Lindsey at Reeder Reads is hosting a Green Gables Readalong, in which we are reading one Anne book a month between January and August. This month we are talking about Anne of Avonlea.
My copy.
Anne of Avonlea fills us in on the two years in which Anne is living at home while teaching at the Avonlea school (age 16-18). Anne is very much the same as she has always been – getting herself into scrapes, and going on about the things she imagines. What’s different about this book, though, is that we get to meet some new characters of Avonlea village, beyond those we already know so well.
The most significant new characters in the book are Davy and Dora, the 6-year-old twins who come to live with Anne and Marilla at Green Gables. When I first read this book, many years ago, I resented the fact that Davy and Dora had come to Green Gables. I guess I didn’t like the thought of anyone taking Anne’s place. But now, I can appreciate the joy and company the twins bring to their home, and the many hilarious adventures and questions of little Davy.
We also get to know some of Anne’s school students, her new cranky neighbour and his pet parrot, Miss Lavender and Echo Lodge, and we follow the progress of the Avonlea Village Improvement Society.
Now that Anne is older, there is also a bit more ‘romance’ in this book; Diana and Fred, Miss Lavender and Mr. Irving, and Charlie Sloane and Gilbert who are both vying for Anne’s attention. In her Anne of Green Gables post, Lindsey talked about how patient Gilbert is over the years. Well, he is still waiting. Another two years. How long will Anne keep him waiting in Book III?
For me, though, the best thing about this book is the writing. Here are a few quotes I like:
Old houses:
Diana: An old house with its windows gone makes me think of something dead with its eyes picked out.
Anne: I think an old, deserted house is such a sad sight. It always seems to me to be thinking about its past and mourning for its old-time joys.
Teaching:
Isn’t it something to have started a soul along a path that may end in Shakespeare and Paradise Lost?
About the Avonlea Village Improvement Society:
Mr. Elisha Wright was reported to have said that a more appropriate name for the organization would be Courting Club. Mrs. Hiram Sloane declared she had heard the Improvers meant to plow up all the roadsides and set them out with geraniums. Mr. Levi Boulter warned his neighbours that the Improvers would insist that everybody pull down his house and rebuild it after plans approved by the society. Mr. James Spencer sent them word that he wished they would kindly shovel down the church hill. Eben Wright told Anne that he wished the Improvers could induce old Josiah Sloane to keep his whiskers trimmed. Mr. Lawrence Bell said he would whitewash his barns if nothing else would please them, but he would not hang lace curtains in his cowstable windows. Mr. Major Spencer asked Clifton Sloane, an Improver who drove the milk to the Carmody cheese factory, if it was true that everybody would have to have his milk-stand hand-painted next summer and keep an embroidered centerpiece on it.
Mr. Harrison’s habit of being outspoken:
Mr. Harrison: You must excuse me, Anne. I’ve got a habit of being outspoken and folks mustn’t mind it.
Anne: But they can’t help minding it. And I don’t think it’s any help that it’s your habit. What would you think of a person who went about sticking pins and needles into people and saying, ‘Excuse me, you mustn’t mind it… it’s just a habit I’ve got.’
Talking nonsense:
Davy: Anne, I believe you’re just talking nonsense.
Anne: Of course I was, dear boy. Don’t you know that it is only very foolish folk who talk sense all the time?
Broken Hearts:
Miss Lavender: But, Anne, a broken heart in real life isn’t half as dreadful as it is in books. It’s a good deal like a bad tooth… It takes spells of aching and gives you a sleepless night now and then, but between times it lets you enjoy life and dreams and echoes and peanut candy as if there were nothing the matter with it.
Romance:
Perhaps, after all, romance did not come into one’s life with pomp and blare, like a gay knight riding down; perhaps it crept to one’s side like an old friend through quiet ways; perhaps it revealed itself in seeming prose, until some shaft of illumination flung athwart its pages betrayed the rhythm and the music; perhaps… perhaps… love unfolded naturally out of a beautiful friendship, as a golden-hearted rose slipping from its green sheath.
Avonlea:
Mrs. Rachel Lynde: … I’d rather live at the bottom of a well than leave Avonlea.
In my Anne of Green Gables post, I had a look at many of the book covers over the years. It was so fun, that I couldn’t resist doing it again, but not in as much detail. This is just a small sampling.
