Anne of Avonlea

 Author: L. M. Montgomery

Hi Everyone,

I have been so blessed to be given the opportunity to read some really old books!  Now, when I say old I mean a treasure! This one was published in 1926.  I have read it and been transported in time.  In more ways than one.  To hold and read this book, knowing the owner and their age; knowing the story behind them receiving it: knowing the joy that they got from reading; knowing... just knowing the history I hold in my hand, is a gift.

Then there is the history written on the pages. It's like being transported back 95 years to a time well before mine.  I read this seeing Anne and her friends living in a totally different time to ours but also knowing that in some aspects things have changed very little.  The world around us is continually changing and so are people, but reading this I and see people unchanged in many ways too. There was a certain connection still available to today's reader, that I grasped with every breath. I feel like I have been on a roller coaster ride between the 'Oh No!' moments and the 'shear laughter' moments, and there was even a moment that I wanted to cry.  

I was taken by the importance of good character.  Considering this was a children's book in it's time, I was impressed by how much I myself, learnt of the expectations of good character which was placed within the writing of this children's book.  There was not one perfect person in the story, but good character was defiantly intertwined within the pages.  I am sure just reading these books would have had children learning of the moral and social expectations of their time, and they were interesting to read about.  

I was also intrigued by the age in which Anne started teaching. Sixteen. I think of our sixteen year olds today, they are still the student and still have a few years of education before them.  Anne was a first year teacher and she took on the challenge like a professional. Sometimes we think we have come so far, but reading 'Anne of Avonlea' I am left questioning some things? That has to be a sign of a book worthy of being called a Classic.

As I finish the final pages I am reluctant to put the book down, knowing that I put down more than a book.  I put down a book full of history and memories.  In between the tattered cover lies thick pages entailing more than Anne's story, it tells of history.  I am left thinking that there is more history in these books that the history text books can show us.

Lucy Maud Montgomery (1974-1942)

A school teacher and minister's wife, Montgomery became a writer of popular juveniles almost by accident. Asked to prepare a short serial for a Sunday school paper, she drew on her girlhood memories of Prince Edward Island to produce the enormously successful 'Anne of Green Gables' (1908), to which she wrote six sequels.  Her ventures into adult fiction were not a success.

Taken from: Benet's Readers Encyclopedia - Fourth Edition

- 'Anne of Avonlea' is book two of the 'Anne of Green Gables' series

Happy reading