L.M. Montgomery Challenge - A Conclusion

Thus ends another year of Carrie's reading challenge. I managed to read through all of the Emily books as I planned and while I enjoyed it, it was much different reading those as a Mama than as a young girl. Not that I didn't enjoy this rereading - I did. But I saw things differently this go-round.


As a teen, I was swayed by the romantic-ness of young Emily's life. An orphan at such a young age, forced to live with relatives that (for the most part) don't understand her, full of dreams and words that must! get! out! As I read this time, I was more fully aware of some of the magic that surrounds Emily - her "gift" of second sight that would mysteriously appear and clear up an unsolvable mystery or right an old wrong. While there was nothing inherently bad about this, I definitely see Emily as a series for an older girl because of this. (I.e., handing it to a 12+ year old as opposed to an 9-10 year old). The Anne series, Jane of Lantern Hill, or The Story Girl and it's sequel would be better works to start someone out with LMM's material.

All that to say, I did enjoy renewing my acquaintance with Emily. My favorite of the series is book two - Emily Climbs. Full of entries into Emily's journal and stories about the scrapes that this young teen finds herself in - I find this book to be the lightest of the three and my favorite. I also watched one episode of Emily of New Moon, the series, on Netflix. One episode was all it took and I turned it off. (Carrie, you were right.) In the show, she is painted as a witch by the other children and the townsfolk, plus they drag out the death of both of Emily's parents with a visit from Death himself on a giant horse. Um, no thanks. The book handled that way better so we'll just wait until the girls are old enough to enjoy it in that format!

The girls and I also viewed a few episodes of the Road to Avonlea series. I was reminded how much I love this series. For the most part the characters are true to the book characters in LMM's The Story Girl and
The Golden Road with a few variations here and there that don't distract from the spirit of the book(s). As time permits, we'll probably watch a few more of these as the girls get older. N1 enjoyed them, but it was a little old for N2 and B so a few more years waiting on the shelf won't be a problem. I think it's safe to say that if you love the Anne movies (with the exception of the 3rd one which is a major detour from the Anne books!), you would enjoy the Road to Avonlea series.

Thanks, Carrie, for again hosting this challenge. I'm hoping to be back next January to play along!