Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery seemed like the natural choice to pick up first when returning to kid lit. I don't remember when I was first handed AOGG, but I also can't remember how many times I've read this book, and the seven other books in the series. In fact, I’ve read it so many times that I’ve completely worn off the front cover. I love how I felt the need to "brand" this book - in case anyone forgot whom it belonged to! I wish I could say that my signature had improved/changed since then...
I have found that in my experience, most people know about the lovable character of Anne from seeing the AOGG movies. I'll be the first to admit that the first two moves do a great amount of justice to the book (the third one in my opinion is terrible, and goes completely off-script), and that Gilbert Blythe is terribly handsome in the movies, but the books have always been pure magic for me.
Especially in this day and age, I find the world of Avonlea so alluring. I love how the original “mistake” of Marilla wanting an orphan boy, and getting a girl instead was made because she sent the message through word of mouth. The characters have to ride in horses and buggies to get anywhere. Anne goes to school in a one-room schoolhouse with children of every age. The girls wear dresses with puffed sleeves, and put flowers in their hair. Eating ice cream is a luxury almost never dreamed of. Everyone writes letters! I've spent hours immersing myself in this world that seems further and further away from reality.
Thanks to Anne (spelled with an e!), I've always wanted red hair, even though she never could stand hers. I guess I've always associated red hair with Anne's unique personality. She is such a wonderfully complex character. As Anne says herself, she has so many different Annes inside herself that she can be a "troublesome person." She's the Anne who is very girly and obsesses about her hair, nose, and clothes all the time. She's also the Anne who plays in the woods and walks the ridgepole of the Barry's house on a dare. She writes stories about falling in love in castles in Spain and being the damsel in distress, and then she cracks her slate over Gilbert Blythe's head when he makes fun of her red hair. She won't blindly submit to authority, as we see with her first encounter with Mrs. Lynde, but she is kind and nurturing to Marilla and Matthew.
Like Anne, I find myself in many scrapes and unique situations. Anne accidentally gets Diana drunk off Marilla's currant wine, dyes her hair green by mistake, and puts liniment in the layer cake for Mrs. Allan. I've messed up countless recipes in a ridiculous fashion, I've cut my own hair (and then tried to have my friend fix it), and I've managed to build Ikea bookshelves that simply collapsed.
Having this imperfect heroine is one of the reasons that this book has resonated so much with me. I remember reading Pollyana by Eleanor H. Porter and getting so fed up with Pollyana because she never did anything wrong! From Anne, I've learned that even if you make mistake after mistake, there's always a new day "fresh with no mistakes in it". I think that's an important lesson, whether as a kid or as an adult - that even if mistakes are made, there's always room to make everything better. You can really start over the next day.
I love the friendship between Anne and Diana. It's so pure, without any backstabbing or pettiness or gossiping. Sometimes when I've been trying counsel my students, who seem to switch friends by the hour, I want to point them to Anne and Diana as an example. These two girls decided they were going to be "bosom friends" at the age of eleven, and stuck with it, despite their differences.
Even though Anne and Gilbert's romance doesn't really develop in AOGG, I would be remiss to not at least mention their relationship as one of the reasons I love this series so much. They start off as competitors, Anne holds a grudge against Gilbert for years, they become friends, and Anne eventually realizes she's been in love with him all along. I love that even through all the misunderstandings and different ideas of what the two of them think they want, they end up together.
Anne's outlook on life is contagious. She's had such a hard childhood, and yet she uses her imagination to get through it. She constantly sees the glass as half full. She's always thinking about that next "bend in the road" where she can't see what the future holds. She manages to see this admittedly scary concept as so exciting. I think all of us could use a little more of that philosophy in our own lives.
In Anne's world, there is no separation between humans and nature. To her, flowers are to be named, trees dream in their sleep, and brooks laugh. Anne says early on to Marilla that she doesn't understand why people pray in a church, because sometimes when she is in nature, she "feels" a prayer. I grew up going to camp every summer. We used to hold Sunday meetings in a pine grove, and I remember looking up at the pine trees against the blue sky and thinking that at those moments, I felt the most spiritual.
Anne's rambling speeches sometimes last for pages, and they are so self-reflective in a way that only a child could express. Adults just wouldn't say everything they are thinking or feeling. Anne is passionate about everything. She makes me think about everyday occurrences in a different way. Anne teaches me to look at the world with fresh eyes, to see nature and people anew, and to always keep an eye out for that "scope of imagination".
So this is why I simply need to pick up this book (and the subsequent seven) every once in a while. I need to return to the bossiness of Mrs. Lynde, the budding romance between Anne and Gilbert, the escapades of Anne's Story Club, and a world in which every detail is celebrated.
Julie
