The annotated Anne of Green Gables

YA‘This book opens with a chronology and a lengthy introduction to Lucy Maud Montgomery's life and works. Annotations accompany the text of the novel explaining references to people, places, literary works, quotations, events, flora, fauna, etc. within the narrative. The volume is filled with illustrations from different editions of Anne and photos of Montgomery, her handwritten manuscript, her childhood home, her school, her parents and family, Prince Edward Island, plants, pictures of the times, and more. One section explains the variants among different editions of the work. The appendix includes the geography of the island and Cavendish, the author's childhood home upon which she based Avonlea. Also included are scholarly essays on the history of the Celtic settlers on Prince Edward Island, orphanages and children, education, gardens and plants, home life, food preparation and cookery (including contemporary recipes), music and elocution, and literary allusion and quotations in Anne of Green Gables. This well-researched and readable resource will find a wide audience among Montgomery's many fans.‘John Lawson, Fairfax County Public Library, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(Preschool) Banks and Hallensleben's third collaboration continues to pay homage to the creations of Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd. While the playful exchanges between mother and child in their previous Spider Spider and Baboon recall the interaction in The Runaway Bunny, this new work evokes the powerful bedtime magic of Goodnight Moon. The opening scene finds a young child in a large but cozy room filled with familiar objects, immediately conjuring up the "great green room." "Somewhere a pair of shoes lies under a chair," begins the text, just as "there was a telephone / And a red balloon..." in the famous bunny's bedroom. (There is a bunny here, too, though it is the stuffed companion of a human child.) But then Banks's book makes a grand departure from its honored predecessor: "a window yawns open," and the book soars out and beyond the bedroom to take in the vast world-"if the moon could talk, it would tell of evening stealing through the woods and a lizard scurrying home to supper." The following spread returns to the warm, safe bedroom, and the story continues to alternate in that fashion. Small things from the child's home are reflected in kind in the world outside: a light flicks on in the hallway, "and if the moon could talk, it would tell of stars flaring up one by one and a small fire burning by a tree"; a wooden boat and a starfish sit on the nightstand, and the moon shines down on "waves washing onto the beach, shells, and a crab resting." Hallensleben's breathtaking impressionistic paintings portray distinctive settings not specified in the simple, poetic text: a man drives cattle through the square of a Spanish-style village; sailboats bob in a tropical harbor; a farmhouse nestles below luminous blue-white mountains. Each view of the world outside relates back to the sleepy child-as Mama tucks her in, a lioness settles her cubs-emphasizing the child's connectedness to all things. Finally, and most satisfyingly, the focus returns to the little girl's bedroom: "if the moon could talk, it would tell of a child curled up in bed wrapped in sleep," and-in a last twist on Brown's lullaby-"it would murmur, Good night." Hallensleben's rich, luxuriant palette moves adeptly in and out of the home. The child's room-always surrounded by a safely confining border until she falls asleep-is filled with warm, bright primary colors, while the outside world is depicted in full-bleed in more natural, subdued tones. The nighttime scenes are perfect for exhibiting the artist's remarkable range of blues and his talented use of light, especially notable in the village scene on the stunning endpapers. As in Baboon, Banks's rhythmic text subtly conveys the theme of a great and wondrous world while never sacrificing the comfort and security of parental love. Perhaps Brown would approve of her theories on the everyday experiences of the child being applied to the more global vision of today. Regardless, Banks and Hallensleben deserve high praise for creating a classic picture book of the highest caliber. l.a. Picture Books Debbi Chocolate The Piano Man; illus. by Eric Velasquez (Younger) Inviting us in with a devilish smile on the title page, the piano man turns his story over to his granddaughter, who proudly relates her grandfather's pianistic triumphs in silent-film accompaniment, on Broadway, in medicine shows and vaudeville, and, after the talkies took over, in piano tuning, where he thumped out foot-stomping rags that recalled his glory days. This is a heartening slice of African-American family history (Chocolate supplies an autobiographical note) that is refreshingly short on role-modeling and long on joy and visual glamour, as provided by the beautiful glossy woods of Grandfather's pianos. In his first picture book, illustrator Eric Velasquez tempers nostalgia with a sleek show-biz allure, as in the double-spread painting that introduces the piano man to his future wife, a beautiful stage show dancer who struts across the stage in a sassy blue gown. Some of the facial modeling is stiffly generic, but Velasquez gets the mood right, and Chocolate's stance of unassuming recollection strikes an equally right note. r.s. Kay Chorao Little Farm by the Sea; illus. by the author (Preschool) Chorao's portrait is a fond, bucolic look at the everyday life of a small modern farm. The descriptive text begins in winter when the farm appears quiet, but there is plenty of activity in the barn. As the year progresses, different activities specific to each season are described. Spring brings planting. Summer brings a string of visitors who come for strawberry picking and a glimpse of the piglets. In the fall, the farm family brings prize vegetables to the county fair and sells squash and tomatoes from the barn porch. The text and illustrations are chock full of details-Farmer Brown hangs dried gourds as birdhouses for the purple martins, and the birds in turn eat bugs that might harm the crops. Although the family members work all the time, the sto (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Anne certainly merits the comprehensive, scholarly study demonstrated in the annotated margins, footnotes, critical essays, asides, and appendices that accompany the original text of Anne of Green Gables. Between these covers lies an entire academic course, covering the kinds of biographical, geographical, literary, and mythological allusions that a good professor would explicate--e.g., that one of Anne's compositions may have been inspired by ideas or phrases in the works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning or George Eliot--but also including colloquial terms, foods, fabrics, plants, expressions, songs, and poetry of Anne's time, and information about Montgomery as well. There's plenty here for scholars and fans; this edition should not be relegated to the reference shelves. (b&w photos and reproductions) (Fiction. 11+)