REVIEW: Anne of Avonlea by LM Montgomery

In Anne of Green Gables we met plucky redheaded chatterbox Anne Shirley, the 11 year old orphan Marilla Cuthbert and her brother Matthew didn’t want but resolved to keep as they grew to love her. Now we are reunited with Anne at the age of 17 as she steps into her new role as teacher in Avonlea School. Here Anne faces the challenge of holding on to her ideals while dealing with the unexpected challenges teaching brings. In addition to teaching, Anne is actively involved in encouraging Avonlea to support the village improvement society she has formed with her friends. All the old characters from the original are here as well as some new additions: Twins Dora and Davy whom Marilla adopts unexpectedly when their mother becomes terminally ill, Mr. Harrison the mysterious old bachelor new to the neighborhood and Ms. Lavender, a kindred spirit Anne and best friend Diana stumble on quite by chance.

I really enjoyed following Anne in this story as she blossoms into a young woman. The old Anne is still there with her impulsiveness and strange thoughts but there is also a new more mature Anne who is dipping her toe into the adult world. I have to say that I did not care for the addition of the twins in the story, especially Davy but I loved all the rest of the newly introduced characters. Of course wherever Anne is some type of mishap occurs and this book had no shortage of those either. The pacing of this book was slightly slower but even so it was a good read. All of my concerns about whether the delightful Anne in the first book would be lost as she grew older were thankfully unfounded. I am looking forward to continuing my adventures with Anne.

This book is from my own personal library