Anne of Green Gables

I wasn't an orphan, I wasn’t raised on a farm, and no one teased me for my ordinary brown hair, but my identification with “carrot topped” Anne Shirley was immersive and all consuming. I could smell the flowers and taste the russet apples she delights in, and I could feel the unrelenting joie de vivre that, despite life’s many slings and arrows, courses through her childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood.

This book may date from 1905, but this beloved story of an orphan girl who comes to live with an aging brother and sister on their farm on Prince Edward… show more.

I first fell in love with Anne Shirley, watching the CBC TV miniseries with my nana. This quirky girl was so much herself without apology—all she wanted was a family of her own, which she found through a misunderstanding and just being herself.

I love the entire series (though there is some dated language to watch out for in later books), but I return to the first book over and over to study at Montgomery’s feet about how to create such authentic, flawed, beautiful characters. Watching these characters (Anne, Marilla, Matthew, and her best friend Diana) become a family is… show more.

Of course, as young adult fiction, it’s far from being a memoir, but once I came upon this series (not until I was in my twenties), I held tight to it, reading it and watching it over and over. I wished I had something of Anne’s spirit when I was growing up and still, in my twenties, wished to learn and embody.

I, too, had felt like a little girl lost in romance, poetry, and hope, but when the world came at me hard, I didn’t have Anne’s way of handling it. My coming-of-age memoir would have been different.

Who doesn’t love this book? It was the first book I read that truly expressed the intensity and delight of young female friendship. Anne and Diana’s absolute devotion to each other was so beautifully portrayed. Then, there is the pain when their friendship is forbidden, and Anne longs for reunification. L.M. Montgomery skillfully explored other girl dynamics with the addition of characters Jane Andrews, Ruby Gillis, and the character we love to hate—Josie Pye. 

One of my fave scenes is when Anne and her friends act out the poem, The Lady of Shalott, by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Anne uses a… show more.

If you are a kindred spirit, you know immediately why I’m recommending this book! I first picked this book up without knowing anything about it when I was a teenager. I immediately fell in love with Anne, Gilbert, Marilla, Matthew, and everyone in Avonlea. I can read this book anywhere and at any time. 

Anne Shirley is an orphan who winds up at Green Gables and is given a trial basis to prove to Marilla Cuthbert why she should keep Anne, who is not a boy. Imaginative, romantic, and funny, this book (and its sequels) kept me laughing and crying,… show more.

I’m convinced that many young readers in the last century (and this one) have been compelled to become writers themselves if they read Anne of Green Gables (published in 1908) and became enmeshed in the life of spunky, red-haired orphan, Anne Shirley.

The story takes place in Canada’s smallest province, Prince Edward Island, and recounts the tale of a child who is mistakenly placed in the care of a pair of middle-aged siblings on their farm.

While I became addicted to reading every Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew novel when I was young, Anne of Green Gables was a book… show more.

I will read any genre of story, as long as it’s good. However, rich, highly three-dimensional characters who feel as though you’re among friends has a special place in my heart.

In this case, Anne is wonderful! She’s positive, bright, magical, transformative, like golden sunlight dappling a dark room. She makes the world come alive and despite being a poor orphan, can’t help but saturate the grim hearts of the characters around her with love. She’s a rainbow in a black-and-white world.

If I slow my reading during a book because I’m enjoying its world, it’s because I don’t want… show more.

Lucy Maud Montgomery’s characters live and breathe in my heart. 

In Anne of Green Gables, orphaned Anne Shirley is taken in by Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert of quaint Avonlea on beautiful Prince Edward Island. Anne’s many social challenges, her antics—well-meaning but with frequent disastrous (and humorous) results, her close friendship with neighboring Diana Barry, and her many hopes and longings and dreams warm and delight my heart. 

Like Anne, several characters in my own stories—as well as I—longed from childhood to become a writer. In my book, my heroine, also an orphan from Prince Edward Island, strikes up a correspondence… show more.

Anne Shirley is another character who doesn’t have an official diagnosis, but I think it is no accident that this character has long resonated with creative, daydreaming, quirky girls (and boys) everywhere.

I’m not alone in claiming Anne for the ADHD-community, and in celebrating her ADHD-related strengths: she can get lost in her own fantasy world, she has a unique perspective, and she’s really good—hyperfocused even—in a pinch or a serious situation. 

It's possible I over-identify with Anne. At one point, she says, “Oh, it's delightful to have ambitions. I'm so glad I have such a lot. And there never… show more.

Anne Shirley is my favourite main character of all time. She is feisty, brave, and sincere, with a great imagination. She is also a true friend and makes the best out of any situation. I have read this book many times and love it more each time. The descriptions of Prince Edward Island enticed me to visit this enchanting place. After reading Anne of Green Gables all those years ago, I decided I wanted to be a writer.