Literacy Skills Teacher's Guide for 1 of 3 by L.M. Montgomery Book Information Ruby Gillis classmate and friend of Anne's L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables Stella Maynard & Priscilla Grant Anne's Quiz Number: 300474 Penguin Putnam,1994 friends at Queen's ISBN 0-14-036741-1; LCCN 369 Pages Vocabulary Book Level: 7.7 Interest Level: MY beatification state of blissful happiness bedizened dressed or adorned gaudily or The first novel in the Anne series that has tastelessly delighted millions of young readers since its cogitation reflection or meditation; publication in 1908. Eleven-year-old Anne contemplation Shirley wins the heart of her foster mother. coruscation a sudden gleam or flash of light Topics: Family Life, Adoption/Fostering; obdurate unmoved by persuasion or pity; Family Life, Orphans; People, unyielding Neighbours; Series, Children's seraph one of the celestial beings Classics hovering above God's throne Main Characters highly imaginative, Synopsis red-headed orphan girl, who comes to live This is a coming-of-age story about an at Green Gables imaginative, sensitive, red-haired orphan Charlie Sloane classmate of Anne's girl, who by accident or fate, comes to live Diana Barry kindred spirit and bosom with an elderly brother and sister on Prince friend to Anne Edward Island in the early 1900s. Through Gilbert Blythe classmate of Anne's and a series of mishaps and successes, Anne unwitting enemy, competitor and eventual Shirley develops into a loving and friend ambitious, even reliable and sensible young woman, though she maintains her Josephine Barry Diana's wealthy aunt, inner hold on the romantic and imaginative, who enjoys being amused by Anne too. As Anne matures, the story reveals Josie Pye antagonistic classmate of how her caretakers and friends also grow Anne's from their involvement with her, raising the Marilla Cuthbert Matthew's sister, who questions of who needed whom, and who decides to take in and train Anne has gained more from the experience. Matthew Cuthbert painfully shy elderly man whose heart goes out to Anne The story opens with shy Matthew Miss Stacy Anne's talented and Cuthbert, sent on a mission to retrieve the progressive teacher orphan boy he and his sister, Marilla, had Mr & Mrs Barry Diana's parents sent for - only to find Anne Shirley waiting Mr Phillips teacher with questionable at the train station instead. After some soul teaching practices searching, rather than turn Anne away to Mrs Allan minister's wife whom Anne the likes of Mrs Blewett, who only wanted takes as a role model Anne as an unpaid baby-sitter, Matthew convinces Marilla they might do Anne some Rachel Lynde opinionated, though good by letting her stay at Green Gables. well-intentioned, Avonlea gossip Anne immediately gets into trouble by

© 1999 Renaissance Learning, Inc. Literacy Skills Teacher's Guide for 2 of 3 Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery losing her temper with Marilla's nosy and opinionated neighbour, Rachel Lynde, by Initial Understanding falsely confessing to having taken Marilla's Anne of Green Gables addresses many amethyst brooch, and by breaking her slate feelings common to girls growing up; but over Gilbert Blythe's head for calling her feelings are also regarded from more than "carrots". Anne then rises to apologise with one point of view, and at different levels. honour, is absolved of guilt in the matter of Find examples of feelings in the story. the brooch, and excels as a student. Explore instances where a character misunderstood another's feelings or With time Anne develops into a uniquely misinterpreted their actions. beautiful young woman. She finds a kindred spirit and bosom friend in Diana There is often a conflict between a person's Barry, only to be prevented from seeing her feelings and what they think is appropriate because she accidentally serves Diana to express. Furthermore, a person's own currant wine instead of raspberry cordial. feelings and prejudices can colour their They are reunited when Anne's presence of perception of others' expressed feelings. mind and experience with children saves Diana's sister from dying from the croup. Literary Analysis Who benefited the most from Anne's Anne holds a grudge against Gilbert for coming to Green Gables? making fun of her hair and initiating the insult she suffered in front of the class, The author seems to argue that while Anne though this was really the unfair and obviously benefited from living at Green heavy-handed tactic of Mr Phillips, their Gables, especially considering the way she teacher. When Miss Stacy takes over as had been living, everyone she met teacher at Avonlea, Anne blossoms as a benefited as well. Matthew and Marilla had student. Anne and Gilbert become rivals for stagnated in their individual growth, but top honours all the way through Queen's, Anne opened them up to life and love where Anne wins the Avery scholarship and again. Even the people of Avonlea had lost the right to go to Redmond College. the capacity for imagination, and Anne seemed to rekindle it in some of them. Anne experiences a "bend in the road", however, after the Cuthberts lose their money when the bank they've invested in fails, Matthew dies and Marilla is at risk of going blind. Anne decides to give up the scholarship so she can help Marilla stay at Green Gables. Gilbert gives up the Avonlea school so Anne can have the teaching post. Anne admits she has forgiven Gilbert, and they agree to become the friends he believes they are destined to be.

