The inspiration behind her look is Anne as portrayed by the iconic Megan Follows in Sullivan Entertainment's Anne of of Green Gables: The Sequel aka Anne of Avonlea (1987). If you've ever wanted to replicate Anne's look, check this video out:

Created December 7, 2021.
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Merry Christmas, Anne

Merry Christmas, Anne is a children's book by Kallie George with beautiful illustrations by Geneviève Godbout that was inspired by L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables. Deriving from the original source, George tells the story of Anne Shirley's first Christmas in Avonlea for young readers, aged 3 to 7. The 40-page long picture book was published by Tundra Books, a division of Penguin Random House Canada in October 2021.

Here is the description of the book from Penguin Random House Canada:

A heartwarming holiday picture book inspired by L.M. Montgomery's beloved classic Anne of Green Gables.

It's Christmas in Avonlea, and Anne is thankful for so many things: feathery frosts and silvery seas, and wreaths as round as the moon. But most of all, she's thankful for her kindred spirits, including Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert, who adopted her, and her bosom friend Diana. But Anne is distracted this holiday by having to recite at the upcoming Christmas concert. And she feels bad that her kindred spirits give her so much during the year when she has very little to give in return. Can Anne overcome her jitters and make her kindred spirits proud -- and also think of a way to show her appreciation for the people she loves?

With magical illustrations and a heartfelt message, this festive picture book is the perfect holiday read for Anne fans old and new and a joyous way to celebrate the season.

ISBN-13: 978-0735267183

Image credit:
Book cover of Merry Christmas, Anne.

Purchase and read Merry Christmas, Anne:


Created December 1, 2021. Last updated October 28, 2024.
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Five Facts About L.M. Montgomery

It’s L.M. Montgomery’s birthday today. She was born on 147 years ago on November 30, 1874. To celebrate the anniversary of Montgomery’s birth, here are five facts about her:

1. Born Lucy Maud Montgomery, she preferred her middle name “Maud” over her first name.
   
   
2. L.M. Montgomery contracted influenza during the 1918 flu pandemic and was seriously ill with the disease.
   
   
3. During her childhood, L.M. Montgomery had two imaginary friends, Katie Maurice and Lucy Gray, who helped her cope with her loneliness and solitude.
   
   
4. L.M. Montgomery experienced a deep emotional and spiritual connection in nature, which she described as “the flash.”
   
   
5. In 1935, King George V appointed L.M. Montgomery as an officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE). This British order of chivalry honored her contributions to literature.
   
   

Image credit:
Photograph of L.M. Montgomery, ca. 1935. Library and Archives Canada, Public Domain.

Purchase and read L.M. Montgomery's journals to learn more about her life:



Created November 30, 2021.
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L.M. Montgomery and Gender

L.M. Montgomery and Gender was published in November 2021 by McGill-Queen’s University Press. This book of scholarship examines how L.M. Montgomery challenged gender constructions and gender roles in her writing. It was edited by Laura M. Robinson and E. Holly Pike. The volume contains contributions by Kazuko Sakuma, Lesley D. Clement, Ashley N. Reese, Bonnie J. Tulloch, Mavis Reimer, Rebecca J. Thompson, E. Holly Pike, Wanda Campbell, Vappu Kannas, Catherine Clark, Carole Gerson, Christina Hitchcock, Kiera Ball, Heather Ladd, Erin Spring, Jane Urquhart, Tara K. Parmiter, and Elizabeth Rollins Epperly.

Here is the description of the volume from McGill-Queen’s University Press:

The celebrated author of Anne of Green Gables and Emily of New Moon receives much-deserved additional consideration in L.M. Montgomery and Gender. Nineteen contributors take a variety of critical and theoretical positions, from historical analyses of the White Feather campaign and discussions of adoption to medical discourses of death and disease, explorations of Montgomery’s use of humour, and the author’s rewriting of masculinist traditions.

The essays span Montgomery’s writing, exploring her famous Anne and Emily books as well as her short fiction, her comic journal composed with her friend Nora Lefurgey, and less-studied novels such as Magic for Marigold and The Blue Castle. Dividing the chapters into five sections - on masculinities and femininities, domestic space, humour, intertexts, and being in time - L.M. Montgomery and Gender addresses the degree to which Montgomery’s work engages and exposes, reflects and challenges the gender roles around her, underscoring how her writing has shaped future representations of gender.

