Anne Of Green Gables "When I Read, I Dream" Barbie Doll

Twenty years ago, in 2002, Mattel released an Anne of Green Gables Barbie doll. Mattel’s eight-inch-tall Anne Shirley doll was part of their “When I Read, I Dream” Timeless Treasures Collection.

Which dolls were part of Mattel's “When I Read, I Dream” collection?

This collection included the following four dolls based on storybook heroines:

• Anne from L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables
• Heidi inspired by Johanna Spyri’s Heidi
• Fern from E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web
• Jo inspired by Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women
  

How did Mattel describe their Anne of Green Gables recreation?

The back of the doll's box introduces the collection and Anne Shirley:

"When I Read, I Dream™ collector dolls celebrate the friends we make between the pages of best-loved books. Meet Anne Shirley, the lively and talkative little girl from Green Gables of Prince Edward Island.

The spirited Anne is always full of surprises, not only for her adoptive parents, Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, but also for delighted readers of the L.M. Montgomery classic.

She is re-created here in a Victorian-style peach-and-green print dress, boater hat and, of course, her 'life-long sorrow'—her signature red hair. Standing at the Green Gables gate, she looks ready for adventure, perhaps a drift downriver in a leaky boat or a trembling walk through the 'Haunted Wood'!"

Mattel's Technical Product Details webpage for the doll (Product# 50726) describes it as follows:

"When I Read I Dream™ collector dolls celebrate the friends we make between the pages of best-loved books. Anne is re-created here in a Victorian-style outfit in soft shades of peach and celadon green. Her dress has a peach sailor-like collar accented with a celadon bow and a crisply pleated peach linen skirt. Atop her head is a boater hat trimmed with a green ribbon. Off-white tights and white shoes add finishing touches. Anne is beautifully detailed, right down to her green eyes and, of course, her “life-long sorrow”—her signature red hair."

The Barbie Collectibles Website provides the following description of the Anne Shirley doll:

"From the beloved children's story Anne of Green Gables comes this darling 8" doll. Anne wears a delightful peach and green sailor-style dress accented with a green bow, and a pleated peach linen skirt. Her ensemble also includes off-white tights and matching shoes, and a straw-like boater hat accented with a green ribbon. Her darling red hair and sparkling green eyes make this doll perfectly precious!"

According to Planet of the Dolls, the doll’s body was based on that of Barbie’s little sister Stacie from the 1990s.

Is the Anne of Green Gables Barbie doll still available?

Mattel's Anne of Green Gables Barbie doll is no longer available in retail stores, but you can still find it on ebay and other resale websites.

Created April 27, 2022.
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Anne of Green Gables 13-Month Undated Planner and Diary

I came across a beautiful Anne of Green Gables planner and diary today on Etsy by CALIKET. It's called "Anne Story" and is a classic story diary. This 13-month undated planner can be used to keep track of your day-to-day tasks, and you can also fill it with drawings, quotes, and diary entries. It looks so pretty and has such sweet drawings of Anne Shirley.

The CALIKET Etsy shop sells several Anne of Green Gables greeting cards too, including one with the sweet image of Anne Shirley featured above and one with Anne under a blooming cherry tree.

Created February 7, 2022.
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Emily of New Moon Jigsaw Puzzle

Have fun completing this online Emily of New Moon jigsaw puzzle. Before beginning, you can rotate the puzzle pieces and increase the number of pieces to make the puzzle more challenging. You can also customize the background color.

The cover art is by M.L. Kirk for the 1923 version of Emily of New Moon published by Frederick A. Stokes Company.



Created January 31, 2022.
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Crochet Yourself an Anne of Green Gables Doll

Have you ever wanted an Anne of Green Gables doll? Do you know how to crochet or wish to learn? Well, here's your opportunity to make your very own Anne Shirley doll!

Check out Literary Yarns: Crochet Projects Inspired by Classic Books by Cindy Wang. This book teaches the basics of crochet and provides tutorials on how to create cute and beloved characters from literature. You just need some yarn, a crochet hook, and a little patience. Along with providing a pattern to make an Anne Shirley doll, the book contains 21 other crochet projects to make amigurumi—sweet stuffed yarn creations. The literary characters include the monster from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, the master detective Sherlock Holmes from the stories of Arthur Conan Doyle, Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Dorothy and friends from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, the White Rabbit from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and many more.

I love to crochet, so Literary Yarns is now on my wishlist. I think an Anne Shirley doll would be a perfect companion for my L.M. Montgomery collection on my bookshelf.

Cindy Wang also has a fun website where she shares her wonderful creations called The Geeky Hooker (Not THAT kind of hooker. The kind armed with a crochet hook). Her latest project, little Grogu from The Mandalorian, is so stinking cute. From time to time, she drops off her little critters in various places for strangers to discover and adopt. It would be so special to discover a surprise like that. Check out her website and follow her on Twitter @GeekyHooker for more of her adventures!

Created January 29, 2022.
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Thoughts on "The 'Anne of Green Gables' V.R. Experience"

On Monday, The New Yorker published an article titled, "The 'Anne of Green Gables' V.R. Experience" by Weike Wang. The article appears in the "Shouts & Murmurs" section, which contains humor, satire, and funny observations. It's a curious piece, and I recommend reading it if you're an Anne of Green Gables fan.

The article begins without mentioning any history of Anne of Green Gables and fails to mention the novel's author, L.M. Montgomery, by name. These were odd omissions. But perhaps Anne is such an iconic character that she and Montgomery no longer need an introduction.