Acceptable covers:
Unacceptable covers:
What the heck?
Undecided:
These aren’t awful, but they just don’t look right. In the first one, they all look too stern. In the second, she looks like she’s sitting in a café in the 1970s. In the third, she looks like she’s on the prairies. What do you think?
What are your thoughts on Anne of Avonlea, or any of its covers?
Consumed by Ink 
Haha- unacceptable for sure! I love seeing all these covers, and the Green Gables ones too!
🙂
This sounds like fun. Too bad all my reading is consumed with Shakespeare this year. But who knows. I might use the Readalong idea for Shakespeare’s plays next year. I will have to give it some thought.
Reading along with other people, makes the re-reads so much more fun – you should give it a try!
I love that you quoted the exaggerated fears of the Avonlea citizenry regarding changes they believe may be instituted by the Avonlea Improvement Society, I chuckled and laughed over that passage so much! It is too true. That is exactly how people react–especially those in rural settings! Change is regarded warily, at best, and fought tooth and nail, at worst!! It still made me laugh rereading it here! I love the variety of covers, too! Thank you!
Even though that was a long one, I couldn’t leave it out – it made me laugh out loud. You can totally picture the horror the farmer feels about putting up curtains in his stable. 🙂
I would add that Barbie Dollish family to the Unacceptable pile. And you are completely right about the “what the heck” one. I did a double take! I don’t know of a building anywhere in Canada that looks like that, let alone PEI.
I know, and what did it have to do with Anne of Avonlea?? She doesn’t go to Queen’s or Redmond in this book.
Oh you picked out some great quotes! I especially love Mrs Lynde’s quote on Avonlea and the one about speaking nonsense.
I was interested to read that you resented Davy and Dora’s presence. I was always relieved that Marilla wouldn’t be alone if Anne ever did go to college. I used to always feel bad for Dora, that she was so good and they still didn’t adore her. But now I’m inclined to agree with Anne and Marilla – Davy is so much more endearing because he does ask so many questions and lives so mischievously.
As for those covers…it’s like some of the designers don’t even bother reading the material.
Now, I completely agree that Davy and Dora are good company for Marilla when Anne goes away. And, I did also used to feel sorry for Dora, because they didn’t find her as loveable. But, imagine if poor Marilla had two Davys!
Did you notice how much freedom the kids have? It seemed they were often left at home by themselves for a while.
Yes I did notice that! And how much time they get to spend outdoors! And how young they are when they start taking on proper chores!
Oh, how the world has changed. Sigh…
OMG, that first unacceptable cover looks like someone’s first attempt at Photoshop. How did they let that one out into the world? And your third undecided cover is the edition I grew up with. So to me, it’s totally acceptable! 🙂
I remember not liking Anne of Avonlea that much because it made me sad to see her grow up and be responsible (to a certain extend). I didn’t exactly resent Davy and Dora, but I didn’t like that there were new kids taking Anne’s spot.
I know what you mean. But, then I was fine with the next one, because it centered around Anne and Gilbert again.
The copy you have looks to me like Anne of the Prairies. 🙂 It’s funny, though, what we think is acceptable based on what our own copies look like. Mine’s probably not the best one, either, but I like it the best, anyway.
You know I adore Anne and The Story Girl like nobody’s business. The McClelland Seal editions are really the only ones I completely and wholeheartedly approve of, but others are okay. But there should be NO PICTURES OF REAL PEOPLE ON THE COVERS OF THESE BOOKS! …in my very humble opinion 🙂 -Tania
I know. Aren’t they awful? I don’t know what some of these people are thinking. I really am fascinated by all the horrible covers. I have to keep myself from going ahead and looking at the ones for the next book. 🙂
I was a huge Anne of Green Gables (and the rest of the series) fan and seemed to borrow them on a revolving door basis from the library – some of those covers are truly horrendous!!!
I have become quite obsessed with looking at the endless covers on the Anne series. I can’t believe how many there are and how bad some of them are!
Where do you find some of these covers? The bad ones are SO bad!! The haunted house looking one is especially confusing. Haha.
Loved all the quotes you picked out. I completely agree that the writing is what continually draws me to the series. Love Montgomery’s style!
All the covers can be found on Goodreads! I had a lot of fun going through them all and making fun of the bad ones. 🙂