Of interest to historians, feminists, gender scholars, scholars of literature, and Montgomery enthusiasts, this wide-ranging collection builds on the depth of current scholarship in its approach to the complexity of gender in the works of one of Canada’s best-loved authors.

Review

"A book-length study on this author's rich and complex relationship with gender norms and expectations, and her myriad depictions of gender, is overdue. Because modern understanding of gender identity and contemporary awareness of gender issues are increasingly prominent in cultural discussions, this book, with its many perspectives on gender in Montgomery's work, is extraordinarily timely." Caroline Jones, Austin Community College

The book includes the following content and essays:

INTRODUCTION

“You Don’t Want Me Because I’m Not a Boy”: L.M. Montgomery and Gender by E. Holly Pike and Laura M. Robinson

MASCULINITIES AND FEMININITIES

1. The White Feather: Gender and War in L.M. Montgomery’s Rilla of Ingleside by Kazuko Sakuma
2. From “Uncanny Beauty” to “Uncanny Disease”: Destabilizing Gender through the Deaths of Ruby Gillis and Walter Blythe and the Life of Anne Shirley by Lesley D. Clement
3. Barney of the Island: Nature and Gender in Montgomery’s The Blue Castle by Ashley N. Reese

DOMESTIC SPACE

4. The Robinsonade versus the Annescapade: Exploring the “Adventure” in Anne of Green Gables by Bonnie J. Tulloch
5. Soliciting Home: The Cultural Function of Orphans in Early Twentieth-Century Canada by Mavis Reimer
6. “That House Belongs to Me”: The Appropriation of Patriarchal Space in L.M. Montgomery’s Emily Trilogy by Rebecca J. Thompson

HUMOUR

7. Cross-Dressing: Twins, Language, and Gender in L.M. Montgomery’s Short Fiction by E. Holly Pike
8. “I’m Noted for That”: Comic Subversion and Gender in L.M. Montgomery’s “The Quarantine at Alexander Abraham’s” and “Aunt Philippa and the Men” by Wanda Campbell
9. “Nora and I Got Through the Evening”: Gender Roles and Romance in the Diary of L.M. Montgomery and Nora Lefurgey by Vappu Kannas

INTERTEXTS

10. The Blue Castle: Sex and the Revisionist Fairy Tale by Catherine Clark
11. L.M. Montgomery, E. Pauline Johnson, and the Figure of the “Half-Breed Girl” by Carole Gerson
12. Orgies of Lovemaking: L.M. Montgomery’s Feminine Version of the Augustinian Community by Christina Hitchcock and Kiera Ball
13. Feminizing Thomson’s The Seasons: Identity, Gender, and Seasonal Aesthetics in L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables by Heather Ladd and Erin Spring

BEING IN TIME

14. Her Reader by Jane Urquhart
15. Like a Childless Mother: L.M. Montgomery and the Anguish of Mother’s Loss by Tara K. Parmiter
16. Magic for Marigold: Engendering Questions about What Lasts by Elizabeth Rollins Epperly


Image credit:
Book cover of L.M. Montgomery and Gender from McGill-Queen’s University Press.

Purchase and read L.M. Montgomery and Gender:


Created November 25, 2021. Last updated June 11, 2024.
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The New York Times Book Review Harshly Reviewed Anne of Green Gables in 1908

In 1908, after Anne of Green Gables was published, the novel was reviewed by The New York Times Book Review. The book was harshly reviewed by an anonymous reviewer who said the character Anne Shirley, “greatly marred a story that had in it quaint and charming possibilities.”

Personally, one of the first words I think of in describing Anne Shirley is "charming." It's a bit sad that the reviewer missed out on Anne's charms, don't you think?

In 1924, bylines were required for the The New York Times Book Review, and reviewers had less freedom to be callous because they were no longer anonymous. Read more about the unsympathetic reviews written anonymously for The New York Times Book Review prior to 1924 in "When the Book Review Went Really Harsh" by Tina Jordan published in The New York Times on August 27, 2021.

Purchase and read Anne of Green Gables:



Created September 12, 2021.
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Dress Like Anne Shirley

Have you ever wanted to dress like Anne Shirley?

I have, and sometimes do. I love to search out clothes reminiscent of what Anne might wear today—clothing that is delicate, feminine, and pretty. Here are a few blouses that are currently available that reminded me of Anne.

