Flashback Friday Review: Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

Flashback Friday is a feature were I'll review a book that I read as a teen, reread now years later :)

Title: Anne of Green Gables
Author: L.M. Montgomery
Publication Date: 1982
Originally Read: circa 1992

This is the classic and immensely popular first novel in the series about Anne Shirley, an irrepressible red-headed orphan. The Cuthberts decide to adopt an orphan -- a strong, hardworking boy to help with the farm chores. Anne is sent to live with them by mistake. Talkative, romantic and imaginative, Anne must convince the Cuthberts to keep her. Once adopted, Anne embraces her new life with energy, and no one who meets her is ever the same.

As soon as Anne Shirley arrived at the snug, white farmhouse called Green Gables, she knew she wanted to stay forever... but would the Cuthberts send her back to the orphanage?

Anne knows she's not what they expected -- a skinny girl with decidedly red hair and a temper to match. If only she could convince them to let her stay; she'd try very hard not to keep rushing headlong into scrapes or blurt out the very first thing she had to say. Anne was not like anybody else, everyone at Green Gables agreed; she was special -- a girl with an enormous imagination. This orphan girl dreamed of the day when she could call herself Anne of Green Gables.

 (from PaperBackSwap)

This book takes me right back to childhood. I can remember my cousins and I taking turns reading out loud - sitting in the backyard pretending we were on the Cuthberts farm instead of in my crowded Long Island neighborhood. It was easier for them, they were from the city and my postage stamp yard was more grass then they were used to. I had a harder time pretending I wasn't surrounded by fences and noisy neighbors :) We even tried to put on a play but it all feel apart when we had a fight over who had to play Matthew.

What fun we had!

I try to read this book every couple of years. The memories it brings back are wonderful and the book itself is such a great story. I absolutely love Anne (with an 'e') Shirley. I think she is one of my all time favorite literary characters. She is so full of hope and wonder.

I can't wait to share this one with my little girl in the years to come. If you haven't read Anne of Green Gables I highly recommend that you find a copy :)