In the first volume of L.M. Montgomery's classic series, a skinny, precocious, red-headed orphan named Anne Shirley arrives on Prince Edward Island in Canada where she is to live with Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert on their farm, Green Gables. But the Cuthberts are expecting a boy whom they had wanted to help with the heavy chores around the farm, and Anne has to convince the older couple not to send her back to the orphanage. Why would she want to go back? Green Gables is the most beautiful place Anne has ever seen, and even with her enormous imagination she can't think of another place she would rather be.

Neither Marilla nor Matthew can resist the child's enthusiasm and soon they can hardly imagine Green Gables without her. True, Anne has a habit of speaking her mind more often than she should. She is a bit impulsive and she is forever making up the most fantastic stories. But Anne means well, and she aims to do good so long as she can call Green Gables home. She works hard on the farm, at least when she isn't rushing into her latest scrape. And in school, she is the perennial head of her class, her only rival being Gilbert Blythe, an intelligent boy who might prove Anne's equal, but is more often than not her nemesis.

The world of Prince Edward Island in the early 1900's is lushly and lovingly portrayed in L.M. Montgomery's novel. She creates in Anne a truthful character that has as many faults as she does perfections. Readers of all ages will appreciate Anne's ineffable, buoyant spirit and the idyllic, by-gone world of farm pastures and small town roads in which she happily finds herself.