Created September 1, 2021.
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Anne of Green Gables Included on Time Magazine's List of The 100 Best YA Books of All Time

In August 2021, Time Magazine, with the help of a panel of leading YA authors, released an updated list of The 100 Best YA Books of All Time. The list includes classic and modern novels that help young people understand themselves and feel less alone as they form views of themselves and the world.

Among the great books on the list is Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery. Megan McCluskey writes about Anne of Green Gables saying, "Set in the idyllic fictional town of Avonlea in Prince Edward Island, Canada, Anne of Green Gables is both a love letter to Montgomery’s home province and a classic coming-of-age story that captures the joys and sorrows of growing up in equal measure."

Along with Anne of Green Gables, the list includes A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. by Judy Blume, Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon, and The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, and as well as many other stories for young adult (and older) readers to enjoy.

Website:
The 100 Best YA Books of All Time by Time Magazine

Image Credit:
Image of Anne of Green Gables from The 100 Best YA Books of All Time webpage by Time Magazine.

Reference:
The 100 Best YA Books of All Time. (2021, August 11). Time Magazine. Retrieved from: https://time.com/collection/100-best-ya-books/.

Created August 15, 2021. Last updated October 8, 2024.
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Anne's School Days (An Anne Chapter Book)

Anne's School Days by Kallie George is the third book in the Anne Chapter Book series, which was inspired by L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables. The children's book series features charming illustrations by Abigail Halpin. In Anne's School Days, Kallie George retells the story of Anne Shirley's experiences at her new school in Avonlea and how she meets her rival Gilbert Blythe. Geared toward early readers, the 72-page long picture book was published by Tundra Books, a division of Penguin Random House in July 2021.

Here is the description of the book from Penguin Random House:

The third book in an early-reader series inspired by Anne of Green Gables, starring the spirited Anne Shirley as she navigates her first days of school and the incorrigible Gilbert Blythe.

Anne loves autumn in Avonlea, and she’s been enjoying her first three weeks of school. It helps that she walks to school with and sits next to her kindred spirit, Diana Barry. However, one day, Gilbert Blythe joins the class. According to Diana, he’s very handsome, and smart too. However, Gilbert immediately gets on Anne’s nerves. When he pulls on Anne’s braid and calls her “Carrots” because of her red hair, enough is enough. How can Anne enjoy school when Gilbert is ruining everything? Anne vows never to talk to Gilbert again, and even stops going to school for a time when her teacher forces Anne to sit next to her rival. But later, when Anne has an accident on the pond and her wooden plank sinks, who should come to her rescue but her nemesis, Gilbert Blythe?

Lovingly adapted by Kallie George with beautiful nostalgic illustrations by Abigail Halpin, this series is perfect for fans of Anne, new and old.

ISBN-13: 978-0735267206

Image credit:
Book cover of Anne's School Days.

Purchase and read Anne's School Days:


Created July 17, 2021. Last updated November 19, 2024.
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Marilla Before Anne

Marilla Before Anne by Louise Michalos was published in May 2021 by Nimbus Publishing and Vagrant Press. This work of historical fiction extends the world of Anne of Green Gables to tell the story of Marilla Cuthbert's early life. What was Marilla like before Anne Shirley entered the picture?

Louise Michalos set out to answer this question in her own way. Michalos was born in Musquodoboit Harbour, Nova Scotia and raised in Halifax. Her mother was raised in a lighthouse, and her father, like L.M. Montgomery, was raised in a house that served as the local post office. She has knowledge and awareness of the community ties in the Maritimes, and wanted to explore Marilla's backstory with an authentic voice.

Here is the description of the book from Nimbus Publishing and Vagrant Press:

A heart-rending work of historical fiction telling the story of Marilla Cuthbert, long before Anne came to Green Gables farm.

Marilla Cuthbert was fifty-two years old when the plucky red-headed Anne Shirley came to live with her and her brother, Matthew, at Green Gables farm on Prince Edward Island. A seemingly cold and dour spinster, her heart eventually softens to the loveable orphan girl. But for over a century readers have wondered, who was Marilla before Anne?

In Louise Michalos’s remarkable debut novel, readers are introduced to a spirited eighteen-year-old Marilla Cuthbert—a girl not unlike Anne herself—who is desperately in love, and whose whole life is spread before her. But when a moment of defiance brings life-changing consequences, a new Marilla begins to take shape, one who would learn to bear tragedy like a birthright, and loss as an inevitability, and who would hold steadfast to the secrets that could shatter the lives of everyone around her.

