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• Anne of Avonlea (1909) •
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"To my former teacher Hattie Gordon Smith in grateful remembrance of her sympathy and encouragement"
Anne of Avonlea, the second book in the Anne series, is set five years after Anne's first arrival at Green Gables. Anne Shirley - the little red haired orphan with the undeniable, irresistible charm - is little no more! She is infact, a grown girl of sixteen...well, 'half past sixteen' as she calls it! After Matthew's death (Marilla's brother who ran the land), Marilla's eye sight begins to slip away and she becomes increasingly lonely at Green Gables. Anne, who just finishes the Queens Academy one year course (to become a certified schoolteacher), plans to attend Redmond College after receiving a prestigious scholarship. However, after rethinking, Anne decides to accompany Marilla and gives up her hopes of going to the four year undergraduate college. In addition, a distant cousin of Marilla's dies and leaves behind her two six-year-old twins, Davy and Dora, in which Marilla and Anne take in. Anne returns to Green Gables and teaches her very own pupils; each and every one of them are filled with different ambitions and curious hearts.
One of the more notable developments in the story is the growing friendship between Anne and her old school rival, Gilbert Blythe. Anne becomes more involved in Avonlea, and creates a group where young Avonleans focus on improving the town. They occassionally collect donations door-to-door, and use it to plant flowers along roadsides, repaint local buildings, and other improvements.
There are a few characters introduced in this sequel, including the romantic Miss Lavender, Anne's lovable student Paul Irving, and the irate neighbour, Mr. Harrison, among others. Anne is also very much involved in their stories as they unfold, and acts as somewhat of a matchmaker with her friends' loves.
Notable Quotes:
"A tall, slim girl, "half-past sixteen," with serious gray eyes and hair which her friends called auburn, had sat down on the broad red sandstone doorstep of a Prince Edward Island farmhouse one ripe afternoon in August, firmly resolved to construe so many lines of Virgil." (Chapter 1)
"Marilla says that a large family was raised in that old house long ago, and that it was a real pretty place, with a lovely garden and roses climbing all over it. It was full of little children and laughter and songs; and now it is empty, and nothing ever wanders through it but the wind. How lonely and sorrowful it must feel! Perhaps they all come back on moonlit nights. . .the ghosts of the little children of long ago and the roses and the songs. . .and for a little while the old house can dream it is young and joyous again." (Chapter 2)
"There are so many unpleasant things in the world already that there is no use in imagining any more." (Chapter 10)
"There are so many unpleasant things in the world already that there is no use in imagining any more." (Chapter 10)
"We must have ideals and try to live up to them, even if we never quite succeed. Life would be a sorry business without them. With them it's grand and great." (Chapter 15)
"We should regret our mistakes and learn from them, but never carry them forward into the future with us." (Chapter 15)
"I think people make their names nice or ugly just by what they are themselves." (Chapter 22)
"That is one good thing about this world. . .there are always sure to be more springs." (Chapter 24)
"In this world you've just got to hope for the best and prepare for the worst and take whatever God sends." (Chapter 30)
Bibliography: Author's last name, first name (Unavailable). "Anne of Green Gables Quotes." Litquotes. 2005. Perry Internet Consulting. June 27, 2006. <http://www.litquotes.com/quote_title_resp.php?TName=Anne%20of%20Avonlea>.