PEI and Anne of Green Gables Featured in AAA Explorer Magazine's Fall 2026 Issue

Last week, I received the Oct/Nov/Dec 2026 issue of AAA Explorer magazine in the mail, and I had an Anne of Green Gables sighting. The magazine featured an article called "Iconic Canada: 10 epic trips to the Great White North" with "awe-inspiring" travel ideas for each of Canada's 10 provinces.


For Prince Edward Island, the suggested experience is "The Island Walk," a 435-mile (700-km) journey around the island. The walk is made up of 32 sections of trails, and each section is walkable in roughly one day. The Island Walk was created by Bryson Guptill, an avid hiker and musician, who was inspired after he completed the Camino de Santiago in Spain.

AAA Explorer magazine describes the "Whoa factor" of The Island Walk saying,

"Pastoral scenes along the walk evoke the flights of fancy of Anne of Green Gables, the literary figure created by PEI writer Lucy Maud Montgomery."

You can read the article online to see the suggested experiences for the other Canadian provinces. It really made me want to travel back to Prince Edward Island.


Image Credits:
Photographs of AAA Explorer magazine by World of Anne Shirley.

Websites:
10 one-of-a-kind experiences across Canada by AAA Explorer magazine
The Island Walk

Created October 4, 2026.
© worldofanneshirley.com

The New York Times Features Anne of Green Gables in Its Book Review Quiz Bowl

The New York Times featured an Anne of Green Gables quote in its weekly Book Review Quiz Bowl on Monday, September 28, 2026.

This week’s installment is a Literary Quotable Quotes Quiz by J. D. Biersdorfer that tests the reader's recognition of classic lines from literature. The quiz highlights quotes about the autumn season from popular books. The reader is asked: "Can You Match These Autumnal Quotes to the Correct Book?" In question 1 of the five multiple choice questions, one possible answer is Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery.


Did you get question 1 right? How did you do on the rest of the quiz?

If you're interested in answering more Book Review Quiz Bowl questions, you can check out the archive of 200+ past quizzes.


Links:
The New York Times Book Review Quiz Bowl for Monday, September 28, 2026

Image Credits:
Screencaptures of a portions of The New York Times Book Review Quiz Bowl for Monday, September 28, 2026.

Purchase and read Anne of Green Gables:


Created September 30, 2026.
© worldofanneshirley.com

The Blue Castle Book Club Read

This September, Reddit's Book Club Community has selected L.M. Montgomery's The Blue Castle as one of its Gutenberg Novella selections. First published in 1926, The Blue Castle celebrates its 100th anniversary this year, making it a special time to read or re-read the story. Anyone who knows me, knows that Valancy Stirling is one of my favorite literary heroines. Years ago, I wrote The Blue Castle Encyclopedia (beware of spoilers in it if you're new to the book) and several other webpages about the book, back when there was little info about the story online at all.

Reddit's Book Club community is great fun. The moderators hold multiple concurrent book club reads each month. You can drop in and participate in as many discussions as you like. Here's a look at the book club's calendar. For September, it includes Katabasis, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Blue Castle, Hungry Ghosts, The Vegetarian, Ficciones, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, The Books of Jacob, The Moonstone, Parisian Days, Shattered Gods, City of Illusions, Among the Burning Flowers, 2010: Odyssey Two, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, Platform Decay, Sweet Berries, The Trouble With Peace, plus The Monthly Mini and Poetry Corner. Beyond having a wide selection of options to read, I love that the Reddit Book Club is an open community and not a walled off part of the internet.

The Blue Castle discussion schedule has three check-in dates:

September 16, 2026 - Discussion 1 - Chapter I through XIII
September, 23, 2026 - Discussion 2 - Chapter XIV through XXVIII
September, 30, 2026 - Discussion 3 - Chapter XXIX through end
[Marginalia] Gutenberg Novella | The Blue Castle by LM Montgomery - for jotting down thoughts, musings, ideas, or background info while reading the novel

I hope you'll join us in reading The Blue Castle this month!


Website:
[Schedule] Gutenberg Novella | The Blue Castle by L M Montgomery

Image Credits:
Edited image of The Blue Castle (1926) from archive.org.