Weaving its way from Marilla’s early life in Avonlea to her coming-of-age in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and back, Marilla Before Anne is the story readers of Anne of Green Gables have longed for. Told with a refreshingly original East Coast voice, this exquisite, heartbreaking work of historical fiction takes readers on a journey back in time, to the Green Gables where Marilla Cuthbert lived, loved, and learned, long before Anne.

Reviews

"Beloved characters live in our minds. For those who think they know Marilla Cuthbert, Louise Michalos creates a heart-rending and imaginative fantasy of who our Marilla might have been."
—Lesley Crewe, author of The Spoon Stealer

"Taking us back to Marilla's passionate youth, this book is part old-style romance, part history, with complicated heroes, heroines, and villains. It plays fast and loose with the Marilla and Matthew who may already live inside readers' heads―those willing to take that leap are in for a galloping ride."
—Liz Rosenberg, author of House of Dreams: A Biography of L. M. Montgomery

Image credit:
Book cover of Marilla Before Anne.

Reference:
Author spotlight: Louise Michalos. Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia. Retrieved from: https://writers.ns.ca/author-spotlights/author-spotlight-louise-michalos/.

Purchase and read Marilla Before Anne:


Created June 10, 2021. Last updated October 23, 2024.
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Anne’s Cradle: The Life and Works of Hanako Muraoka, Japanese Translator of Anne of Green Gables

Anne’s Cradle: The Life and Works of Hanako Muraoka, Japanese Translator of Anne of Green Gables is a biography of the celebrated writer who translated Anne of Green Gables to Japanese for the first time. Eri Muraoka wrote this biography of her grandmother, entitled An no Yurikago Muraoka Hanako no Shogai, which was published in Japanese in 2008. In 2014, the biography became the subject of a popular six-month television series on NHK, Japan's public television station. In 2021, Hanako Muraoka's biography was translated to English by Cathy Hirano and published as Anne's Cradle.

The biography tells the story of Hanako Muraoka's compelling life and work, and it describes the dangers she faced in bringing L.M. Montgomery's novel Anne of Green Gables to Japanese readers.

Here is the description of the book from Nimbus Publishing:

The bestselling biography of renowned Japanese translator of Anne of Green Gables is available in English for the first time. The name Hanako Muraoka is revered in Japan. Her Japanese translation of L. M. Montgomery’s beloved children’s classic Anne of Green Gables, Akage no An (Redhaired Anne) was the catalyst for the book’s massive and enduring popularity in Japan. A book that has since spawned countless interpretations, from manga to a long-running television series, and has remained on Japanese curriculum for half a century. For the first time, the bestselling biography of Hanako Muraoka written by her granddaughter, Eri Muraoka, and translated by the award-winning Cathy Hirano (The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up), is available in English.

Born into an impoverished family of tea merchants in rural Japan at the end of the nineteenth century, Hanako Muraoka’s fortunes change dramatically when she is offered a place at an illustrious girls’ school in Tokyo founded by the Methodist Church of Canada. Nurtured by the Canadian missionaries who teach her, she falls in love with English poetry and literature. This love of the written word develops into a passion for writing and translating children’s literature that sustains Hanako through devastating personal tragedies and the tumult of the twentieth century.

In 1941, after Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, Hanako abruptly resigns from her role of reading children’s news over the radio — for which she is known and loved throughout Japan as “Radio Auntie”. Branded as “enemies”, the peace-loving missionaries who nurtured Hanako in her youth and with whom she later worked have been forced to leave the country. But Hanako finds solace in a gift received from a Canadian friend: a copy of L. M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables.

Although it is a book from an “enemy nation”, the story of Anne Shirley brings back vivid memories of precious friends in distant lands, giving Hanako courage and hope for the future. Amidst the wail of air-raid sirens, she begins translating her copy into Japanese in 1943, fully aware that she risks imprisonment and even death if caught. Although she completes the majority of the work by the end of the war, it is only much later that a publisher decides to take a chance on a Canadian author previously unknown in Japan, unwittingly launching a cross-cultural literary legacy that continues to this day.

Anne’s Cradle tells the complex and captivating story of a woman who risked her freedom and devoted her life to bringing quality children’s literature to her people during a period of tumultuous change in Japan. Through the gift of Hanako Muraoka’s translations, generations of Japanese readers have fallen in love with a plucky redhead from Prince Edward Island.