Open-Ended Questions Use these open-ended questions as the basis for class discussions, student presentations, or extended writing assignments.

© 1999 Renaissance Learning, Inc. Literacy Skills Teacher's Guide for 3 of 3 Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery Inferential Comprehension Understanding Literary Features: One of Many comparisons and contrasts are the themes, and predominant moods, of drawn between characters in Anne of Anne of Green Gables is romanticism; Green Gables. Choose a pair of characters how it seems to arise in response to the and find one instance where they have Age of Reason, and how it is followed by something in common and one difference. an Age of Realism. Students could What did each character gain from their research literary history to find where interaction, if anything? English Romantics Browning and Tennyson fit and why Anne would have Rachel Lynde is social and opinionated, been attracted to their works. Alternative while Marilla is withdrawn and opinionated. research within the story itself would be to Matthew is an old, shy man, and Anne is a note all the foreshadowing that occurs. young, expressive girl, yet each respects, appreciates and cares for the other. Marilla Making Predictions: Readers of L.M. is sensible and undemonstrative; Anne is Montgomery's story encouraged imaginative and demonstrative, yet each Montgomery to continue Anne's tales. It experienced conflict when they couldn't might be interesting for students to predict bring themselves to forgive a male friend what they believe will happen to Anne as who asked to be forgiven. she continues on her path in life. It could be valuable to compare and contrast Constructing Meaning Anne's life in turn-of-the-century Canada Wherever Anne is introduced, a romantic to the coming-of-age of girls in Australia description of the scene or of nature leads today. If Anne were alive today, how or ensues. Through this strategy the author would the students' prediction change? Is seeks to create associations between there "more scope for the imagination" characters and their surroundings. What available to highly sensitive children now? kind of language and which literary devices Reasons why or why not could be does the author use to achieve this? How explored individually or in groups. effective are they? Describing Actions or Events: The students could independently observe Simile, personification, allusions, metaphor some relatively complex and and imagery used in description are emotion-touched event and describe it on common in every chapter. Characterisation, paper or to someone designated as the dialogue and plot all contribute to the listener. Two or more students could unfolding of the narrative. For example, address the same listener without any Anne renamed everything around Green prior consultation with one another. Gables that did not sound right to her. The Afterward, the "listener" could become the descriptions take on her style as if it were narrator for the group's story, which could she, and not the narrator, describing them. then be shared with the class. At other times, however, Anne is allowed to tell her story and her perspective is the only Deriving Word or Phrase Meaning: Have access the reader has to those events. As the students practise using romantic a contrast, it might be helpful to note the language and imagery to describe some difference, for example, between Marilla's commonplace items or special places in description of a scene and the narrator's their own environment. Descriptions of description of Marilla's perspective. nature drawing upon mythic or fabulous creations are a ready choice, but the student can sample other literary works or Teachable Skills develop their own approach.

© 1999 Renaissance Learning, Inc.