Where Did The Story Of "Anne Of Green Gables"� Come From?

Canadian author LM Montgomery's world-famous children's book was inspired by a newspaper story in which an elderly couple wanted to adopt a boy from an orphanage, but were sent a girl by mistake. This is the start of "Anne of Green Gables" which was first published in 1908 and is still in print. Brother and sister Matthew and Marilla decide to adopt a boy to help Matthew in his farm work. Instead they get talkative, red-haired, gifted Anne, and as they don't have the heart to reject her, she becomes their "child" and, eventually, the centre of their lives. This first book follows Anne's progress from the age of ten to sixteen, as she learns to chatter less and write more (she is a gifted storyteller) and to control her unpredictable temper: one of her first actions at school is to break her slate over the head of a boy (later her sweetheart) who teases her about her hair. Generations of girls have loved this story, as well as the many sequels that followed it.