ISBN-13: 9781771089241

Image credit:
Book cover of Anne’s Cradle: The Life and Works of Hanako Muraoka, Japanese Translator of Anne of Green Gables.

Purchase and read Anne’s Cradle: The Life and Works of Hanako Muraoka, Japanese Translator of Anne of Green Gables:


Created June 8, 2021. Last updated November 18, 2024.
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If it had not rained on a certain May morning...

"If it had not rained on a certain May morning Valancy Stirling’s whole life would have been entirely different."
-L.M. Montgomery
The Blue Castle

Read more quotes by L.M. Montgomery.

Image credit:
Illustration of a woman with an umbrella adapted from a United States Rubber Company advertisement in The Ladies' Home Journal (January 1921). Public Domain.

Purchase and read The Blue Castle:



Created May 16, 2021. Last updated May 16, 2024.
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The Charlottetown Festival Returns in 2021 Without Anne of Green Gables — The Musical

When the Charlottetown Festival returns in 2021, it will not include its long-running mainstay Anne of Green Gables — The Musical. In 2020, the Festival was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, ending the musical's world-record run of 55 consecutive years. Due to the ongoing pandemic, the Festival organizers decided that presenting a musical like Anne with a large cast and audience would not be possible in 2021. Due to safety protocols, the 1,100-seat Confederation Centre auditorium has a restricted seating capacity of 300. Performances will have staggered seating, mandatory masks, and social distancing procedures in place for the safety of the audience members.

Festival artistic director Adam Brazier stated, "The decision was made for us and we embrace it. We really feel like this is an opportunity for us to stretch our wings and to tell some other stories."

This year's Charlottetown Festival lineup includes three shorter, smaller-scale shows featuring stories from Atlantic Canada:

Between Breaths - a play inspired by the true story of a Newfoundland man who rescued more than 500 whales trapped in fishing nets.

Dear Rita - a musical honouring the life of the Maritime singer-songwriter Rita MacNeil.

Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story - the true story of two Romanian refugees who meet at Pier 21 in Halifax while waiting to enter Canada.

Image credit:
Photograph of Anne of Green Gables — The Musical from the 2017 Charlottetown Festival by Louise Vessey.

Reference:
Decision not to stage Anne at Charlottetown Festival 'was made for us': Reduced capacity due to COVID-19 among factors preventing perennial favourite from returning. (April 8, 2021). CBC News. Retrieved from: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-charlottetown-festival-2021-season-launch-1.5979351.

Created April 10, 2021.
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The Anne Chronicles Podcast Series

The Anne Chronicles is a three-episode podcast series by Pickering Museum Village about the Anne of Green Gables series written by L.M. Montgomery. The series is hosted by Lisa Bialy and launched on April 6, 2021 as part of Pickering's "Anne and Maud Experience." In the podcasts, Bialy discusses aspects of the first six books in the Anne series: Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea, Anne of the Island, Anne of Windy Poplars, Anne's House of Dreams, and Anne of Ingleside.

Each episode is a conversation between Lisa Bialy and a guest. They discuss similarities and connections between L.M. Montgomery and Anne Shirley, provide historical context for the novels, and delve into differences between Anne's world and the present day. The episodes cover Anne and Maud's experiences with teaching and education, adoption and family, and love and marriage. The series was produced with the support of Canadian Heritage and the Government of Ontario.

Series Description:

When she was 14 years old, Lucy Maud Montgomery wrote in her diary: "I love books. I hope when I grow up to be able to have lots of them." Known to her friends and family as Maud, this Canadian author of 24 books introduced us to the character of Anne Shirley. Although she always stated her Anne of Green Gables stories were not based on her life, you will discover the striking connections between fact and fiction as we explore the world of the author and her beloved character, Anne Shirley, in this series of podcasts. Financially supported by @CDN_Heritage & Government of Ontario

Episode Synopses:

Episode 1: Teaching and Education (22 minutes) - Anne Shirley became a teacher at the tender age of 16 which wasn’t uncommon in the 1880s. Even Maud had a career as a teacher, briefly. We’ll uncover the joys and struggles they both encountered as we wander through their lives in the one-room schoolhouse.

