Anne of Green Gables Retelling by Nosy Crow Classics

L.M. Montgomery's classic story Anne of Green Gables was adapted for young readers by Katherine Woodfine and illustrated by Isabelle Follath. Published on September 3, 2024 by Nosy Crow, the retelling is 96 pages long and geared toward children ages 7–10.

This is the third book in the Nosy Crow Classics series. The series also includes Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows abridged by Lou Peacock and illustrated by Kate Hindley and Animal Tales from India: Ten Stories from the Panchatantra by Nikita Gill and illustrated by Chaaya Prabhat.

Here's a look inside the book that shows an illustration of Anne Shirley and the text at the end of Chapter 1 and beginning of Chapter 2. I think the illustrations are really charming.

Here is the book's description from Nosy Crow Classics:

When a spirited and imaginative 11-year-old orphan named Anne moves to Avonlea, she can’t wait to see the home she’s always dreamed of. And it’s perfect! Green Gables is a beautiful farmhouse, set among the summer flowers of Prince Edward Island.

But Anne quickly realizes her dream is too good to be true. There has been a terrible mistake and her new family—gentle Matthew and his stern sister Marilla—were expecting someone quite different. With her cheer, her imagination, and even her mischievousness, Anne is a welcome breath of fresh air . . . but will she succeed in enchanting Matthew and Marilla? One thing’s for sure, there is never a dull moment when Anne is around.

Featuring high-end finishes, including a foil-inlaid cloth binding, textured jacket, and ribbon bookmark, Anne of Green Gables is a timeless gift book for every child to enjoy and treasure. Listen to the free Stories Aloud audiobook— just scan the QR code on the back cover to hear the story read aloud!

Image credit:
Cover of Anne of Green Gables by Nosy Crow Classics.

Purchase and read Anne of Green Gables by Nosy Crow Classics:


Created September 6, 2024.
© worldofanneshirley.com

Megan Follows on Playing Anne of Green Gables

Megan Follows is known for playing the outspoken, imaginative and talkative Anne Shirley in the 1985 TV miniseries Anne of Green Gables, which was based on L.M. Montgomery's novel. In December 2023, Follows reminisced about how playing Anne Shirley changed her life in a podcast conversation with the CBC's Tom Power. In the introduction to the podcast, Power mentions how the conversation made him rethink Anne of Green Gables and consider how radical the story was then and how relevant it still is today. I loved their conversation. Give it a listen!

Sometimes actors dislike being identified with a particular role, but not Megan Follows. She expressed gratitude about playing Anne Shirley and emphasized how great it was to play a character that was "a girl that got to express rage." When asked about her relationship with the character, Follows responded, "I love Anne...She and I have a great relationship. We're tight. We're bosom buddies. I think she's an extraordinary character, and uhm, I always felt incredibly grateful to have played her and to have been introduced to a strong-willed, female-driven story where you got to be number one from the point of view of a story." Often, Follows reflects, women are the appendage in stories and not the backbone or driving force. In contrast, Anne has a driving force to belong and to be seen for herself, and Follows believes that this is what resonates with people.

Megan Follows delved back into L.M. Montgomery's stories in preparing to record an Emily of New Moon audiobook a few years ago and then to direct a new Audible Anne of Green Gables audiobook featuring Michela Luci, Catherine O’Hara, Victor Garber, and Sandra Oh. Follows remarks that her deep dive back into the stories allowed her to discover "the subversiveness of the text." She had previously understood Montgomery's humor, but now she observed her way of pointing out hypocrisy through Anne. Follows feels that the power of the character scares people.

Follows sees Anne's compulsive talking as coming from a dark place where Anne chooses to go toward the light, not out of naivety, but for her own survival. As an example, she mentions how Anne planned to sleep in a cherry tree at the train station. She believes that Anne came up with this idea for safety, but that Anne focused on the beauty of the blossoms because she was terrified to be abandoned and alone in the world. Follows says that Montgomery used poetry because children don't actually speak this way.