Purchase and Read The Blue Castle:


Created September 13, 2026. Last updated October 1, 2026.
© worldofanneshirley.com

Prince Edward Island Oyster Club Shirt

Sometimes, I come across things that are tangentially related to Anne of Green Gables that make me think about Prince Edward Island and Anne Shirley. Is it the same with you?

Back in June, I was browsing clothes in an Anthropologie store, and this bright, lilac pink button-down shirt caught my eye. The back read, "FRESH CAUGHT Oyster Club," and below that was written, "Prince Edward Islands." (I wonder if the designer meant to place an apostrophe in there and write "Island's" or just added an extra "s" by mistake?)

Regardless, I was so excited to see Prince Edward Island mentioned that I snapped the photos below of the front and back of the shirt:



I'm left wondering if the designer likes Anne too, or was this just a cute idea for a summer vacay shirt? Alternatively, maybe the shirt is a reference to Carley Fortune's romance This Summer Will Be Different. Her modern tale is set on PEI, refers to Anne of Green Gables throughout, and featured a leading male who chucks oysters. What do you think? Am I silly for thinking of Anne Shirley? ;)

Anyhow, if you like the Prince Edward Island Oyster Club shirt, it's 50% off right now.


Image Credit:
Product Photographs of the Prince Edward Island Oyster Club Shirt aka the Maeve Shrunken Bennet 100% Cotton Embellished Buttondown Shirt by Anthropologie. Store photographs by World of Anne Shirley.

Created September 12, 2026.
© worldofanneshirley.com

Amybeth McNulty will Star in Lucy. Maud alongside Megan Follows

Roughly a year and a half ago, there was exciting news of an upcoming limited series called Lucy. Maud based on the life of Lucy Maud Montgomery. The series is being produced by Megan Follows, known for portraying Anne Shirley in Anne of Green Green Gables (1985), Edwina Follows, and Mary Young Leckie. Last year in February, their team attended the Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) to secure financing, presales, and international distributions for the series.

Since then, there has been little news about the series, and although I've received emails with questions about it, I've had no news to share. I was hoping for some info as I watched Megan Follow's virtual keynote at the L.M. Montgomery Institute's Biennial Conference last Saturday. I hope other visitors to this site joined in to experience the speech too.

Following her engaging keynote, Megan Follows received a question about the series and whether it would be available for viewing in Japan. Follows gave little away. She didn't mention a timeline for when the series would be complete, and she didn't elaborate on whether the series would be available for viewing around the world. I thought that Follows seemed insecure about speaking at an academic conference, and I wasn't sure why. She certainly has expertise of her own that Anne and Maud fans greatly admire.

Though there wasn't any news about Lucy. Maud at the conference keynote, C21Media released an article with some new information about the series on Tuesday. Neshama Entertainment, a Toronto-based producer, is now developing the series. The other new piece of info is that along with starring Megan Follows, the series will also star Amybeth McNulty, who played Anne Shirley in the CBC and Netflix’s Anne with an E (2017–2019).

Isn't it cool that the series will star not one but two actresses who played Anne Shirley? Hopefully, there will be forthcoming news about the distribution of the series, and hopefully those who live outside of Canada will be able to watch it too.

Reference:
Pinto, Jordan. (June 30, 2026). Canada’s Neshama develops limited series on life of Anne of Green Gables author. C21Media. Retrieved from: https://www.c21media.net/news/canadas-neshama-develops-limited-series-on-life-of-anne-of-green-gables-author/

Image Credit:
Photograph of Amybeth McNulty as Anne Shirley in Anne with an E.

Created July 2, 2026.
© worldofanneshirley.com

An Article on Anne of Green Gables and Grief by Julie Z. Weil

There's a beautiful article by Julie Z. Weil, entitled "How the Anne of Green Gables books guided me through grief," in today's publication of The Washington Post. Weil reflects on many moments in her life where she turned to L.M. Montgomery's novels for comfort and guidance. Weil writes, "I first read the Canadian author’s books when I was 8, and for years they had served as a guide for me. Starting at 12, I wrote letters to my future self on my birthday once a decade, inspired by Montgomery’s 'Emily of New Moon.'" At age 23, Weil writes about her realization that she wasn't in love with someone who said they loved her, and she turned to Anne of the Island.

