Anne of Green Gables

Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert ask for a boy to help on the farm and get Anne Shirley, an orphan who talks in long, bright sentences. She dyes her hair, cracks a slate on a boy’s head, and wants a dress with puffed sleeves. The book is funny first. Under the jokes, Anne is a child who has been moved too many times and is waiting to be kept. Prince Edward Island is painted in detail: roads, school, and a neighbor who judges everyone.

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