Follows also reflected on her amazing experiences working with Colleen Dewhurst (Marilla Cuthbert) and Patricia Hamilton (Rachel Lynde). She discussed how Richard Farnsworth (Matthew Cuthbert) was only available for six days of filming, so she worked very long hours with him to film his scenes. Later, she did scenes with a grip stand with a hat on it as a stand-in. Follows also talked about the raspberry cordial scene with Schuyler Grant, who played Diana Barry. They were giving Grant glasses of watered down grape juice or Ribena, and she really did get sick after filming the scene multiple times. Follows briefly mentioned that her heart always smiles for Jonathan Crombie and that they laughed a lot.

Power asked Follows about her audition for Anne. Strangely, the day after her audition, her tape disappeared, and she had to redo her audition at the last minute. Follows mentions that there was another actress who was the first choice for Anne Shirley and that she had to fight for the role. Luckily, she had advocates at the CBC and someone at PBS who believed that she was the right fit for the role.

Later, when asked about how the success of the miniseries affected her, she reflected that she is grateful that she did a good job playing Anne, and that she has received a tremendous amount of goodwill because of the character and how much the character and writing mean to people.

Toward the end of the conversation, Follows talked about how she is currently developing a limited series on the life of L.M. Montgomery, her legacy and the power of her writing. I can't wait to hear more.


Image credit:
Photograph of Megan Follows as Anne Shirley in Anne of Green Gables © Sullivan Entertainment.

Reference:
Megan Follows: Playing Anne in Anne of Green Gables and bringing the story to a new generation. (2023, December 15). Q with Tom Power. CBC Arts & Entertainment. Retrieved from: https://podcasts.apple.com/ro/podcast/megan-follows-playing-anne-in-anne-of-green-gables/id256943801?i=1000638664483

Created May 24, 2024. Last updated August 26, 2024.
© worldofanneshirley.com

Emily of New Moon Audiobook

An Emily of New Moon audiobook read by Megan Follows was produced by Voices in the Wind Audio Theatre and Design Sound Productions in 2021. Megan Follows is well-familiar with L.M. Montgomery's works, having starred as Anne Shirley in the acclaimed Anne of Green Gables (1985) by Sullivan Entertainment and its sequels Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel (1987) and Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story (2000).

In an interview with the CBC, Follows reflected on her return to L.M. Montgomery's world saying, "It was a fun revisiting of the author, to hear her language again, to be transported to that time and place. Even though it's obviously a different series with the Emily of New Moon books, but still obviously so strongly the voice of Lucy Maud Montgomery, who I'm a fan of. It was a fun opportunity to just sit in the booth and talk." Follows recorded the audiobook during the pandemic. She reflected on the creative experience saying, "I guess it was perfect, given the world that we were all living in at the time. We were in COVID. The recording studio had just opened back up. This is back in the winter. It was going from the isolation of one space into a recording studio all sanitized down, in this cocoon-like world. In a way, the true beauty of the literature is that I got to be transported to outside my circumstances and situations into someone else's life. That's really the beautiful thing about her work."

Megan Follows has a deep understanding of L.M. Montgomery's voice and her characters. She says, "I think there is something that people identify with — being ostracized, being bullied, being excluded, the fear of not fitting in, not being wanted. What is my voice? How do I belong? How do I find a voice and a place in the world? That is as much a part of our present day situation."

I don't often listen to audiobooks, but I'm going to seek out this one.


Image Credit:
Artwork for the Emily of New Moon Audible audiobook by Design Sound Productions.

Reference:
CBC Books. (2021, Jul 14). Megan Follows returns to Lucy Maud Montgomery's world with Emily of New Moon audiobook. CBC News. Retrieved from: https://www.cbc.ca/books/megan-follows-returns-to-lucy-maud-montgomery-s-world-with-emily-of-new-moon-audiobook-1.6101013

Purchase the Emily of New Moon Audiobook:

Created May 19, 2024.
© worldofanneshirley.com

Anne of Green Gables Audible Audiobook

A new Anne of Green Gables audiobook published by Audible Originals dramatizes L.M. Montgomery's classic story. The performances were directed by Megan Follows, who starred as Anne Shirley in the acclaimed Anne of Green Gables (1985) and its sequels Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel (1987) and Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story (2000).