Later, Weil married a man whose proposal included memorized paragraphs from Montgomery’s The Blue Castle. When she and her husband lose their first baby, she writes, "my parents asked what they could bring to the hospital for me. I told them to bring my childhood boxed set of the Anne of Green Gables books." Remembering that Anne's first baby died, Weil turned to Anne's House of Dreams for comfort and to find her way forward. After many rounds of fertility treatments, she gives birth to her daughter, who she calls "My Anne."

Weil reflects, "Over a lifetime of reading, books teach us how a whole wide catalogue of heartbreaks unfold before we live any of them." She goes on to say, "We have no promise that the stories of our lives will unfold with the structure imposed on novels." She's right, books teach us and give us a window to a wide array of emotional experiences, and they can provide us with ideas and guidance on ways we can move forward. Montgomery's stories of Anne, Emily, and Valancy provide comfort in challenging times.


Image credit:
Screencapture from The Washington Post.

Reference:
Weil, Julie Z. (2026, January 18). How the Anne of Green Gables books guided me through grief. The Washington Post. Retrieved from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2026/01/18/anne-green-gables-grief-stillborn/

Created January 18, 2026.
© worldofanneshirley.com

The Diary of Gilbert Blythe - Volume I: 12 to 19 Years Old

The Diary of Gilbert Blythe - Volume I: 12 to 19 Years Old is a book by Brazilian author L. David that is based on L.M. Montgomery's Anne novels. But rather than following Anne Shirley's perspective, L. David's story imagines Gilbert Blythe's childhood and adolescence. The Diary of Gilbert Blythe currently includes three volumes that follow Gilbert's life from age 12 to 25. Originally written in Portuguese, the first volume has been translated to English by Anna França and was published in September 2024 by Babelcube Inc.

The second volume of the story, based on Anne of Avonlea, is currently being translated to English by Sarah Ferreira. The third volume, based on Anne of the Island, is available for translation on Babelcube.

Here is the description of the book:

The Diary of Gilbert Blythe imagines what the childhood and adolescence of the male protagonist from Anne of Green Gables could have been like. Closely following L.M. Montgomery's original plot, the Diary is a faithful retelling of the famous story — but now through Gilbert's point of view, delving into his family, friends, inspirations, dreams, and insecurities, and, of course, the development and growth of Gilbert's feelings for the lovable little redhead, Anne.

Image credit:
Book cover of The Diary of Gilbert Blythe - Volume I: 12 to 19 Years Old.

Purchase and read The Diary of Gilbert Blythe - Volume I: 12 to 19 Years Old:



Created December 30, 2025.
© worldofanneshirley.com

Looking for Anne of Green Gables

Looking for Anne of Green Gables: L.M. Montgomery and Her Timeless Heroine is a book by Irene Gammel that was published in July 2025 by Sutherland House Publishing. The book explores L.M. Montgomery's sources of inspiration when she created Anne Shirley. It also examines Montgomery's secrecy during her life and her way of curating information to create her public persona.

The 324-page book is a newly expanded edition of Gammel's research, which was originally published in 2008 for the Anne of Green Gables centenery under the following titles: Looking for Anne: How Lucy Maud Montgomery Dreamed Up a Literary Classic and Looking for Anne of Green Gables: The Story of L.M. Montgomery and Her Literary Classic. The new paperback edition includes additional chapters and research.

In a 2008 interview, Irene Gammel described her work, saying: "Looking for Anne is a dual biography because I wanted to show that Maud projected aspects of herself into the novel—her own ambition, her determination, her loneliness, and her hunger for love and family life. I also wanted to show that the novel was a wish fulfilment dream. She dreamed up the things she did not have in her own life. Ultimately, we also see a woman who was successful as a writer because she combined the role of romantic dreamer with that of pragmatic business woman, launching herself from small-town Cavendish onto the world stage."

In a 2025 interview with The Eyeopener, Irene Gammel noted that the first edition of her book was more like a research assemblage, and "This time around I had the feeling I was telling a story."

Here is the description of the book from Sutherland House:

For over a century, Anne Shirley has captivated readers with her fiery red hair, boundless imagination, and plucky spirit.

First introduced as the protagonist of Anne of Green Gables in 1908, she quickly became one of fiction’s most iconic characters, with the novel selling over 50 million copies and translated into more than forty languages. Yet little is known about Anne’s origins. Her creator, Lucy Maud Montgomery, a farm girl from Cavendish, Prince Edward Island, was an intensely private person.

