Anne of Avonlea

Picking up where the last book left off, Anne is still living at Green Gables with Marilla and beginning her career as a schoolteacher at the Avonlea school. As such, we meet new characters in the younger children who make up her classroom and some of their parents as well. Other characters are introduced for the first time in this story, including a new neighbor who is a bit of a curmudgeon and has a vulgar parrot for a pet as well as a lonely "old maid" who loves to pretend. And, of course, old favorites return, such as Anne's bosom friend Diana and her sometime rival Gilbert.

Also, Marilla ends up taking in the twin children of a distant relative who passed away. These youngsters, Davy and Dora, are the worst part of this book in my show more opinion. As everyone in Avonlea loves to point out, Dora is a meek, submissive child with rarely a thought of her own, let alone a personality, and thus is extremely boring. On the other hand, Davey is full of ridiculous thoughts (including very dismissive views of women) and can't keep out of trouble. For some reason, everyone loves him because he is a rapscallion. I, however, do not. I feel like the author tried to make him a substitute for what Anne's character was in the first book, but he seems to revel in being bad on purpose, rather than young Anne's daydreaming and careless ways causing some unforeseen trouble that ends up being humorous rather than just showcasing a rebellious streak.

Speaking of that, although Anne has matured greatly here (ages 16-18 in this book, compared to 11-16 in the previous title), she still occasionally has those moments of making mistakes that lead to hilarious scenarios, such as when she accidentally sells her neighbor's cow instead of own or when she, Marilla, and Diana all sugar the peas for a fancy dinner assuming no one else did or when she smears her nose with dye instead of lotion right before an unexpected guest arrives. These moments are delightful, capture the fun of the first book, and are the ones I recall from when I first read this book as a child so they are clearly memorable.

While the first book mostly aged well, this one clearly did not. There are many unkind views of women espoused by numerous characters; even if these are sometimes dismissed by other characters, it's never as wholeheartedly as I would like. Among these are the idea that a woman of 45 is fully white haired and past her prime, which is just ridiculous. Further, there's many discussions where most characters are in favor of corporal punishment for schoolchildren, a practice which Anne discourages but ultimately, in an act of anger, engages in herself once to positive benefits. And, non-white, non-Canadian folks are looked down upon in throwaway lines that didn't really need to be there.

This audiobook version also suffered from a very poor narrator. Her voice was very shrill for certain characters, such as Anne herself, and very stereotypical "hick" like for many of the male characters. She also sometimes made mistakes, like using her Marilla voice for Anne when she's having a discussion with Diana or using her Davy voice for Charlotta when she's having a discussion with Anne.

Nevertheless, despite these problems, there were enough moments of whimsy and passages of beautiful prose that I am going to continue along with my journey of re-reading this whole series. show less

