Thursday, August 29, 2019

Anne Arrives

Anne Arrives. Kallie George. Illustrated by Abigail Halpin. 2018. 72 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: One sunny afternoon in June, Mrs. Rachel Lynde looked out her window.

Premise/plot: This is an early chapter book adaptation of L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables. That is it’s an adaptation of the first handful of chapters. It begins with Mrs. Lynde, Matthew, and Marina being surprised. Anne is a girl orphan and not a boy one like the Cuthberts requested! It ends with Anne apologizing to Rachel and being allowed to stay after all. (We don’t get so far as the brooch, the Sunday school picnic, meeting Diana, etc.)

My thoughts: I never thought the story would itself so easily to illustrations. But it does! The illustrations are lovely and delightful!!! They capture the emotional tones of the story quite well. Joy, wonder, anger, love, heartache, etc. The text is not identical to Montgomery’s. It is an adaptation. I had my doubts that anyone could “improve” upon the original. But George’s text fabulously suits young readers. The original text requires a good attention span as a read aloud choice. And it’s not one that most young readers can pick up and read on their own.

I loved the art and text!

© 2019 Becky Laney of Young Readers

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