Synopsis: Anne Shirley becomes a principal at Summerside High School, and moves to Windy Poplars for three years while she teaches and writes to Gilbert Blythe.
Review: Sweet, enchanting, and a bit random.
Anne of Windy Poplars is book four in the popular classic series Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery. Told mostly in letters from Anne to her fiancé, Gilbert Blythe, Anne of Windy Poplars bounces around between characters within the town of Summerside, and you never know where the story will go next.
If you are familiar with the miniseries Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Green Gables – The Sequel, then some of the events that happen in this entry will not surprise you. I’m talking about the arrival of the Pringle family to the story, and also the entrance of Katherine Brooke, cranky vice principal. This is about where the similarities end, as Anne of Windy Poplars tells various stories, mostly humorous, about Anne’s life in Summerside.
Anne takes on a principal job in Summerside, and boards at the home called “Windy Poplars” that is situated on Spook’s Lane. And of course, as soon as Anne hears what the home is called, she wants to live there. I don’t blame her! It sounds deliciously picturesque, and there’s also an old graveyard nearby as well to wander around in. Windy Poplars belongs to the widows, Aunt Kate and Aunt Chatty, and their live-in help, Rebecca Dew. All three of these characters were delightful, and I hope they appear again in future installments of the series! I just had to laugh when they were each using buttermilk on their face and hiding the fact so the others didn’t notice. And there is also a persnickety cat, named Dusty Miller, who was hilarious to read about as well, especially because Rebecca Dew constantly has to clean up after the cat. Too funny!
Besides the stories of the widows and Rebecca Dew, there is the neighbor girl Elizabeth Grayson, who has a sad story in that she is constantly looking for “Tomorrow”. Left by her father to be raised by her grandmother, she is sheltered and unloved, and lives in a world of make-believe.
There is the Pringle family, who dislikes Anne Shirley, and goes to great lengths to make her leave the school, and also Katherine Brooke, a cranky vice principal that Anne tries to befriend.
My favorites were the love story of Nora and Jim, and also Miss Minerva Tomgallon who lives all alone in a big mansion and has many wild tales to tell of her family. My favorite scene was the dinner scene with Cyrus Taylor. I won’t say anything else about that scene, for spoilers, but it was hilarious and laugh-out-loud!
Not a whole lot of memorable plot happens in this book, but I was okay with that. I took this book to be more of a ramble through Anne Shirley’s world, and I’m always pleased to get back to a simpler, kinder time, where people have the time to look outside and appreciate nature.
Bottom Line: An enchanting visit to the world of Anne Shirley.
Links to Anne of Windy Poplars on Amazon and Goodreads
Links to my reviews of:
Have you read Anne of Windy Poplars? Which entry in the Anne of Green Gables series is your favorite?
luvtoread 
I’ve only read Anne of Green Gables, but I loved it so much I think I would seriously enjoy reading the next novels in the series. One day, perhaps!
Ali @ the bandar blog
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Oh yes, you really would enjoy the other books in the series! They are just so picturesque and transporting!
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It’s been so long since I’ve read the Anne books. You’ve reminded me how much I enjoy them.
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They are so much fun! I grew up watching the miniseries and the Avonlea TV show, but never read the books until now. I’m really enjoying them!
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Gosh, it’s been so long since I read this, but your great review took me right back to it! I really must re-read the Anne books someday – I hope you continue to enjoy them. I think the next one is Anne’s House of Dreams – a particular favourite of mine.
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Thanks! Oh I’m glad to hear the next one is good too! I am really loving this series, and can see myself re-reading it later on.
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I read these books ever so long ago when I was a teenager. Therefore I don’t remember what you’ve made sound like a delightful book and will have to put it back in myTBR stack again. The characters sound like such fun!
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Thanks! It is quite the delightful series – the characters are really wonderful.
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This book was definitely more of a ramble than the previous Anne books, which made it not really my thing, but I’m glad you enjoyed it!
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Yes, it definitely was more of a ramble – I enjoyed it because the ramble was so much fun, and I loved all the new characters so much. I can totally see how it might not be liked though, as Gilbert was non-existent in it, and it didn’t really seem to have an overall purpose, but it was still fun to have a glimpse of Anne’s world!
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Another cast of great memorable characters! Will re-read this series again!
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Such a fun, sweet series! I love the characters – they are all so different and entertaining!
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I’m Australian, and my copy of this book is titled Anne of Windy Willows. I remember hating the Pringles and Katherine with a K.
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Oh wow, I love the name Windy Willows! The Pringles were really irritating, because I could understand trying to go up against a powerful family name. And Katherine with a K just made me laugh – my middle name is Catherine, but with a C, so I really got a kick from Anne saying she liked it spelled with a K better! 🙂
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Oh that is funny, Catherine with a C! My daughter’s middle name is Anne with an e, and I was very careful to make sure the ‘e’ was included. 🙂
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I watched the show but never read the books! I will have to now!
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The books are delightful, and they are a bit different from the show. If you liked the show, you will really enjoy the books!
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A new entry in a loved series is always a joy to read. You seem to have a good time too.
Great review. 😊
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Thanks! It was a great time reading this – like visiting with an old friend, or an old childhood vacation spot. 🙂
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I’ve not read this one yet as I only just started the series a week ago- but I’m super excited about this!!
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Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the series! It is such a sweet series.
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Katherine in the movie looks almost fifty, but she’s supposed to be 28! After the first film, the movies really mangle the plot. The funny thing about this book is you could absolutely skip it if you wanted to and the series would make sense. Susan goes on to write to Rebecca Dew in the future, buy it’s only to complain in solidarity.
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Yeah, the first film stayed pretty close, except that they aged Anne up, but that made sense for the movie so I didn’t mind it.
I’m really interested to see if the latest Netflix version they are making will be a faithful adaptation of the books, instead of piecing things together the way the other movies did.
I was surprised to read about Katherine’s age in this one – they did make her so much older in the movie! I can see how this one could be skipped. While I enjoyed it, it didn’t really have any relevance to Anne’s life outside of Windy Poplars. And if the characters don’t really appear in other books, it feels kinda pointless. But, I did have fun reading it, and it was very sweet.
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Do you know when the Netflix version comes out?
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I think it is going to be sometime in 2017. Should be interesting, wonder if they’ll try to modernize it, or keep it the way it is written.
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I think the fans would appreciate if they kept it as close to the original as possible!
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It’s been a while since I’ve read this one, but you make me want to read it again! My favorite books are #1 and #3, so I have a bad habit of just rereading those. Windy Poplars is quite charming as well, though!
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I love the first book – I think that one is my favorite so far! What I liked the most about this book I think is that it just kind of meanders along, without a purpose almost, and I think it’s a book that I can pick up and read snippets of, to get a quick peek into Anne’s world, but not have to worry about reading the whole book.
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