Anne of Green Gables at 100

In 1908, while Beatrix Potter was giving us Jemima Puddle-duck and Henry Ford was giving us the Model T, Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery was creating her greatest character, Anne Shirley, better known through the title of her first book, Anne of Green Gables.

Countless sequels, tourist destinations, memorabilia, and film, stage, and television adaptations later (above we have Megan Follows in the dual 1980s miniseries, and below a 1979 Japanese anime version), Anne is still, as Ramin Setoodeh says, “the most modern girl in the bookstore.” That comment comes at the beginning of a Newsweek article from July commemorating Anne’s centennial. That article actually says everything I would or could want to say about the subject, so for this Anniversary Friday I’ll essentially steer readers in that direction. Wikipedia also has good information and external links, and there is a good story at Fort Worth's Star-Telegram.com, an online exhibit at the L. M. Montgomery 

institute (with lots of other related materials), and more information at a website for Prince Edward Island in British Columbia (the tale's setting), Anne2008.com.  And the anniversary wouldn't pass by without a new edition of the original book, put out by Penguin, although this annotated version might be more intriguing for fans who have already gone through the book itself.