Episode 2: Adoption and Family (19 minutes) - Anne Shirley always imagined what it would be like to have a family. When she was adopted by brother and sister Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert she thought her dreams had come true. But they wanted a boy. Maud also grew up without her mother or father and was raised by her grandparents. We’ll reveal what adoption was really like, and explore the journey to find a family.

Episode 3: Love and Marriage (19 minutes) - Anne Shirley and Maud Montgomery weren’t sure about marriage and both turned down several marriage proposals. They always thought their relationships were more like friendships until their feelings grew into something more. Anne eventually accepted Gilbert Blythe and Maud married Rev. Ewan MacDonald. Was it "happily ever after" for them?


Official websites:

The Anne Chronicles at Apple Podcasts
The Anne Chronicles at Spotify

Image credit:

The Anne Chronicles podcast series banner.

Created April 8, 2021. Last updated April 16, 2025.
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Anne of Green Gables x Ullala Pajamas Special Collaboration

I came across this fun collaboration between Nippon Animation's Anne of Green Gables with Ullala Pajamas. Ullala Pajamas makes old-fashioned, girlish chemises, night dresses, and pajama sets, and they designed a special set of clothes inspired by Anne of Green Gables.

I love all the product shots. Don't you?

They also remind me of the outfits from Dickinson, the Apple TV+ streaming series on Emily Dickinson starring Hailee Steinfeld. I love the fashion from the Dickinson time period too.

You can shop for outfits from the Anne of Green Gables x Ullala Pajamas collaboration below:

Most of the outfits above sold out now, but there are more cute pajamas currently available at Ullala's Amazon store.

Created March 29, 2021. Last updated June 16, 2024.
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Gilbert Blythe and Anne Shirley Silhouette Prints by Sealhouette

How lovely is this set of silhouette prints of Gilbert Blythe and Anne Shirley? They're by Sealhouette and available on Etsy. Along with the version shown above with Anne and Gilbert's names, there are versions available with quotes by the two characters. Check out the artist's store for more beautiful silhouette prints from literature, TV, and film.

Created March 26, 2021.
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She was sitting there...

"She was sitting there waiting for something or somebody and, since sitting and waiting was the only thing to do just then, she sat and waited with all her might and main."
-L.M. Montgomery
Anne of Green Gables

Read more quotes by L.M. Montgomery.

Image credit:
Anne of Green Gables image © Sullivan Entertainment

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Created March 25, 2021. Last updated May 16, 2024.
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L.M. Montgomery's Poetry

L.M. Montgomery is better known for her novels than her poetry though she published approximately 500 poems during her lifetime. In 1916, Montgomery published a volume of poetry entitled The Watchman and Other Poems. The majority of L.M. Montgomery's poems are devoted to nature, particularly the landscape of Prince Edward Island, and rural life on the sea shore. Montgomery's love of poetry is reflected in many of her novels where characters quote poetry or recite poems and ballads. Just one example is Anne Shirley reciting and reenacting Alfred Tennyson's "The Lady of Shalott" in Anne of Green Gables.

Purchase and read The Watchman and Other Poems and The Poetry Of Lucy Maud Montgomery:



Created February 16, 2002. Last updated March 25, 2021.
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Who is L.M. Montgomery?

Lucy Maud Montgomery was born in Clifton, Prince Edward Island, Canada on November 30, 1874. During her lifetime, L.M. Montgomery wrote 20 novels, over 500 short stories, one book of poetry, an autobiography, a life's worth of journals, approximately 500 poems, and a nonfiction book called Courageous Women. Of her work, L.M. Montgomery is best known for writing the novel Anne of Green Gables and giving the world the beloved literary character Anne Shirley, an imaginative, intelligent, loving, red-haired orphan in search of a home.

Image credit:
Photograph of L.M. Montgomery, 1930. Toronto Public Library from the Toronto Star Photograph Archive, Public Domain.

Purchase and read L.M. Montgomery's journals to learn more about her life:

Created February 10, 2002. Last updated March 24, 2021.
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Spring Song by L. M. Montgomery

Spring Song
by L.M. Montgomery

O gypsy winds that pipe and sing
In budding boughs of beech,
I know I hear the laugh of spring
In all your silver speech.

O little mists that hide and curl
In hollows wild and green,
I know you will come in gauze and pearl
To wait upon your queen.

O little seed of mellow earth
Where rain and sunshine kiss,
I know the quivering joy of birth
Throbs in your chrysalis.

O Hope, you blossom on my way
Like violet from the clod,
And Love makes rosy all the grey
When spring comes back from God.

