lmm-anne.net
the Anne of Green Gables and L. M. Montgomery lexicon

Book Mentions

Have you come across a reference to Anne or to any of L. M. Montgomery's books in a book you've read? Please send it to me, and I will add it to the list.

Follow The Stars Home, by Luanne Rice

Thanks to Stephanie Inglis for the submission!

For Diane Robbins, being a devoted single mother has resulted in her greatest joy and her darkest hours. Weeks before her daughter was born, she and her husband Tim received the news every parent fears. Tim had not reckoned on their child being anything less than perfect, and abruptly fled, leaving Diane with a newborn baby — almost alone. It was Tim’s brother, Alan, the town pediatrician, who stood by Dianne and her exceptional daughter. Throughout years of waiting, watching and caring, Alan hid his love for his brother’s wife. But Dianne has closed her heart to any man — especially this one. It will take a very special twelve-year-old to remind them that love comes in many forms, and can be received with as much grace as it is given.

Anne comes into the story:
Dianne’s mother Lucinda is a legendary local librarian who is deeply troubled by Dianne’s refusal of Alan, and when Amy, a young girl from an abusive home, becomes a mother’s helper for Dianne, Lucinda finds many parallels between her own turbulent youth in an orphanage, and Amy’s home life (Amy’s barely-functioning depressed mother and her mother’s physically abusive live-in boyfriend Buddy). Lucinda’s favorite novel is Anne of Green Gables, and the novel plays a central role in Follow the Stars Home as an inspiration for both Lucinda and Amy (orphaned girl with a vivid imagination discovers the power of writing).

Cures for Heartbreak, by Margo Rabb

Cures for Heartbreak is a young adult’s book.  The main character reads Anne of Green Gables.

Mia’s mother died days after being diagnosed with melanoma, the funeral director’s name was Manny Musico, and the rabbi seemed to double as an Elvis impersonator. Mia’s pretty sure that God must be a comedian from the Borscht Belt.

In search of a cure for heartbreak, Mia buys expensive dresses, eats ice cream, reads Anne of Green Gables, goes on a health kick, makes a friend, and eventually, slightly, the wounds begin to lose their raw edge. Margo Rabb understands that high school can hold more heartbreak than boys and cliques provide, and her writing rings painfully—and hilariously—true. -R. Crawford (Elliot Books)

As Ever Booky, by Bernice Thurman Hunter

The Booky series (That Scatterbrain Booky, With Love From Booky, and As Ever, Booky) is the story of a budding writer growing up in Toronto during the Great Depression.

Booky meets L. M. Montgomery, her favourite author, based on Thurman Hunter’s own meeting with Montgomery in the 1930s.

An excerpt of the Booky series can be read on Scholastic Canada’s website.

The books have been turned into a CBC film called “Booky Makes her Mark“, where Lally Cadeau plays L. M. Montgomery, and former Anne of Green Gables actress Megan Follows plays as Booky’s mother.

Dear America: Survival in the Storm, by Katelan Janke

From the Scholastic Website:

Survival in the Storm: The Dust Bowl Diary of Grace Edwards is a special book in the Dear America series. It is written by fifteen-year-old Katelan Janke. In 1998 when Katie was in the sixth grade, she entered the Dear America Student Writing Contest. Her five days of diary entries set in the Dust Bowl of 1935 were chosen as a Grand Prize Winner. Four years later that prize-winning entry is now the full-length novel.

Setting the novel in her hometown of Dalhart, Texas, Katelan Janke tells Grace Edwards’s story of friendship, survival, and hope in the midst of one of the greatest ecological disasters in American history. Katie says, “The idea to write about the Dust Bowl was sparked by my town’s rich past. It’s an inspiration to actually live where my story takes place—I can readily imagine much of Grace Edwards’s life. Often on windy, dusty days, I see a glimpse of what others survived day in and day out.”

At the end of Survival in the Storm, Grace generously gives up her favorite book, Anne of Green Gables, and sends it to Sadie McCall in California.

The Nervous Nephew, by Nicola Furlong

The Nervous Nephew is part of the Church Choir Series by Nicola Furlong. The stories “[star] Gracie Parks, a feisty, funny, faithful and formidable 62-year-old widow and a flock of high-spirited characters.”

In The Nervous Nephew, An elderly lady in a small town in Indiana wants to sign a contract for her books to be made into a tv series, but some townsfolk are opposed to having the movies filmed there.

Mac shoved his good hand into his dirtly overalls. “Way I see it, a Lazy Lake TV series’ll be the ruination of Willow Bend. Tourist trap, USA. You folks ever been to Prince Edward Island?” They shook their heads. “Off Canada’s east coast. Pretty little island. Got red soil, jim dandy for farming.” He grabbed a near by chair and straddled it. “They have a famous woman writer, too. Wrote books about a girl, Anne of Green Gables.”
Gracie nodded. When she was young, she’d read Lucy Maud Montgomery’s charming stories about a red-haired, high-spirited orphan. Gracie was always partial to Anne’s spunky nature and, of course, hair color.
“Well, that’s all you see now. Anne this, Anne that. Every shop sells red-headed dolls and Green Gables doll houses. It’s like there’s nothin’ else. Like I said, the island’s pretty-near perfect for farming. There’s fishing, too- you outta go to a lobster dinner. My word! Those folks know how to put on a spread- even horse racing. But do you think they advertise any of that?” He vehemently shook his head. “They’ve got a bridge to the island now. Folks call it Anne’s Span, believe it or not.”
“Nobody’s talking bout anything like that,” Joe said.
Mac ripped his cap off his head and ruffled a few wispy strands. “Mebbe not now. But give it some time. I warn ya. It’ll ruin Willow Bend. Just the way, it’s ruined P.E.I. Why, that freckled kid’s been on their license plate, for Pete’s sake! Is that what you and Anne want for Willow Bend?”

Info from AvFan4vr at the Avonlea Message Boards.

The Green Gables Detectives, by Eric Wilson

The Green Gables Detectives is a children’s mystery novel taking place at the Green Gables National Park. “While roaming through the legendary house of Green Gables, Liz Austen and her friends see some eerie things. The adventure takes them from an ancient cemetery through a haunted church and into a deserted lighthouse on foggy Prince Edward Island.” L. M. Montgomery’s poem “On Cape Leforce” is quoted. The novel is part of Eric Wilson’s Canada puzzler series, where major attractions in each of Canada’s provinces and territories are used as the setting of a mystery.

A sample chapter of The Green Gables Detectives can be read at Eric Wilson’s Website.

Ellen’s Secret, by Jean Booker

Ellen’s Secret is the story of an eleven-year-old girl living in Norther England during World War II. The book mentions that Ellen is trying to start Anne of Green Gables, but couldn’t get into it.