Hiya! It’s Liz here. You’ve met me here on the blog in the last couple months, and Jaala asked me to share my favorite character from literature, Anne of Green Gables.
As a child I devoured the Anne of Green Gables books.
Anne Shirley was a strong-willed, smart, fiercely loyal girl with an amazing imagination. As an orphan, she was placed in the foster home of an elderly couple who soon realized the challenge in their red-haired charge.
Anne finds herself in tremendous mishaps constantly. Here she accidentally gets her best friend, Diana, drunk on raspberry cordial. Her mistake was trying to be a good hostess but not knowing exactly what raspberry cordial was (true story: I didn’t know either when I was 11 years old and read the books).
Here Anne’s friends recite poetry as Anne, playing Ophelia, drifts downstream. Anne is a hopeless romantic, even as her predictive skills fail her. Later in the scene she nearly drowns as her canoe begins to fill with water.
I love the story of Anne’s relationship with Gilbert. When they first meet, he teases Anne relentlessly, calling her “Carrots”, which angers her immensely.
They soon become academic rivals, friends, and, well, you’ll have to read the books yourself to find out how the story ends.
Anne Shirley was definitely the heroine of my young reading career. I loved her for her feisty, stubborn attitude as well as her kindness and honesty. Just as I avidly read L.M. Montgomery’s books, I watched the series on PBS at every opportunity. For our colorway series this fall I hope to include “auburn” as one of my gradient tones in honor of Anne’s beautiful hair.
–Liz