Ellen Beier

Please note this review is for the hardcover picture book edition of L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables, adapted by M.C. Helldorfer and illustrated by Ellen Beier. It is not meant to be a review of the unabridged original novel.
Just as I love every one of L.M. Montgomery's tales of Prince Edward Island, particularly all of her Anne books, I love this charming picture book adaptation of her best loved and well-known book, Anne of Green Gables. This is a delightful introduction to the world of Anne Shirley, the plucky red-headed orphan girl with the poetic and romantic soul, who wins the hearts of everyone she meets...eventually!
Ellen Beier has done a remarkable job bringing the characters and events of this delightful book to life with her colorful illustrations of a bygone day. In 38 pages the key events in the story are covered with sufficient detail to capture the charm of the original book and are sure to whet the appetite for more details of the beloved Anne and her friends and family of Avonlea. We join the shy and quiet Matthew Cuthbert at the train station when he first discovers that the "boy" he and his sister, Marilla expected to adopt is an eleven year old girl with red hair, whose dreamy imagination fuels her non-stop friendly banter all the way back to their home, called Green Gables. We share in Anne's misery when she learns Marilla wants to send her back! We meet Anne's best friend Diana Barry. We suffer along with Anne when she is unjustly accused of losing Marilla's heirloom brooch. We meet the handsome tease Gilbert Blythe who taunts Anne with the name Carrots until he feels the crack of her school slate on his head. This book illustrates Anne's misguided attempt to change her hated red hair color and shows her misery when it turns out GREEN! Worse yet, she then needs to get shorn like a sheep. Oh the agony of embarassment! Speaking of embarassing moments, we are there when Anne, play-acting as Elaine, the Lily Maid of Astolat, finds her "funeral barge" has sprung a leak and (oh horrors!) she must be rescued by none other than the hated Gilbert Blythe. We are there as Anne slowly, bit by bit, creates a permanent happy place in the lives of the Cuthberts and of all who know her. The book leaves off on the happy occasion of Anne recieving a beautiful longed for dress with the coveted and fashionable puffed sleeves that the practical Marilla had originally frowned upon as frivolous. Alot of Anne's characterization is omitted, necessarily, from this shortened version but her charm and verve still shine through. I think this is a great first Anne book and I hope it will help bring the beloved stories to an ever widening readership.… (meer)