Before Green Gables

I purchased Before Green Gables as a gift for my niece, and it was a wonderful choice. The story is beautifully written and adds meaningful depth to Anne’s early life before Green Gables. It’s engaging, heartfelt, and easy to follow, making it enjoyable for both younger readers and adults who love the series. The book was well made and presented nicely, making it perfect as a gift. My niece really enjoyed it, and it sparked great conversations about the original Anne of Green Gables story. I would highly recommend it for fans of the series or as a thoughtful gift for a young reader.

I remember being told about this great television series on PBS about this redheaded orphan girl. I checked it out the next time it was on and was immediately and totally captivated by Kevin Sullivan's adaptation of Lucy Maud Montgomery's " Anne of Green Gables ." I watched it every time it was on and read the original novel. Within a year I had read all of the Anne books plus all of the other Montgomery books that were out in paperback and everything I could find on the shelves in local libraries. I tracked down books that were out of print and photocopied them and managed to pick up a 19th impression of " Anne of Green Gables " (from 1910) and a 1st edition of " Rainbow Valley ." When I got remarried we spent three days just driving to Prince Edward Island for our honeymoon, where we stayed at the hotel that shows up at the start of " Anne of Avonlea " and serves as the White Sand Hotel on " Road to Avonlea ." We went to see "Anne of Green Gables: The Musical" in Charlottes town and saw every L.M. Montgomery site there was to see on PEI. On the way home we stopped at several of the places where they filmed the Sullivan adaptations, including the bridge where Anne finally told Gilbert she did not want sunbursts and marble halls, she just wanted him. We have a display case that has a couple of ceramic figures of Anne and Matthew, photographs of Green Gables, and assorted odds and ends including sandstone the peculiar shade of red you find on PEI. So when I found out that the Montgomery estate had authorized Budge Wilson to write a prequel to Montgomery's books, I was pretty excited to read "Before Green Gables." Cranky old Mark Twain declared Anne Shirely to be "the dearest and most lovable child in fiction since the immortal Alice ." But for my two cents Anne has Alice beat across the board. Alice is arguably the least interesting person in Wonderland or through the Looking Glass, while nobody on Prince Edward Island holds a candle to our beloved little red-headed orphan. If you ever thought that Anne grows up a bit too quickly in that first novel, "Before Green Gables" allows you the grand pleasure of reacquainting yourself with the young girl that Matthew Cuthbert discovered waiting for him instead of a boy at the Bright River station Anne's history is laid out in chapter five of "Anne of Green Gables," so the framework of this new novel was essentially laid out by Montgomery herself a hundred years ago. Consequently, Wilson avoids having to come up with major developments in Anne's life, unlike those writers who have tried to come up with sequels to classic novels (e.g., those divergent paths taken by the sequels to "Gone with the Wind"). Wilson was ably assisted in her efforts by an army of knowledgeable Montgomery fans and scholars who were able to provide her with every detail of Anne's past to be gleaned from Montgomery's novels and short stories. Wilson focuses on fleshing out those key chapters in Anne's life. Montgomery's strength was always writing about children, and once Anne became a mother she faded into the background in the final novels. "Before Green Gables" keeps the spotlight on our beloved Anne-girl and is filled with familiar elements from Montgomery's writing, such as the people who thought they would never be married finding happiness, bratty kids getting their comeuppances, and Anne's peculiar ways thawing the hearts of sundry adults. The only parts of Wilson's novel that are a bit discordant are when Anne is confronted with certain facts of life. I still remember failing to pick up the subtle clues in " Anne's House of Dreams ." Anne was suddenly staying at home and then Marilla shows up. Next thing I know there is a baby. Wilson deals more explicitly with such things and while she goes farther than Montgomery ever would have dared, you have to admit that young Anne would be puzzled as to how a baby gets out of a mother's tummy and think that the bellybutton makes perfect sense as an available point of exit. More importantly, Wilson captures the voice of the young Anne Shirley, including her exquisitely elaborate vocabulary. The ending of the Wilson's story was a slight disappointment to me, but only because I had become firmly convinced that Anne's final line in this book would be her first line from Montgomery's novel. However, Wilson picks a different and totally reasonable point to end the prequel, so the dashed expectations were my own fault. Overall I found "Before Green Gables" to be charming and a worthwhile addition to the canon.

This book is a simply "magnificent," "imaginative," and "absolutely overwhelming" book (to use some of Anne's favorite words.) After reading this book, I truly feel like I have been able to get to know Anne so much better then before I read it. First, I must point out one error that I read in "Before Green Gables." At one point, Anne is musing about how Mrs. Hammond must be very good at delivering babies after having done it six times. At that time, Mrs. Hammond had birthed two regular babies and two sets of twins, going on her third set. Arguably, she had only done it four times, but I suppose each baby might be counted individually. Second, I must say that the author, Budge Wilson, missed just one important detail (from what I could tell.) She failed to mention that Mrs. Hammond told Anne that "God made Anne's hair red on purpose." which is why Marilla Cuthbert finds Anne so heathan-ish in the original "Anne of Green Gables." In case some of you are not as familiar with Anne as others, I will explain the story more properly. In "Anne of Green Gables", Anne tells Marilla that the reason she never prays or beleives in God is that Mrs. Hammond once told her that God made Anne's hair red on purpose so she never cared for him since. In "Before Green Gables" Anne simply loses interest in God after several of her prayers seem to go unheeded. Instead, she turns to the stars to pray at the orphan assylum. Thirdly, Budge Wilson merely sped by the fact that the Hammond children all had croup regularly, which, in "Anne of Green Gables" is how Anne can help with Minnie May when she had croup. I was somewhat appeased when Anne helped Noah Thompas through the croup but it was not as effective, in my opinion.

Interesting take on the story behind the story. A little predictable and maybe too much effort to make reference to the original story but good overall.

Libro introvabile in italiano

Tells the sad times Anne went through before her time at Green Gables, and was used as a child labourer in two homes because she was an orphan. I really enjoyed her imagination through her hard times. Enjoyed very much.

Me ha gustado la comunión de Anne con la Naturaleza,y su recíproca necesidad de amor.

This book is amazing, written in the same style as LM Montgomery. Well worth reading it is great to read about the life Anne lead prior to Green Gables. SA life that was hinted at in the books of Anne of Green Gables. Budge Wilson is an amazing shadow writer.

This book was not written by the Author of the Anne books,but it is a fantastic starter to the series, the problem for a lot of people is knowing the order the books should be read. The books should be read in the following order. Order of the Anne of Green Gables books 1/ Before Green Gables by Budge Wilson 2/ Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery 3/ Anne of Avonlea by L. M. Montgomery 4/ Anne of the Island by L. M. Montgomery 5/Anne of Windy Willows by L. M. Montgomery 6/Anne's House of Dreams by L. M. Montgomery 7/ Anne of Ingleside by L. M. Montgomery 8/ Rainbow Valley by L. M. Montgomery 9/ Rilla of Ingleside by L. M. Montgomery 10/ Anne of Green Gables A New Beginning by Kevin Sullivan I don't recommend the last book because, it has to many mistakes where the dates and names are concerned and it turns Anne's history completely on its head. A gentle warning, Rilla of Ingleside is a very hard, sad read, I would not let children under the age of 10 read this book.