When I look over the top 100 children’s books list that I have been reading through, I find that a fair amount of the books are character-driven. We enjoy Little Women because of the March sisters. We enjoy Roald Dahl’s writing because the characters he infuses into his quirky plots and worlds are lovable. We re-read Beverly Cleary because Ramona, her sister and her neighbors are downright real. But Anne Shirley, she just takes the cake. From the moment she steps off the train and meets Matthew Cuthbert, we are enthralled by her boldness, the amount of time she spends talking, and her tremendous joy in life.
Anne’s past and her status as an orphan really hit home for me, for reasons of which I will be announcing in a few weeks. Even though I was frustrated with Matthew and Marilla in the beginning, being so insensitive to her emotional state, I loved how their love for her grew more and more each day, and how they changed each other to be an even better person than they were before. For those of you that have an appreciation for the Anne series, why do you love Anne Shirley?
Anne of Green Gables
by L.M. Montgomery
Originally published in 1908
