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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One cannot get tired...

"One cannot get tired of really beautiful things..."

-L.M. Montgomery
Kilmeny of the Orchard

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Image credit:
Photograph by World of Anne Shirley.

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Created January 30, 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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The sky above her...

"The sky above her was a wonderful soft deep violet."

-L.M. Montgomery
Magic for Marigold

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Photograph by World of Anne Shirley.

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Created January 28, 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.
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The Watchman and Other Poems

L.M. Montgomery published a volume of poetry titled The Watchman and Other Poems in 1916 by McClelland, Goodchild & Stewart. The book is named for the introductory poem, entitled “The Watchman.” This poem is followed by three thematic groups of poems: Songs of Sea, Songs of the Hills and Woods, and Miscellaneous.

All of the poems included in The Watchman and Other Poems had been previously published in magazines according to John Robert Sorfleet [1]. In her acknowledgements, L.M. Montgomery thanked the following publishers and magazines for granting permission to republish her poetry: The Youth's Companion, Forward, East and West, MacLean's Magazine, The Sunday School Times, Zion's Herald, The Outlook, Munsey's Magazine, The New Idea Woman's Magazine, Smart Set, The Ladies' World, The Canadian Magazine, St. Nicholas, The Congregationalist and Christian World, Everybody's Magazine, The Christian Endeavor World, The American Messenger, The Delineator, and Smith's Magazine.

L.M. Montgomery dedicated The Watchman and Other Poems to the soldiers who fought in WWI:

"To the memory of the gallant
Canadian soldiers who have laid
down their lives for their
country and their empire."

I took the photograph pictured above of a 1916 volume of The Watchman and Other Poems that I read from the University of Texas at Austin library.

Reference:
[1] Sorfleet, John. R. "L. M. Montgomery: Canadian Authoress." in L. M. Montgomery: An Assessment. Ed. John Robert Sorfleet. Guelph: Canadian Children's Press, 1976. pages 42–49.

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Created February 17, 2002. Re-posted online January 23, 2022. Last updated January 23, 2022.
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Jane tasted happiness...

"Jane tasted happiness. It was the first time any one had ever admired her."

-L.M. Montgomery
Jane of Lantern Hill

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Created January 22, 2022.
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Courageous Women

In 1934, L.M. Montgomery, Marian Keith, and Mabel Burns (M.B.) McKinley published a book called Courageous Women. This volume of nonfiction contained 21 “Inspiring Biographies of Girls who Grew to be Women of Courage and Achievement.” In this collection of biographical essays, L.M. Montgomery, Marian Keith, and M.B. McKinley told the stories of “Women of heroism, courage, endurance, resourcefulness, and cheerful spirit.” L.M. Montgomery wrote three sketches in the volume, namely the biographies of Joan of Arc, Florence Nightingale, and Mary Slessor of Calabar.

The book cover shown above features photographs of six of the women featured in the volume. Across the top row, from left to right, are Margaret Polson Murray, founder of the Imperial Order of Daughters of the Empire, Florence Nightingale, the “noted pioneer among war nurses,” and Lady Tilley, who was active in Red Cross work and other public service. Across the bottom row, from left to right, are Marshall Saunders, C.B.E., “known the world over for her championship of dumb animals,” Aletta E. Marty, the first woman to hold the office of Public School Inspector in Canada, and Ada May Courtice, the founder of the Home and School Club Movement.

The 1934 book jacket for Courageous Women published by McClelland and Stewart describes the book as follows:

“A series of inspiring biographies of girls who grew to be women of courage and achievement. Vivid human interest stories of women leaders in many fields of activity. Fifteen out of the twenty-one sketches in the book deal with Canadian women who have taken a prominent part in pioneer life, in mission work, in education, in literature, and in various spheres of public service. Many of these biographies appear now for the first time in book form.

Canadians will read with pride of the achievements of such courageous pioneers as Catharine Parr Traill and Elizabeth Mair; of the vision of Mrs. A. C. Courtice, founder of the Home and School Club movement; of Mrs. Clark Murray, founder of the I.O.D.E.; of Madame Albani, Canada’s Queen of Song; of courageous mission workers at home and abroad—Anna Gaudin, Sadie Stringer, Caroline MacDonald; of that leader in education, Dr. Aletta Elise Marty, of Marshall Saunders, beloved author and champion of dumb animals—and of many others.”

Courageous Women includes the following twenty-one chapters:

1) The Maid of France: Joan of Arc
2) The Angel of the Crimea: Florence Nightingale
3) The Great White Ma: Mary Slessor of Calabar
4) A Brave Deed: Laura Secord
5) Happiness in a Log Cabin: Catharine Parr Traill
6) A Noble Girl Queen: Queen Victoria
7) Courage in Danger: Madeleine de Vercheres
8) From Darkness to Light: Helen Keller
9) A Friend of the School: Ada May Courtice
10) The Golden Chrysanthemum: Caroline MacDonald
11) A Loyal Pioneer of the West: Elizabeth Louise Mair
12) Caring for Indians: Anna J. Gaudin
13) A War Heroine: Edith Cavell
14) Braving the White North: Sadie Stringer
15) Canada's Queen of Song: Madame Albani
16) The Princess of the Paddle: (Tekahionwake) E. Pauline Johnson
17) A Leader in Education: Aletta Elise Marty
18) A Pupil at School: Dr. Margaret MacKellar
19) A Daughter of the Empire: Margaret Polson Murray
20) Service for Others: Lady Tilley
21) Champion of Dumb Animals: Marshall Saunders

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Created January 21, 2022.
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