7/4 (WHAT IS A KILOMETER RAHHHHHHH i say as i read a canadian book):
- This is the book where Maud really leans into the ellipses. I can't complain tho I'm an em dash fiend and it's basically the same thing
- Hhh so the thing is I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about Dora & Davy the older I get and they're pretty much that Dora was extremely unfairly treated in general like oh my word that's beyond pure mischief from Davy's end like alright maybe he's six but that's not. That's... Anne let him off way too easily all the time and especially when she's more disappointed that he lied than when he SHUT HIS SISTER UP?? ??? Anne I love you but that is. yikes! I feel super bad for Dora in general - model child you'd barely know she's there show more and yet she's constantly tormented by her own brother and generally ignored by those allowing the behavior to continue. Chat I really don't like this. Davy might be funny esp as a six year old but that doesn't excuse all that + the idea that you have to love the mischief-maker more because they need it... Fine, yes, love does do wonders, and I'm no mother but you do click with certain kids more than others and clearly Anne was drawn more to the sheer chaos that was Davy but at this point they're practically neglecting Dora and chat that's insanely rough on a kid even one without a personality at all (I'm very sure she had a personality it was just overshadowed by the fact that Anne simply put her out of sight and mind most of the time). Also yes I'm aware this is a bit where you realize just how fallible everyone is especially Anne I just feel bad for Dora. YES I know they're SIX but once again this is more on Anne. His questions are hysterical though
makes me wonder because even quiet, shy, conscientious Una had a clear personality so it's not like Maud just doesn't know how to write these characters it's just that Davy stole the spotlight and there was an unfortunate amount of enabling I guess!
- hey that one bit where Anne talks about Hester Gray and the city. Pretty sure that became the inspiration for the "I Want" poem attributed to Walter later. which also reminds me of the many different parallels between all of Maud's stories and poems and novels it's very easy to draw lines between them all bc she has a number of common tropes. also for some reason the copied love letter by that one student reminds me of the short story where the teacher's writing to the girl he is so in love with even though she doesn't even know and then some girl sends all the letters out of spite scream what was the name of it. Another plot she uses is meeting famous people in wild ways or unfortunate circumstances
- Paul Irving is certainly fascinating especially in parallel to Walter Blythe like.. here's a kid who's got wild imagination but is also a model child and boyish and basically the model of what Anne thinks is good and right also soemtimes I want to scream sorry
- the blue hall is SO funny and Maud continues to draw the craziest personalities just through canvassing
- Mr. Harrison AHAHAH his whole plotline is fricken wild if I think about it
- Priscilla & Anne vs Jane & Diana is unfortunately kinda funny to me
- GILBERT - "Having adventures comes naturally to some people" so true
- I would also feel so productive and normal if I lived in Avonlea I swear (ah the joys of suburbanism)
- oh yeah completely random thought but i am mildly surprised that Miss Lavendar has completely white hair at 45
- also sometimes I remember that Maud was straightup racist
- "real life won't let you be miserable"
- Avonlea Notes' Observer is intriguing to me (along with Glen Notes later)... idk I sort of romanticize the small town vibes of all this even though I know it's not quite all that but imagine if you just knew everyone and everything... lmao. also I just think it's funny Gilbert and Anne caused such chaos with the Observer
- "there are always sure to be more springs" alongside "it is always safe to dream of spring... for it is sure to come; and if it be not just as we have pictured it, it will be infinitely sweeter" from story girl
- Ruby Gillis talking about Nelson Atkins is far funnier than it has any right to be btw. However we're back to the old family ties thing where you're determined by your family... eesh
- yeah this book is a lot slower for real but it is also an Anne book. - she goes even harder with the poetry of the world in here I lvoe it. overdramatic? i thikn not
- Oh yeah I'm always a little astonished by the way most of the young ones just went to teach when they were like 16... like bruh I was busy (fending with the pandemic) being an irresponsible junior when I was 16 this is wild to my modern Asian sensibilities
- the whole romance of the end of this book had been pretty special to me when I was like 10 and tbh still is it goes hard HOWEVER back to the Maud parallels there's a good deal of 'twilight romances' as I have been thinking of them in her stories, especially the Avonlea Chronicles. Lots of regaining lost love, much later, or discovering late love (chat this is making me want to reread all her short stories for like the eighth time... forcing myself to wait until AFTER THE SERIES wait i still need to read Pat)
- oh i love Charlotta the Fourth btw
- the amount of roasting Americans is hilarious like HELP WHAT DID WE DO TO YOU GUYS other than the whole revolution thing i guess
- the home o' dreams!!! also lol here's Fred now
- the bit where it's like romance doesn't come with pomp and glory but in quiet friendship... I think about that a lot. Gilbert show less

First sentence: A tall, slim girl, "half-past sixteen," with serious gray eyes and hair which her friends called auburn, had sat down on the broad red sandstone doorstep of a Prince Edward Island farmhouse one ripe afternoon in August, firmly resolved to construe so many lines of Virgil.

