I might need a fact-check on this, but something tells me I’m probably the only dude in his thirties who has seen the 1985 production of this L.M. Montgomery’s classic Anne of Green Gables book a hundred times or so. Homeschool did many things for me growing up, but one thing in particular was to give me short school days followed by afternoons watching whatever my mother wanted to watch. Anne of Green Gables the miniseries was ten times more entertaining to a boy of twelve than that 14-hour PBS production of Pride and Prejudice, so I was on board whenever she chose Anne.

I watched the miniseries so many times, in fact, that I never felt an urge to read the actual book. Megan Follows was the only Anne I ever cared to know, so I figured the book would just be a bore without her.

I chose to read this book to my kids after we finished three pretty epic series this past year: Little House on the Prairie, The Chronicles of Narnia, and A Series of Unfortunate Events. My kids loved each of those for various reasons, and I wanted to introduce them to yet another classic series that could keep us going for months on end. The Anne saga has something like 6 or 7 books, so I figured this would be a good match for us.

It took my kids (8 and 10) a little while to get into this one, but once the story got rolling, they really took it to heart. I enjoyed it too, specifically as I got to hear a bit more of the background chatter and thought processes for scenes I’d long known, for example between Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert as they discussed the need for adopting an orphan boy. Scenes like this helped me understand Anne’s predicament much better, which as we all know is the benefit of books over film.

Virtually every scene in this thing brought solid memories of the show back to my mind—which made certain that after we finished reading it, we’d also get the DVD from the library. My kids loved the show too, so we may need to get that for the family one of these days.

Unintentionally, the book taught me more about film adaptation than novel writing. Kevin Sullivan and Joe Wiesenfeld so expertly adapted the book to the screen, that it should be a textbook study in how all adaptations should be done. Melodrama aside, Sullivan’s direction and the casting of the show was expert as well, and it causes me to agree with my parents at least in this, “They don’t make ’em like they used to.”

This is less a book review, I guess, than it is a miniseries review. If you’ve never read or watched anything Anne, I do recommend it. Melodramatic, yes. Talkative, absolutely. Moral, of course. Anne’s only flaws is that she’s too imaginative and kind, which normally would make for a very annoying character to watch grow up, but boy does it get her into some interesting scrapes! Good for all ages, Anne of Green Gables is an excellent read, be it your first or 101st time.

©2021 E.T.