“This book is very different from the previous in the series. First of all, most of the prose in this book comes in the form of a letter from Anne to Gilbert. Also, there is a major change in Anne's personality. She is still the adorable girl with the wild imagination we know her to be, but it is very obvious she is growing up. She loves children and remembers what it was like to be the chatty, imaginative child that adults brushed off. So she treats children with more respect and attention that her counterparts. But at one point she says, "I wonder if I sounded as silly as that when I was a child". So while she is still that little girl, some of that is lost. I am not being critical of Montomgery's choices there. I think that it is realistic to believe that, if you are following Anne's story this far, you must expect her to "grow up" a little at some point. But she still has that Anne Shirley charm, no doubt.She is also very interested in other people's affairs and her looks. She keeps matching people together. She also tells a friend how she made people beautiful in her mind during church last Sunday. She changed the color of the dress someone was wearing and trimmed a man's beard... all in her head. All of this seems too frivolous for Anne Shirley to be interested in and sometimes I wish she wasn't. However, it was a different time. Her interest in these things are not to an alarming degree and pale to some of the other characters in the book which makes up for them. This is still such a charming story. Any girl who knows Anne's story wants to live it herself. Wants to be able to see the world like she does. Wants to be able to help others the way she does. I recommend it to everyone of every age.”