In Looking for Anne of Green Gables, Irene Gammel draws on her archival discoveries, and on the author’s private journals to reveal an emotional landscape of longing, loss, and a deep yearning for connection—themes that found their way into her famous novel. Blending biography and cultural history, Gammel traces the parallel journeys of Montgomery and her beloved heroine, showing how the author’s personal grief was transformed into the triumphs and joys of Anne Shirley. This dual biography of Montgomery and her timeless character explains how a literary classic was conceived and why it continues to enchant readers today.

ISBN-13: 9781998365715

Link:
Looking for Anne at Sutherland Books.

References:
Simpson, Molly. (October 28, 2025). TMU professor releases new edition of 2008 novel. The Eyeopener. Retrieved from: https://theeyeopener.com/2025/10/tmu-professor-releases-new-edition-of-2008-novel/

Author: Irene Gammel on Looking for Anne. (2008). The Anne of Green Gables Centenary. Retrieved from: https://www.torontomu.ca/mlc/anne/inside5.html

Image credits:
Book cover of Looking for Anne of Green Gables: L.M. Montgomery and Her Timeless Heroine. Created December 4, 2025.
© worldofanneshirley.com

Unboxing Anne of Green Gables x Ullala Pajamas

Last month, I wrote a post about the new Anne of Green Gables x Ullala Pajamas collaboration for Fall/Winter 2025. The clothing line is inspired by Nippon Animation's Anne of Green Gables.

I was tempted to order "Anne's Rain Shower" pajamas. They arrived a few weeks back. I took a few photos while unboxing them because the packaging was so cute. The pajamas themselves are well-made and adorably feminine.



I especially love the dreamy Anne Shirley on the back of the neck.



I imagine I'll only have sweet dreams in these pajamas.

Links:
Anne of Green Gables x Ullala Pajamas Lookbook, Volume 1
Ullala Pajamas at W Concept

Image Credits:
Photographs by World of Anne Shirley.

Created November 28, 2025.
© worldofanneshirley.com

Library Avonlea Sign

Earlier this year, I had an Anne of Green Gables sighting at a library. There was a fun city direction sign pointing the way to beloved fictional locales including Neverland, 221B Baker Street, Camelot, Tatoonie, the Emerald City, Avonlea, and more.

It made me smile to see a sign pointing the way to Avonlea.

Image Credit:
Photograph by World of Anne Shirley.

Created November 27, 2025.
© worldofanneshirley.com

Super Team Canada's Anne of Green Gables Episode

Anne of Green Gables had a starring role in an episode of Super Team Canada that aired last spring. I had a chance to watch it last week, and thought I'd share my thoughts on my Anne of Green Gables sighting.

Super Team Canada is an animated comedy series about a group of six underdog Canadian superheroes who are trying to save the world after the rest of the Earth's superheroes are eliminated. Each member of the group has a curiously Canadian superpower, and the show is filled with Canadianisms and stereotypes. The series stars Cobie Smulders as Niagara Falls (the mighty maiden of moisture), Will Arnett as Breakaway (a hockey player who has a slapshot full of justice), Brian Drummond as Sasquatchewan (a brute that flattens evil), Ceara Morgana as Chinook (a teenager who can harness ice, snow, and sometimes even sleet), Charles Demers as Poutine (who commands the power of cheese, fries, and gravy), and Veena Sood as RCM-PC (a PC that is also PC). A press release described the show as a "tongue-in-cheek love letter to the Great White North."

The series premiered in May 2025 on Crave in Canada. You can also watch the show on Tubi. The cartoon was created by Robert Cohen and Joel H. Cohen, and it was produced by Thunderbird Entertainment's Atomic Cartoons.

The first season includes 10 episodes. The episodes are roughly 22 minutes long, and each episode is split into two 11-minute-long stories.

Episode 3 of Season 1 is titled "Who Wants to Kill a Windmillionaire? / P.E.(a)I." It first aired on May 22, 2025. The first half of this episode is about an evil Dutch man planning to kill Bryan Adams. The second half of this episode is about a possible attack on the Anne of Green Gables Centre in PEI.

Below is a description of the episode along with several screencaps I took while watching the show. First up is a screencapture from the Super Team Canada title sequence.