Premise/plot: Anne Shirley, a YOUNG Anne Shirley, assumes the responsibilities of school teacher and big sister while resuming her roles as kindred spirit, best friend, and daughter. At the end of Anne of Green Gables, Gilbert gallantly offers the Prince Edward Island school to Anne Shirley so that she can remain closer to home so she can care for (an aging) Marilla while she saves money for college. Anne of Avonlea chronicles about two years. She's a show more teacher...with some memorable students, notably Paul Irving. She's a friend...Mr. Harrison, a grumpy neighbor, is one new friend. But most importantly perhaps, she becomes a "big sister." Marilla takes in TWO children--twins--Davy and Dora. Davy is a HANDFUL and delight. Never a dull day with his troublesome, mischievous adventures/misadventures. Dora is a saint. By the end of the novel, Anne Shirley is ready to head off to college....

My thoughts: I really LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this one. Is it as good as the first book or last book in the series? Probably not. Is it as good as Anne of the Island? Well. It's a toss-up. Because as much as I love and crazy love and adore aspects of Anne of the Island, Anne of Avonlea is just MARVELOUS. And Anne of the Island has its duller moments. Definitely less comedic.

Mr. Harrison about Mrs. Rachel Lynde:

"I detest that woman more than anybody I know. She can put a whole sermon, text, comment, and application, into six words, and throw it at you like a brick."

"I never was much of a talker till I came to Avonlea and then I had to begin in self-defense or Mrs. Lynde would have said I was dumb and started a subscription to have me taught sign language."

Fun with Davy:

"Anne," said Davy, sitting up in bed and propping his chin on his hands, "Anne, where is sleep? People go to sleep every night, and of course I know it's the place where I do the things I dream, but I want to know WHERE it is and how I get there and back without knowing anything about it...and in my nighty too. Where is it?"

"I wish people could live on pudding. Why can't they, Marilla? I want to know."
"Because they'd soon get tired of it."
"I'd like to try that for myself," said skeptical Davy.

Paul Irving to Anne:

"I've prayed every night that God would give me enough grace to enable me to eat every bit of my porridge in the mornings. But I've never been able to do it yet, and whether it's because I have too little grace or too much porridge I really can't decide."

Favorite quotes:

"You're never safe from being surprised till you're dead."

“One can't get over the habit of being a little girl all at once.”

“After all," Anne had said to Marilla once, "I believe the nicest and sweetest days are not those on which anything very splendid or wonderful or exciting happens but just those that bring simple little pleasures, following one another softly, like pearls slipping off a string.”

“Anne had no sooner uttered the phrase, "home o'dreams," than it captivated her fancy and she immediately began the erection of one of her own. It was, of course, tenanted by an ideal master, dark, proud, and melancholy; but oddly enough, Gilbert Blythe persisted in hanging about too, helping her arrange pictures, lay out gardens, and accomplish sundry other tasks which a proud and melancholy hero evidently considered beneath his dignity. Anne tried to banish Gilbert's image from her castle in Spain but, somehow, he went on being there, so Anne, being in a hurry, gave up the attempt and pursued her aerial architecture with such success that her "home o'dreams" was built and furnished before Diana spoke again. ”

“…I think,' concluded Anne, hitting on a very vital truth, 'that we always love best the people who need us.”

“When I think something nice is going to happen I seem to fly right up on the wings of anticipation; and then the first thing I realize I drop down to earth with a thud. But really, Marilla, the flying part is glorious as long as it lasts...it's like soaring through a sunset. I think it almost pays for the thud.”

“It takes all sorts of people to make a world, as I've often heard, but I think there are some who could be spared,' Anne told her reflection in the east gable mirror that night.”

"If we have friends we should look only for the best in them and give them the best that is in us, don't you think? Then friendship would be the most beautiful thing in the world."

