Customer Reviews

Christmas with Anne and Other Holiday Stories

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This book is so charming and gentle. It is filled with lovely stories of Christmases past. All of them have a message of the true meanings of Christmas: giving, loving, sharing, forgiving, and family. The stories are so simple and fresh in today's day and age. Lucy Maud Montgomery is a treasure in any child's library. This is no exception. There is a light warm feeling that comes from reading this book. There are enough stories to count down the days of Christmas with your children with a story each night. What a lovely way to wind down a day, and tuck them in with a warm feeling inside!

All the stories in this book are definitely worth reading. However, if you are an L.M. Montgomery fan who has all her other works, these stories have all been printed previously. Some of those previous books are out of print, so if you do not have her full collection, I would highly recommend this book.

Fans of Lucy Maud Montgomery young and old will truly enjoy this new collection of short stories. This is what I call "comfort reading", about kinder, simpler times. As always, readers come to care about the characters and their situations. Even the two excerpts from Montgomery's novels that are included in this anthology stand by themselves very well. This book would be a wonderful Christmas present, but I read it in July and found it a treat for any time of year.

I was thrilled to find this book, because I have read everything else L. M. Montgomery has written. "Christmas with Anne" did not disappoint me. The characters were vivid and sympathetic and the stories were warm and fascinating. I read this book slowly to savor each story, and hated to see it end. Even the two excerpts from the "Anne" books which were included read differently in this volume and stood alone quite well. This would be a wonderful Christmas present, but you don't have to wait until the snow flies. I read it in July and still loved it.

This collection of Christmas and New Year stories full of the spirit of the season. It is a wonderful, heart-warming book to be treaured all year long. It lets it's readers know that at Christmas time, and at New Year's as well, anything can happen as long as their are kind and generous people in the world.

Sometimes around the holidays, a little light reading is best to take one's mind off of the hustle and bustle of Christmas and New Year's day. But light need not be mindless. A book *can be* fun, light, and yet engaging and thought provoking. It can warm your heart, and challenge you to think of certain moral issues, such as gratitude and helping others.

The book that accomplished this for me is the collection of short stories entitled, *Christmas With Anne and Other Holiday Stories*, by L. M. Montgomery. It should be noted that Montgomery did not organize this set of stories herself. Instead, these are tales taken from various magazines that she wrote stories for, and put into this book. The editor, Rea Wilmhurst discovered that there were many stories by Montgomery written in magazines that had not been re-published. She took it upon herself, with the assistance of Montgomery's heirs, to gather and publish these stories again.

In the book, she takes two stories from the *Anne Shirley* books that focus on Christmas, and combines them with the assorted stories about the Christmas and New Year's holidays. Most of the stories appear at first glance to be fluff, but when the reader takes time to think about the ideas and morals that Montgomery is trying to convey (and convey them she did, as the editor notes, since magazines liked the stories to have morals at the time), the reader will realize that these simple stories have a greater depth than is at first apparent.

The stories focus on such commonplace issues as people in poverty, or who hold grudges. How does one handle the stress of financial hardship, especially at Christmas time? How sad it is to let grudges get in the way of life? How fortunate are we if we have family, friends, and financial security? Do we ever think of these things? Do we ever help others when they need help? Do we mend fences with those who hurt us?

These are all deep, deep questions that Montgomery asks the reader to ponder along with the characters in the stories. The stories all end happily, and are all quite heartwarming. For some, that may be a drawback, but for me, it is a breath of fresh air. Serious topics *can* be dealt with in a fun, happy manner. Not everything serious need also be melancholy or depressing.

Read this book, ponder these issues, and allow your heart to be warmed by these timeless characters. Highly Recommended.

L.M. Montgomery, justly famous as the author of the "Anne of Green Gables" novels, was a prodigious writer of short stories, with hundreds to her credit. Rea Wilmshurst, co-author of a Montgomery biography, has here collected sixteen of her Christmas stories, nearly all published in magazines between 1899 and 1910.

The collection includes two Christmas stories featuring the red-haired orphan Anne Shirley. The first story recounts her second Christmas at Green Gables, when Matthew undertakes to provide her with her first pretty dress. The second story, drawn from "Anne of Windy Willows", has Anne inviting her lonely and bitter fellow schoolteacher Katherine Brooke to share in the healing cheer of a Green Gables Christmas.

The other stories follow the conventions of the day, generally with the lonely, unfortunate, and disaffected being touched by the Christmas spirit through the good will of others. Among the highlights: "Aunt Cyrilla's Christmas Basket" in which a basket of holiday cheer is a saving grace for a group of passengers stranded on a train; "Christmas at Red Butte", in which a poor girl's generosity saves a Christmas and a life; and "A Christmas Inspiration", in which a group of girls in a boarding house share some holiday cheer with a lonely fellow boarder.

"Christmas with Anne and Other Holiday Stories" is a heartwarming collection about the real spirit of Christmas, a quality that hopefully will never go out of fashion. It is highly recommended to fans of L.M. Montgomery's short stories.

This heart warming book is a fabulous book. It makes readers think that there're lots of generous people who can help you when you feel sad or if you think that Christmas or New YEar is not that exicting.

This was an excellent purchase. We got this for our granddaughter and she just loved the books.

This was a Christmas Present for my granddaughter. It was received in good time and excellent condition. I appreciate it.