The Readers and Writers Paradise

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery is a childhood classic that kids (especially girls) have been voraciously digesting since its release in 1908. But is it still relevant to today’s children?

For those of you who don’t know, Anne of Green Gables is a book about a girl named Anne who is adopted by Matthew and Marilla, brother and sister living in a secluded house known as Green Gables. Anne is a vivacious girl, always imagining all kinds of things and getting into all kinds of scrapes and adventures along the way.

The book tracks Anne through ages eleven to sixteen, so it moves quickly, detailing Anne’s great friendship with her neighbor Diane and her education at the schoolhouse to getting her teaching license. Throughout the book there are many lifelike characters, such as Rachel Lynde, who knows everybody’s business, other school kids, and shy Matthew.

Modern Analysis

It seems that not too many kids are still reading the Anne series, and I only read it recently through an effort to read some more older-type books like this. Part of the reason may be the length: It is over 100,000 words, which is long considering the target audience for this kind of book (which features no particular kind of action but instead simply models after real life) is getting younger. There have been much shorter adaptions of the book that are still widely read.

While on the one hand this makes the target audience for Anne of Green Gables younger, in practice it means that many of the book reading the series are adults. Certainly there is much material-especially in the later books-that adults will appreciate a lot.

As to the actual merit of the book, Anne is an intriguing character, with her frequent imaginations. Although I haven’t had imaginings along a similar vein, it’s easy to understand where she’s coming from and emphasize with her. It’s good how the author doesn’t make her a perfect girl by any means (which I was a little afraid of at the beginning of the book), but just a regular girl.

Montgomery’s best trait is creating characters who we can understand and who become real to us before we know it. Partly this is because of her style where she gives such a rush of events in a relatively short writing space, which is a good lesson for authors who might want to do a similar thing.

There are also some things in the book which are a little weird. Anne is constantly concerned about having too many freckles and red hair, thinking them to not be attractive, which isn’t something I think modern girls will really care very much about. A lot of the traditions, customs, and terms that are in here are not at all relevant or even in existence today, so readers will have to be aware of that and possibly be prepared to look some things up.

I like some of the later books in this series better, but Anne of Green Gables is fun and more than good enough to read. Anne’s imagination and love of nature is captivating, for adults as well as children, and (despite Anne’s orphan origins) is a much more benign and realistic character than a lot of the crazy ones that are seen populating most kids’ novels.

A lot of girls will definitely still like it, but the age range of the book will be lower than when it first came out because kids seem to grow up faster than they used to. It is good for parents to read to/with children ages seven, eight, or nine, and great for older girls who will appreciate Anne’s escapades.

When a children’s book was praised by none other than sitting US President Theodore Roosevelt, that tells you two things: 1. The book is old. 2. The book is good enough for a President to spend his time reading it, so its got a good chance of being pretty good.

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame follows anthropomorphic animals in their various adventures through the world. While there are many picture books about animals, long middle-grade books about them are significantly more rare. This book proves its quality from a reading today.

Summary

At the beginning of the book we meet the Mole, who is coming out of his hole as spring is beginning. He happens to run into a Rat and follows him to the river-bank, where there is a vibrant community of animals. The Mole has never seen it before, but is greatly impressed and thus takes up lodging by the river.

We soon meet the Toad, a rich fellow who is constantly getting himself into scraps by his addiction to motor-cars when he is a terrible and careless driver. We also meet the Badger, who Mr. Mole discovers after venturing in a dangerous manner into the Wild Wood. 

The four are close friends and we follow their escapades as the Rat has a yearning to explore the seas and Mr. Toad gets himself thrown in jail for stealing another person’s motor-car. There is even a full-scale battle as the four face an army of hundreds for control of the Toad’s ancestral home. They all seek to help each other through trouble, but nonetheless get in a normal amount of it for adventuresome animals.

Review

The humanlike attitudes of the animals and their going-ons are quite hilarious, and the characters are very identifiable. The Rat’s desire to go and explore the world is awesome, as is Mr. Mole’s folly into the woods and his affection for his old but now deserted house. Mr. Toad is quite a humorous character, escaping from prison and all and being extremely puffed-up. And Badger is just a sensible, wise fellow.

At first the setting seems to suggest that this animal world may be a secret one that we are not privy to, but further displays in the book such as paintings in the animals’ houses and policemen arresting Mr. Toad show that it could never happen in real life. The reader will nevertheless be drawn to the story and wonder if animals may really be like this.

The language in the book is quite up-to-date, although it contains a few words that current readers may find confusing. There is only one remark of preachiness in the entire book, while the entirety of it is simply in fun. It is easy to get into the story and feel right there in the action.

There is one scene that is intriguing and good where the characters have a sort of spiritual experience and witness a miracle.It seemed pretty out of place and was such a surprising shift of gears that I had to go back and re-read it at first to ensure the author really had just hopped from the fun lives of animals into the divine. At first I thought the author had made a mistake by not leading up to it, but now I think he likely did wrote it that way on purpose to really emphasize the event (paradoxically, by not emphasizing it at all). If that was his goal, he succeeded.

Kids tend to grow up now much faster than they did in 1903 when the book was written, and since it is a fairly good-sized book with over 58,000 words, it is best suited for upper middle-grade children. I wonder a little if kids at this age will appreciate a playful, funny book about animals (filled with action as it is) such as this one. No doubt many will get engrossed in the story and after that the chances of anyone putting it down are slim. It is different from many kids books these days in that it is pervaded by a sense of calm and relaxation, which is sorely missing from most middle grade books and altogether absent from those of the young-adult variety.

As evinced by Roosevelt’s remark, the appeal of this book is to older readers as well as younger, and I think a good many adults will take pleasure from this book. My biggest complaint is that there are not more adventures of these four written by the author. I will have to take a look at his other works, since this one cannot be anything but highly recommended.