Poem published in Verse and Reverse by Members of the Toronto Women's Press Club (1922).

Image Credit:
Illustration of Violets by Louis-Aimé Martin in Nouveau langage des fleurs, ou, Parterre de flore : contenant le symbole et le langage des fleurs, leur histoire et leur origine mythologique, ainsi que les plus jolis vers composés a ce sujet (1832). From Biodiversity Heritage Library. Public Domain.

Created February 19, 2002. Last updated October 8, 2022.
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Publication Sequence of the Anne of Green Gables Series

It might surprise you that L.M. Montgomery did not write the eight novels of the Anne of Green Gables series in the order we generally read them today.

Introducing Anne Shirley

L.M. Montgomery introduced Anne Shirley to the world when she published Anne of Green Gables in 1908. Its sequel Anne of Avonlea followed shortly thereafter in 1909. After completing these first two novels about Anne Shirley, Montgomery focused on publishing other novels and short story collections before revisiting Anne.

Anne Shirley Grows Up

Between 1915 and 1921, L.M. Montgomery wrote another four books about Anne Shirley and Anne's children. Anne of the Island (1915) tells the story of Anne's college years, Anne’s House of Dreams (1917) begins with Anne's wedding and describes the early years of Anne's marriage to Gilbert Blythe, Rainbow Valley (1919) tells the stories of Anne Blythe's young children, and Rilla of Ingleside (1921) focuses on Anne Blythe's youngest daughter Rilla Blythe.

Revisiting Anne Shirley

Following a long gap of 15 years, L.M. Montgomery revisited a younger version of Anne Shirley and wrote about her years as a high school principal in Anne of Windy Poplars (1936). Today, this novel is considered Book 4 of the Anne of Green Gables series if we read the novels in the chronological order of Anne’s life. The storyline of Anne of Windy Poplars falls between Anne of the Island (1915) and Anne’s House of Dreams (1917).

Returning to Anne

Thirty-one years after publishing Anne of Green Gables, L.M. Montgomery wrote Anne of Ingleside in 1939. According to the timeline of Anne’s life, Anne of Ingleside is considered Book 6. Its storyline falls between Anne’s House of Dreams (1917) and Rainbow Valley (1919), both of which were written 20 years earlier.

What order were the Anne of Green Gables books published in?

In summary, here is the publication sequence of the Anne of Green Gables novels. The order we generally read the books in today is listed to the right.

Publication Sequence	Chronology of Anne's Life
1) Anne of Green Gables (1908)	Book 1
2) Anne of Avonlea (1909)	Book 2
3) Anne of the Island (1915)	Book 3
4) Anne's House of Dreams (1917)	Book 5
5) Rainbow Valley (1919)	Book 7
6) Rilla of Ingleside (1921)	Book 8
7) Anne of Windy Poplars (1936)	Book 4
8) Anne of Ingleside (1939)	Book 6

Have you ever read the books in order by their publication dates, or have you always read the novels in the chronological order of Anne Shirley’s life? What are your thoughts on reading the novels of the Anne of Green Gables series in different orders?

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Created September 1, 1999. Last updated April 28, 2022.
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Prince Edward Island

Prince Edward Island (PEI) is a province located in the Gulf of St Lawrence in Eastern Canada. The island's scenery is beautiful with a striking contrast between the red roads and cliffs, deep blue water, and rich green landscape. In 1874, L.M. Montgomery was born in Clifton, PEI, and she used the island as the geographical location for many of her stories. Today, PEI is recognized around the world as the setting of L.M. Montgomery's novel Anne of Green Gables (1908).

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Created March 13, 2021.
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Who is Anne Shirley?

Anne Shirley is a character first introduced to the world in the 1908 novel Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery. When we first meet Anne, she is an eleven-year-old girl with a vivid imagination, talkative disposition, and bewitching personality.

Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert are surprised by Anne's arrival in Avonlea, Prince Edward Island. The Cuthbert siblings had planned to adopt a young boy to help Matthew with the farm at Green Gables, but mistakenly they are sent a girl. Fortunately, Anne wins both Matthew and Marilla over, and the Cuthberts adopt Anne giving her a home at Green Gables.

Image Credit:
Anne of Green Gables book cover featuring artwork by Ben Stahl.

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Created July 15, 1999. Last updated March 8, 2021.
© worldofanneshirley.com