When I read my book club read for September, This Summer will be Different, I loved learning about Prince Edward Island off the coast of Canada, with its red dirt and rugged coastlines. And I was also excited to discover that Anne of Green Gables was set there, a book on my 100 Book Challenge list. I took it as a serendipitous sign that I should read this one next.
And it was a delight to read! I get that it is meant to be a children’s book, and maybe that’s why it was easy to read, but also Anne is such a sweet kid. She’s passionate, energetic, full of feeling, and all those wonderful things that a neurodiverse child (clearly undiagnosed in Anne’s case) brings to this world. She is supported wholeheartedly by her adoptive parents and, although there were challenges, she was appreciated for her strengths and not her weaknesses. I can see that so many neurodiverse kids would have read this over the last 100+ years and found hope that it’s not just OK to be different, but it’s something to celebrate!
I saw a lot of myself as a child in Anne too (minus the red hair), and it made me appreciate just how much my own parents let me be the child I needed to be, so I could become the adult I am today.
Thank you both.
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In July 2014 I set myself the challenge to finish 100 must-read books before I die. For my ongoing tally click here.
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Jessie Ansons 
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