"In this world you've just got to hope for the best and prepare for the worst and take whatever God sends." show less

I couldn't possibly tell you how many times I have read and reread L.M. Montgomery's eight-book "Anne" series over the years, from the classic Anne of Green Gables, in which our red-headed heroine finds a home at the eponymous Green Gables farm of Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, to the much-loved Rilla of Ingleside, which follows the story of Anne's youngest daughter during the first world war. Suffice it to say, it's been a fair few times, and every reading, I am happy to report, has strengthened my love for Montgomery's characters, and my appreciation of her work.

Originally published in 1909, the year after Anne of Green Gables, this second installment of the series follows Anne through her two years as Avonlea school-teacher, and show more although I wouldn't say I was blind to its faults (it has a few), it has always been a favorite. There is something so delightful about Anne of Avonlea - a restful quality to it that allows me to sink into the reading experience as I would into a soft feather-bed. Perhaps because its heroine is now an established member of the Avonlea community - no longer the orphaned outsider struggling to find a place to belong - but still young enough to get into scrapes, it seems to function as a transition piece, between Anne-the-child and Anne-the-young-woman, and has all the wistful appeal that such transitions always hold for me.

Yes, Davy and Dora Keith - the twin siblings that Marilla and Anne adopt - are a little annoying, and the dreamy Paul Irving can be somewhat precious, but the ups and downs of Anne's first teaching experience, the entertaining efforts of the Avonlea Village Improvement Society (A.V.I.S.) founded by Anne and her friends, the romantic tale of Miss Lavender and her long-lost beau, and Anne's own hilarious misadventures (my favorite was probably her accidental sale of Mr. Harrison's cow!), all combine to make this an immensely engaging read! I'm so happy to own a lovely vintage copy of this jewel, complete with the George Gibbs image on the cover, as Anne of Avonlea truly belongs on my "treasures" shelf! show less

First sentence: A tall, slim girl, "half-past sixteen," with serious gray eyes and hair which her friends called auburn, had sat down on the broad red sandstone doorstep of a Prince Edward Island farmhouse one ripe afternoon in August, firmly resolved to construe so many lines of Virgil.

Premise/plot: Anne Shirley, a YOUNG Anne Shirley, assumes the responsibilities of school teacher and big sister while resuming her roles as kindred spirit, best friend, and daughter. At the end of Anne of Green Gables, Gilbert gallantly offers the Prince Edward Island school to Anne Shirley so that she can remain closer to home so she can care for (an aging) Marilla while she saves money for college. Anne of Avonlea chronicles about two years. She's a show more teacher...with some memorable students, notably Paul Irving. She's a friend...Mr. Harrison, a grumpy neighbor, is one new friend. But most importantly perhaps, she becomes a "big sister." Marilla takes in TWO children--twins--Davy and Dora. Davy is a HANDFUL and delight. Never a dull day with his troublesome, mischievous adventures/misadventures. Dora is a saint. By the end of the novel, Anne Shirley is ready to head off to college....

My thoughts: I really LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this one. Is it as good as the first book or last book in the series? Probably not. Is it as good as Anne of the Island? Well. It's a toss-up. Because as much as I love and crazy love and adore aspects of Anne of the Island, Anne of Avonlea is just MARVELOUS. And Anne of the Island has its duller moments. Definitely less comedic.

Mr. Harrison about Mrs. Rachel Lynde:

"I detest that woman more than anybody I know. She can put a whole sermon, text, comment, and application, into six words, and throw it at you like a brick."

"I never was much of a talker till I came to Avonlea and then I had to begin in self-defense or Mrs. Lynde would have said I was dumb and started a subscription to have me taught sign language."

Fun with Davy:

"Anne," said Davy, sitting up in bed and propping his chin on his hands, "Anne, where is sleep? People go to sleep every night, and of course I know it's the place where I do the things I dream, but I want to know WHERE it is and how I get there and back without knowing anything about it...and in my nighty too. Where is it?"

"I wish people could live on pudding. Why can't they, Marilla? I want to know."
"Because they'd soon get tired of it."
"I'd like to try that for myself," said skeptical Davy.

