For parents

Anne of Green Gables for Kids: A Parent’s Guide

Red braids, a giant imagination and a farmhouse on Prince Edward Island. How to bring Anne to young readers.

By Sean Lee · October 22, 2026

What is Anne of Green Gables about?

L. M. Montgomery’s novel, first published in 1908, begins with a mistake. Brother and sister Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, who live at Green Gables farm on Prince Edward Island in Canada, send for an orphan boy to help on the farm. Instead, an eleven-year-old girl arrives: Anne Shirley, with red braids, freckles and an imagination that never stops talking.

Anne makes mistakes, makes friends, and slowly turns the quiet farmhouse into a real home.

Meet the characters

• Anne Shirley: imaginative, dramatic, kind-hearted, and very talkative.
• Marilla Cuthbert: strict and practical, with a soft heart she rarely shows.
• Matthew Cuthbert: shy and gentle; Anne’s quiet champion from the start.
• Diana Barry: Anne’s best friend, her “bosom friend”.
• Gilbert Blythe: the clever classmate who teases Anne about her red hair, once.

Is it right for young children?

Yes: it’s funny, warm and full of everyday adventures, such as a disastrous tea party, a dyed-hair accident and a rescue on a pond. Near the end of the original there is a family loss, which a children’s retelling handles gently. It can open a caring conversation about love and family; read ahead if you’d like to prepare.

Big ideas to talk about

• Imagination is a gift, and so is knowing when to listen.
• Everyone makes mistakes; what matters is saying sorry and trying again.
• Family can be the people who choose you.
• First impressions (Anne and Gilbert!) can change.

Activities

• Rename places around your home the way Anne does, like her “Lake of Shining Waters”.
• Write a letter to a best friend, as Anne and Diana do.
• Find Prince Edward Island on a map of Canada.
• Ask: what would you imagine if you were Anne?