It’s Anne with an E

Growing up I refused to read Anne of Green Gables because in my mind the “girly-girls” liked to read that book. Never mind that I read almost every other classic children’s book, but I refused to read that one. My friend, Tara, heard me saying that and laughed her head off. Apparently, Anne was not a goody-two-shoes like she was in my head. So a few years ago, I assigned the Anne of Green Gables book club, and Princess LOVED reading the book. The boys were vaguely tolerant, but it made for a great book and a movie night.

(there are affiliate links here)

Anne of Green Gables book summary

Anne, with an E, that E is very important, is an orphan. She was accidentally adopted by a family, actually, a brother and sister, who were looking to adopt a boy who could help around the house.

The first book is the story of how she learned to fit into the town, and grew from a young girl, into a mature young woman ready to take on the world.

There are sequels that follow Anne through college, teaching, and early years of marriage, I think, I haven’t read them yet.

But, Tara was right, I quite liked Anne, and just because the girly girls I didn’t get along with liked Anne of Green Gables, doesn’t mean I won’t like it.

Recent Anne of Green Gables controversy

This is only a small controversy, not anywhere near as big as the “Mary Poppins controversy” or the “Huck Finn controversy”. A few years ago Netflix created an Anne of Green Gables series called Anne with an E.  First there was a giant outcry of “Why remake this series when you have the most amazing series ever already in existence?” Seriously, on the historical costuming blogs I was reading they were asking why this existed.

Then the series came out.

In the books, you could read it that Anne was abused in her prior foster placements. Anne with an E series creators decided to read that in AND display it in the series.

But, they didn’t warn anyone.

When the new series came out, all the parenting blogs I read blew up, “They should have warned us, there’s abuse of kids in this.” “My adopted child was triggered by this portrayal and the abuse of foster parents.”

I totally get what they’re saying. Netflix wanted to make it gritty and dark, and everyone else was thinking, “That’s not what I think of with Anne of Green Gables.”

I also knew a few people who appreciated that telling and said it helped them discuss hard topics with their kids.

I can see both sides, for us, we didn’t watch the new Netflix series. I know, I personally, would not have dealt well with it. Though, I admit to being curious about it.

Will you watch the (not new anymore) Anne with an E series?

Our Anne of Green Gables Book Club snacks

So, we had some creative fun with coming up with our snacks for this book club. We talked for a bit about what we read in the book, and then we watched the movie, or is it a mini-series? Heading over to Amazon to check on the Anne of Green Gables movie we watched.

Question answered, mini-series.

Huh, I missed getting individual pictures of some of the snacks. If you’re a subscriber, you can see the complete snack list and labels.

• Scrumptious Ice Cream- I got each of the kids individual flavors, and they loved that
• Fried Chicken- we stopped at KFC and picked up some fried chicken
• Shirred Dress- Anne spoke rapturously of the dresses she desired, and of course, we had to make those into snacks, this is our Santa cookie sugar cookie recipe with some pink-ish frosting.
• Puffed Sleeves- we grabbed some kind of Little Debbie sugary snacks, like this Snoball snack, they pretty much only get snacks like this for movies, so they’re always excited by it.
• Crisp Apples- to hear Anne talk about crisp fall apples is quite amusing, she talks about how amazing they are, and how much she can’t wait to try some, you could go on with different apple snacks from this
• Gold Brooch- Nilla wafers, because yummy and I didn’t want to bake something else, I was lazy…
• Romantic Stories- graham crackers with marshmallow fluff and melted chocolate chips, always a popular snack
• Aromatic Flowers- more sugar cookies with pink icing

Anne of Green Gables book club

I didn’t know about it at the time, but there’s a free 7 Sisters Anne of Green Gables study guide.

That being said, we talked about:

1. The problems with first impressions and sticking with them
2. What happens when your imagination runs away with you
3. Difficulties of joining a new community
4. What would it be like to be an orphan

More 7th Grade Ideas beyond Anne of Green Gables

• Pride and Prejudice (technically not 7th grade, but my daughter insisted on reading it then)
• Battle of San Jacinto Field Trip
• Create Your Own Country Report
• How do atoms work STEM lesson
• Mary Poppins Book Club

“DSC_6835 Diana Barry, Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe relaxing on the grass at the Anne of Green Gables museum, Park Corner, PEI” by Greying_Geezer is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0