Classic #6!
This is the sixth book of the "Anne of Green Gables" series. It is written in a different style from how the other books are, in that 1) it is not written entirely from Anne's point of view and 2) it is a series of short stories told from each child's point of view.
At the end of the last book, Anne had just had her second child, Jem. He is the first one to live though, so he's the oldest in this book. At the beginning of this book, she's had 4 more children! Twin girls and 2 other boys. And, she shortly afterwards has another girl. I will say that it's really interesting how they don't even discuss pregnancy in this story. The author merely hints around it, and doesn't let Anne or Gilbert even tell the other children. I know that pregnancy wasn't celebrated as much back then, but it is interesting to "see".
Anne has some imaginative children (shocker, right?). I could see myself in Nan, one of her twin girls. She would always be caught up in a fantasy of her own, wandering through their yards pretending that she is someone else. I did that for YEARS, even in middle school when I would wonder what it would be like to be at Hogwarts. One time she got herself so worked up over a neighbor she had never even met that she was terrified when she actually had to go visit them. And the neighbor just turned out to be a nice old widow.
Overall, the children are normal kids learning about life at that time, even if they are a little bit spirited.
I felt like I related to Anne the most in this book, out of all of them. At the beginning of the book, Gilbert's Aunt Mary Maria came to visit for 2 weeks and ended up staying for months. She was overly critical, rude, and a martyr any time anyone would disagree. Towards the end of the visit, she was driving everyone crazy, even her nephew. But he was too loyal to turn her away, and it caused a little bit of a rift between him and Anne. Ultimately she got offended when people found out how old she was (through a huge surprise party that Anne threw) and left, but it was well overdue. I can't see someone in either of our families overstaying their welcome like that because they're more sensitive to our needs than that, but I could see Brandon not wanting to turn his own family out even if they were here too long.
At the end of the book, Anne was worried that Gilbert didn't love her anymore. He had barely noticed her, and wanted to go to dinner to see his old flame the night of their wedding anniversary. Not like I was worried about that, but it was nice to see that she was wrong and that he was just worried sick about a patient, and just overworked in general.
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