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The Anne books and all the short stories by L.M. Montgomery are all intertwined in my mind with the wonderful movies by Kevin Sullivan which I remember watching on PBS when they first came out.  After that, I had to read all the Anne books, followed by the Emily books, the Story Girl, several other novels and volumes of short stories.  One scene among many that stands out in my mind is when Matthew insists that Anne have a dress with puffed sleeves.  He knows that Marilla won’t approve, so he decides to make it a Christmas gift.  I have had this book on my shelf for years and not read it, because I assumed it was excerpts from the Anne books.  I was pleasantly surprised to discover many holiday short stories from Montgomery that were full of the characters, friendship, food and love that fill all her work.

Bibliography:  Montgomery, L. M. (1995).  Christmas with Anne and Other Holiday Stories. New York: Delacorte. ISBN:  9780771062049

Review:  In addition to the excerpt from Anne of Green Gables about the puffed sleeves, there is also the story from Anne of Windy Poplars of how Katherine Brook came to Green Gables for Christmas and the magic of the place and Anne changed her life.  The other short stories in the book are all full of these moments, magic, where among other things lost relatives come home, quarrels are forgotten, Santa Claus finds you even snow bound on a train, and a cake delivered to the wrong address makes up for a Christmas alone.  But the real magic is in the people that live in Montgomery’s (and Anne’s) world.  Good natured, kind hearted, and human but willing to see the error of their ways.  Really the one thing I wanted to do when I finished reading this volume was go over to my shelf and start reading all the Anne books and then work my way through the rest of Montgomery’s work.

Readalikes:  Not holiday books, but Christy by Catherine Marshall has a lot in common with Anne, and A Girl of the  Limberlost by Gene Stratton-Porter was published around the same time and has at its center a determined young woman as well.

Review Excerpt: “Wilmshurst has selected tales as heartwarming as those set at Green Gables and beyond, and Montgomery’s fans are always ready for any new story that can be mustered from this fabled author’s pen.”–Kirkus Reviews

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