A Canadian cast brings the story to life. Anne of Green Gables is narrated by Golden Globe winner Sandra Oh (Grey's Anatomy, Killing Eve, The Chair), an Asian-Canadian-American actress. Anne Shirley is voiced by 17-year-old Canadian actress Michela Luci (Dino Dana), who won a Daytime Emmy Award. Marilla Cuthbert is voiced by Canadian Emmy Award winner Catherine O’Hara (Beetlejuice, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Home Alone, Schitt's Creek). Matthew Cuthbert is voiced by the Canadian actor Victor Garber (Alias, Milk, DC's Legends of Tomorrow), who has received multiple Emmy and Tony nominations.

This retelling of Anne of Green Gables was released on November 30, 2023, which is L.M. Montgomery's birthday. L.M. Montgomery's story was adapted by Abi Hynes, and the production has an original score and immersive sound.

In an interview with the CBC, Megan Follows says, "I loved the idea of going back and deeply immersing myself in the text, in the writing of Lucy Maud Montgomery." Follows goes describe Anne as rare considering the historical period saying, "That advocacy of a female to have the right to speak up and to be heard and to be seen was unheard of at that time. She was revolutionary in that way — to have an imagination, to have feeling, to express feelings, and for girls to express anger."


Official Websites:
Anne of Green Gables Audible Audiobook - watch the trailer, and view a behind-the-scenes video
Anne of Green Gables Audible audiobook at Amazon.com

Image Credit:
Promotional image for the Anne of Green Gables Audible audiobook.

Reference:
Yarr, Kevin. (2023, December 3). Anne of Green Gables audiobook 'a whole new world,' says Megan Follows: Follows directs all-star Canadian cast in latest dramatization of Montgomery work. CBC News. Retrieved from: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-anne-green-gables-audible-audiobook-1.7043654

Created May 8, 2024. Last updated June 5, 2024.
© worldofanneshirley.com

Limited Time Deal on Rilla of Ingleside Audiobook

If you love audiobooks, there's a great deal on a new version of Rilla of Ingleside by L.M. Montgomery at Chirp right now. For the next 25 days, you can purchase Rilla of Ingleside as a digital audiobook for $1.99. The regular price is $15.99.

This new digital audiobook was just released by InAudio on February 22, 2022. The book is read by Erin Bateman, and the run time is 11 hours and 32 minutes.

Chirp describes the book as follows:

"This follow-up to the treasured classic Anne of Green Gables has over 21,100 five-star Goodreads ratings! On the brink of World War I, Anne and Gilbert Blythe’s youngest daughter is still a teenager. But when she falls in love with a soldier and her brothers enlist in the conflict, Rilla must summon all of her courage as her life changes forever."

Publisher's description:

"Rilla is Anne and Gilbert Blythe’s youngest daughter, an excitable 15-year-old who is unaware of how the world works, and is only interested in having fun. But the world is on the brink of a global war, and soon Rilla’s family and life are turned upside down, as several of her brothers enlist in the army and are sent to fight overseas.

The book follows Rilla’s life through the duration of World War I, as she grows up quickly from the responsibilities put on young women in this time. She adopts an orphaned child and raises him, runs the local Junior Red Cross, falls in love with a soldier just before he deploys, and even assists in the elopement of a soldier to his beloved.

This novel captures the anxiety of living with one’s family away at war, as well as captures the unique perspective of a woman’s life at home during the First World War (and is the only Canadian novel that shows this perspective written by a contemporary of the war). Through the sadness and bleak moments brought to the world in this war, and the loss that the Blythes face, there is yet again hope to be found in the love of the families and neighbors of Ingleside."

Created May 1, 2022.
© worldofanneshirley.com