Paul Irving to Anne:

"I've prayed every night that God would give me enough grace to enable me to eat every bit of my porridge in the mornings. But I've never been able to do it yet, and whether it's because I have too little grace or too much porridge I really can't decide."

Favorite quotes:

"You're never safe from being surprised till you're dead."

“One can't get over the habit of being a little girl all at once.”

“After all," Anne had said to Marilla once, "I believe the nicest and sweetest days are not those on which anything very splendid or wonderful or exciting happens but just those that bring simple little pleasures, following one another softly, like pearls slipping off a string.”

“Anne had no sooner uttered the phrase, "home o'dreams," than it captivated her fancy and she immediately began the erection of one of her own. It was, of course, tenanted by an ideal master, dark, proud, and melancholy; but oddly enough, Gilbert Blythe persisted in hanging about too, helping her arrange pictures, lay out gardens, and accomplish sundry other tasks which a proud and melancholy hero evidently considered beneath his dignity. Anne tried to banish Gilbert's image from her castle in Spain but, somehow, he went on being there, so Anne, being in a hurry, gave up the attempt and pursued her aerial architecture with such success that her "home o'dreams" was built and furnished before Diana spoke again. ”

“…I think,' concluded Anne, hitting on a very vital truth, 'that we always love best the people who need us.”

“When I think something nice is going to happen I seem to fly right up on the wings of anticipation; and then the first thing I realize I drop down to earth with a thud. But really, Marilla, the flying part is glorious as long as it lasts...it's like soaring through a sunset. I think it almost pays for the thud.”

“It takes all sorts of people to make a world, as I've often heard, but I think there are some who could be spared,' Anne told her reflection in the east gable mirror that night.”

"If we have friends we should look only for the best in them and give them the best that is in us, don't you think? Then friendship would be the most beautiful thing in the world."

"In this world you've just got to hope for the best and prepare for the worst and take whatever God sends." show less

What delight there is in revisiting a book from one's youth and finding it's even BETTER than remembered! That was definitely the case here. I came into this reread with hazy memories from about 10 or 15 years ago, and as each chapter, each bit of dialogue, unfolded, I found myself mentally supplying the words that would come next. So deeply is Anne Shirley embedded in my mind!

I'm not sure if I would have this intense connection to L.M. Montgomery had I not read every scrap of hers that I could get my hands on when I was about 14, an impressionable age.

For a while there, I was a most devoted Montgomery acolyte. I daydreamed around the lakeside reading her books and feeling poetic about life in general. And I'm glad. Because her books show more are the real deal. They beautify optimism, a balance of sense & imagination, steadiness, sensitivity to the feelings of others, bookishness, nature love, curiosity, enthusiasm for life, and on and on and on. There's a magic in them. I wanted so much to be a lot of the things that Anne is, and I realized upon rereading, how many of those ideals have stayed with me through the years. Anne is the kind of person who makes those around her want to be decent and thoughtful. I just love her.
And her adventures and her friends are so original! They never feel cliche. Miss Lavendar and Charlotta the Fourth are probably my favorites in this book... living in the lovely stone house, forgotten by everybody, but as darling as teddy bears. show less

Anne's grown up and is becoming a young adult woman, yet part of her mind still dwells on the realms of fantasy. I have to say this book wasn't as strong in adventure tales as the first one, for obvious reasons which I'm not spoiling here on the review. Yet, there is always to be found a sparkle of magic in the most unlikely of places. There may be even room for romance as well!
There are some trends of thoughts that are obviously a product of their time and probably what the author believed herself as to what respects on marriage and what young women were expected to do, which of course don't align at all with the current times. Still, it's not too overwhelming and it lets you go on reading without disturbing much of your experience. show more As for Anna herself, I have to be honest: She's not my type of heroine. She's good at heart, but she's also a bit...full of herself, at times vain and a great critique of other people's appeareance, and a full time coquette. I prefer my heroines to be much like Jane Eyre for instance. I'm not sure I'll go on to reading the third book, at least for now. show less