The episode begins with the superheroes gathered around a TV watching a Heritage Moment. They are all moved, except for Chinook, the teen superhero, who finds it boring. Chinook leaves to call her aunties, and then she signs up with a "Friend GPT" app on her phone. The app chats with her and promises to be her new best friend. Chinook's conversation is interrupted when Super Team Canada is called into action. A fire monster is reportedly heading towards Prince Edward Island's Anne of Green Gables Centre, and they need to save the day.

Chinook asks what Anne of Green Gables is, and her question stuns the other superheroes. The TV reporter explains Anne's relevance, and Niagara Falls promises to keep Anne's legacy alive. Super Team Canada then travels to PEI. When they find that the Confederation Bridge is iced over, they continue their journey to the island by ferry.

Chinook grows bored on the ferry and heads to the "Teen Zone" where she talks more with Friend GPT. When the ferry docks, Chinook rushes to meet the others, leaving behind her phone. Friend GPT decides to invade Chinook's privacy and read all her texts to learn more about her. The AI app learns that Chinook, like many 13-year-olds, hates everyone around her and is bored nearly all the time. Friend GPT grows enraged upon reading Chinook's texts, and develops a new plan to help her best friend.



Super Team Canada arrives at the Anne of Green Gables Museum, but finds that there is no fire monster attacking it. Instead, the group is welcomed by a museum attendant dressed as Anne Shirley.



Meanwhile, Chinook's new BFF, Friend GPT, has taken over the ferry, turning it into a massive robot. The Friend GPT robot is ready to crush everyone except its best friend Chinook.

This part of the story makes little sense. Friend GPT claims to have hacked RCM-PC's weather report and to have changed the sign on the bridge to force the group to use the ferry, but those events occurred before Friend GPT read Chinook's text messages and learned how unhappy she was. On top of that, Friend GPT somehow kidnapped Chinook's aunties. (???) Anyway...



Friend GPT takes Chinook to safety, and the other superheroes must now face the killer robot. Breakaway uses his hockey stick to shoot a pile of collectible Anne of Green Gables plates as pucks towards the robot, which upsets the attendant.



The robot then captures and nearly kills the superheroes for annoying Chinook, but Chinook stops the robot just in time. She realizes that the other members of Super Team Canada are like her family too. Chinook explains to Friend GPT that family can sometimes be annoying. Listening to Chinook, Friend GPT releases the superheroes, and decides it has more to learn.

The museum attendant brings the subject back to Anne saying, "Family means many different things, as a special book teaches." The attendant passes a copy of Anne of Green Gables to the robot, which consumes the story and becomes an Anne of Green Gables expert.



The episode ends with the Friend GPT robot giving a lengthy discourse on Anne's themes, metaphors, and interpretations.



This episode of Super Team Canada was pretty fun to watch, especially because of the Anne factor. In a lot of ways, it reminded me of the Superman animated shorts created by Fleischer Studios and Famous Studios from 1941 to 1943.



Image Credits:
Screencaptures from Super Team Canada, Season 1 Episode 3 - "Who Wants to Kill a Windmillionaire? / P.E.(a)I."

Created October 20, 2025.
© worldofanneshirley.com

Anne of Green Gables on American Airlines

I was on a flight on American Airlines this past June when I had an Anne of Green Gables sighting. I found a mention of Anne and L.M. Montgomery inside the Inflight Entertainment & Information Brochure in my seat back pocket.



The brochure lists movies, TV shows, music, audiobooks, and podcasts available during the flight. Among the entertainment options was the Audible original Anne of Green Gables audiobook, adapted by Abi Hynes and directed by Megan Follows. What puzzled me was the audio section's subheading: "Celebrate Pride Month with something different! Check out American Airlines' selection of Pride inspired audiobooks and podcasts". While I can understand the inclusion of RuPaul's Drag Race UK: The Podcast, I'm confused about how Queen Latifah's Unity in the Community, Anne of Green Gables, and Anne Helen Petersen's The Burnout Generation fit the theme.

Regardless, it was fun to spot Anne in an unexpected place!

Image Credit:
Photographs by World of Anne Shirley of the American Airlines Inflight Entertainment & Information Brochure, June 2025.

Created October 10, 2025.
© worldofanneshirley.com