a little experimANNEt…(that was a stretch..)

So little sis is doing an experiment this year.  As some of you may know, the Anne books we know and love were not published in the order that we usually read them.

They are usually read like this (for our strangers to Avonlea out there):

1) Anne of Green Gables: Anne moves to Avonlea, Prince Edward Island, Canada and is adopted by the Cuthburts.

2) Anne of Avonlea: Anne is a teenager going to a community college of sorts and teaching at the neighborhood school.

3) Anne of the Island: Anne goes away to college and gets engaged.

4) Anne of Windy Poplars: Anne teaches for 3 years at a school in Summerside (?) PEI.

5) Anne’s House of Dreams: Anne gets married and moves to Four Winds Harbor with her husband (no spoilers here!)

6) Anne of Ingleside: Stories of Anne’s family.

7) Rainbow Valley: Stories of Anne’s children who are older than in Ingleside.

8 ) Rilla of Ingleside: Set years after Rainbow Valley, the story of Anne’s family during WWI, told from Anne’s youngest daughter Rilla’s perspective.

So that’s how we read them.  BUT that’s not the order in which they were published.  So this year, I’m going to go old school and read the books like the original fANNEs read them:

1) Anne of Green Gables (1908)

2) Anne of Avonlea (1909)

3) Anne of the Island (1915)

4) Anne’s House of Dreams (1917)

5) Rainbow Valley (1919)

6) Rilla of Ingleside (1921)

7) Anne of Windy Poplars (1936)

8 ) Anne of Ingleside (1939)

ISN’T THAT CRAZY??! I think it will be super interesting to see how the different order affects things.  I’m especially interested in the huge gap between Rilla and Windy Poplars (HOW WILL I MAKE THAT TRANSITION?!) and how the writing will change in that space.

So I’ll keep you updated on how that goes.  It just started getting weird because I went straight from Island into House of Dreams.  No pesky pen tips/Katherine Brook/annoying Elizabeth for me..not for a few months, at least.

-lil sis

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