Rather than spending time on introductory matters, Weike Wang dives into a description of your Anne of Green Gables virtual reality experience. You (as Anne Shirley) have a choice in skin tones, but must have long red hair styled in two braids. Your journey in the carriage occurs in the autumn and without Matthew (unlike the book), and you meet the Cuthberts at Green Gables.

Later, your virtual reality experience continues in the classroom where your teacher leaves a vowel out of your name to your dismay. When your classmate Gilbert Blythe insults you, you have the option to hit him with a virtual arsenal of weapons including the standard slate, as well as a retractable prop dagger, a dead fish, and more. After class you go on "life-affirming adventures" with your bosom friend Diana Barry.

Then you must study, eventually graduating with your teaching license from Queen’s and winning the prestigious Avery scholarship, which allows you to attend a four-year college. Your friends, including Gilbert, celebrate you. Weike Wang notes that you can choose to end your virtual reality experience here, "feeling galvanized, like you can do anything," or you can choose to stay for the final two minutes. In these final minutes, your family loses their savings, Matthew Cuthbert dies of a heart attack, and you defer your dreams for a time and stay at Green Gables. Then you marry Gilbert, have seven children, and live in an idyllic home. Wang writes, "though you do leave the room less galvanized, you are relieved that the immense pressure to amount to something has resolved itself and, in the natural course of adulting, priorities must change."

The article had a bit of humor and weirdness, but it also left me thinking about the author's purpose. Was it simply a humorous piece, poking fun at virtual reality and Zuckerberg's metaverse, or was it more? Weike Wang brings up an interesting point, namely, that in this virtual reality version of Anne's story, you could stop your experience at a wonderfully high point in Anne's life. When Anne wins the Avery scholarship, she has so many ambitions and dreams ahead of her, and she's on the cusp of success.

Do many modern women truly want to live out Anne's full life story? When she's young, she's charismatic and passionate, and she doesn't conform. She's not ordinary. But later, she gives up her dreams of teaching and writing for her loving brood of children and devoted (but mainly absentee) husband. As Weike Wang notes, "A person can’t trailblaze forever; she has to slow down sometimes and take stock of societal norms." This piece left me wondering where I would choose to conclude my own Anne of Green Gables virtual reality experience and whether I would prefer to leave before those final two minutes.

Created January 27, 2022.
© worldofanneshirley.com

Anne of Green Gables Jigsaw Puzzle

Enjoy playing with this online Anne of Green Gables jigsaw puzzle. Before beginning, you can rotate the puzzle pieces and increase the number of pieces to make this puzzle more challenging. You can also customize the background color.

The cover artwork is by George Gibbs for the 1908 version of Anne of Green Gables published by L.C. Page & Company.



Created January 20, 2022.
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When Anne of Green Gables Book Covers Go Bad

First published in 1908, L.M. Montgomery's novel Anne of Green Gables has been republished many times over the years. The artists who have depicted Anne Shirley on book covers often have a strong grasp of her personality and character. Sometimes these images form the basis for how readers imagine Anne and compliment L.M. Montgomery's text. But other times, Anne of Green Gables book cover designs baffle me and leave me somewhat aghast. Let's look at a few examples:


The above Anne of Green Gables book cover is for a 2021 Kindle edition. It gives me Lolita vibes and to me looks nothing like Anne Shirley. I also imagine this Anne tossing her glossy locks, telling everyone that she hates her hair and fishing for compliments while secretly being a hair model influencer.


This above version of Anne of Green Gables (ISBN-13 9781080273300) was independently published in 2019. Let's start with the good: the depiction of nature is nice. Beyond that though, everything puzzles me. Is the young girl in the gaudy dress supposed to be Anne? She's younger than Anne, and the dress is too bright and anachronistic. And why is the girl's face scribbled over? Just to add more green to the cover or to leave her headless? The font choices and colors are odd too.


The version of Anne of Green Gables shown above was independently published as a 2017 Kindle edition. It's a green-hued, pixelated version of a drawing from the 1908 version of Anne of Green Gables depicting, "Thwack! Anne had brought her slate down on Gilbert's head." A new reader might think that they could step into the Matrix with Anne.


The above version of Anne of Green Gables was self-published in 2013 through Amazon's CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. This edition of Anne is notorious for its book cover depicting Anne Shirley as a curvaceous blonde. At the time, the cover and the negative response to it by fans made headlines at NPR, CBC, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, CTV News, BuzzFeed News, The Guardian, and The Toronto Star.

Created January 8, 2022.
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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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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 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:

Created March 29, 2021.
© worldofanneshirley.com

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.
© worldofanneshirley.com

Anne of Green Gables Anime Doll by Takara Tomy

On July 31, 2016, Takara Tomy Toys is releasing a limited and exclusive Anne of Green Gables doll based on the 1979 anime series by Nippon Animation. The beautiful anime, also known as Akage no An, was directed by Isao Takahata as part of the World Masterpiece Theater series. The Anne of Green Gables doll was designed to celebrate 40 years of Nippon Animation. Read more about the Takara Tomy Toy release here.

The sweet Anne Shirley doll is part of the "Rikaraizu" series, which faithfully represents anime characters. The Anne of Green Gables doll is approximately 23 cm tall and has two outfits (shown below):


Anne's first outfit is the brown wincey dress she arrived at Green Gables wearing. The second outfit is the beautiful dress with puffed sleeves that Matthew Cuthbert gives Anne for Christmas. The doll can be posed on its own stand, and it comes with a hat, bag, shoes, and other accessories.

Created July 31, 2016. Re-posted online March 7, 2023. Last updated January 20, 2024.
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