Anne of Windy Poplars facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Anne of Windy Poplars

First edition
Author	Lucy Maud Montgomery
Country	Canada
Language	English
Series	Anne of Green Gables
Genre	Children's novel
Publisher	McClelland and Stewart (Canada) Frederick A. Stokes Company (US)
Publication date	August, 1936
Media type	Print (Hardcover)
Preceded by	Anne of the Island
Followed by	Anne's House of Dreams
Text	Anne of Windy Poplars online

Anne of Windy Poplars is a book by Canadian author L. M. Montgomery. In some countries like the UK, Australia, and Japan, it was called Anne of Windy Willows. It was first published in 1936.

This book tells the story of Anne Shirley when she works as the principal of a high school in Summerside, Prince Edward Island. She stays there for three years. A big part of the story is told through letters Anne writes to her fiancé, Gilbert Blythe. This book is the fourth in the Anne of Green Gables series if you read them in story order. However, it was the seventh book Montgomery wrote.

Plot Summary

This story happens during the three years after Anne finishes college and before she marries Gilbert Blythe. While Gilbert is busy with medical school, Anne gets a job. She becomes the principal and a teacher at Summerside High School.

Anne lives in a lovely house called Windy Poplars. She shares it with two kind old ladies, Aunt Kate and Aunt Chatty. Their helpful housekeeper, Rebecca Dew, and their cat, Dusty Miller, also live there.

During her time in Summerside, Anne faces some challenges. She needs to win over the Pringle family, who are very powerful and a bit snobby in town. She also has to deal with her vice-principal, Katherine Brooke, who seems cold and unfriendly at first.

Anne meets many interesting and unique people in Summerside. She often helps others with their love stories, though things don't always go as planned! She also becomes good friends with Elizabeth Grayson. Elizabeth is a lonely girl from the Pringle family who lives next door to Windy Poplars. Anne also visits her old friend Marilla Cuthbert at Green Gables often.

At the end of the book, Anne leaves Summerside. She goes back to Avonlea to get ready for her wedding to Gilbert. Many people in Summerside show how much they appreciate Anne and how she helped them. Even Katherine Brooke and Elizabeth Grayson thank her.

Characters

• Anne Shirley - Anne moves from Green Gables to Summerside. She takes a job as the principal of Summerside High School. Her fiancé, Gilbert, is finishing medical school. Over three years, she tries to make friends and help people in her new town.
• Aunt Kate MacComber - She owns Windy Poplars. She was married to a wonderful sea captain.
• Aunt Charlotte "Chatty" MacLean - A sweet and fun old lady at Windy Poplars. She loves to read books and play cards.
• Rebecca Dew - The kind housekeeper at Windy Poplars.
• Elizabeth Grayson - A lonely 8-year-old girl who lives next door. Her mother died when she was born, and her father works far away. Elizabeth dreams about "Tomorrow" and changes her name based on how she feels.
• Gilbert Blythe - Anne's fiancé. He is busy finishing medical school.
• Mrs. Campbell - Little Elizabeth's great-grandmother. She is cold and doesn't show much love.
• Martha Monkman - Mrs. Campbell's old maid. She is also strict and tells Elizabeth that "Tomorrow" will never come.
• Katherine Brooke - The vice-principal of Summerside High School. She is sarcastic and a bit bitter. She wanted Anne's job and doesn't like Anne at first.
• Jen Pringle - A smart student at Summerside High School. She doesn't like Anne and causes trouble in class.
• Sophy Sinclair - A quiet student in Anne's class who is not a Pringle. She wants to play Mary, Queen of Scots in the school play.
• Lewis Allen - An orphaned student who works to pay for his place to live.
• Ellen Pringle - An elegant and sweet-looking woman who lives with her sister in a big house called Maplehurst.
• Sarah Pringle - Miss Ellen's sister. She is the boss of the whole Pringle family.
• Pierce Grayson - Little Elizabeth's father. He moved to Paris after his wife passed away.
• Valentine Courtaloe - The local dressmaker. She knows all the gossip about everyone in Summerside.
• Trix Taylor - A cheerful twenty-year-old. She asks Anne for help when her father's mood threatens her sister's engagement.
• Esme Taylor - Trix's sweet and shy sister. She is in love with a college professor and worries her family will stop him from proposing.
• Cyrus Taylor - The father of Trix and Esme. He often gets into sulky moods.
• Dr. Lennox Carter - A professor at Redmond College. He is the person Esme loves.
• Mrs. Gibson - A demanding eighty-year-old woman. Her timid, middle-aged daughter, Pauline, takes care of her all the time.
• Pauline Gibson - Mrs. Gibson's daughter. She takes care of her mother and doesn't do anything without asking her first.
• Nora Nelson - The last of six sisters to be single. She had a fight with an old boyfriend and worries she might never marry.
• Jim Wilcox - Nora's boyfriend. They have dated on and off for four years.
• Hazel Marr - A new person in Summerside. She doesn't love her rich boyfriend enough to marry him.
• Terry Garland - Hazel's boyfriend. He thinks their engagement is just silly.
• Mrs. Raymond - The mother of eight-year-old twins, Gerald and Geraldine. Anne looks after them while Mrs. Raymond goes to a funeral.
• Geraldine Raymond - Mrs. Raymond's daughter and Gerald's twin sister.
• Gerald Raymond - Mrs. Raymond's son and Geraldine's twin brother.
• Ivy Trent - A girl the Raymond twins don't like. She always seems perfect and loves to show off her clean clothes.
• Sibyl "Dovie" Westcott - A pretty and friendly 19-year-old girl. Anne helps her decide to elope (run away to get married) even though her father doesn't approve.
• Jarvis Morrow - A successful young lawyer and Dovie's fiancé. Dovie's father doesn't like him.
• Franklin Westcott - Dovie's serious father. He is a widower and has never let his daughter have boyfriends.
• Minerva Tomgallon - The last person left in her family. She lives alone and rarely leaves her house except for church. She invites Anne for dinner and tells her sad stories about her relatives.

The Anne of Green Gables Series

L. M. Montgomery wrote many books about Anne Shirley. Here they are in the order of Anne's age in each story:

Here are some other books where Anne Shirley appears, but she is not the main character:

Why Two Titles?

L. M. Montgomery first wanted to call the book Anne of Windy Willows. But her publisher in the United States asked her to change the name. They thought it sounded too much like another famous book, The Wind in the Willows.

Her US publisher also asked her to make some parts of the book shorter. Montgomery agreed, and so the book was published in the United States and Canada as Anne of Windy Poplars. However, her publisher in the UK didn't think any changes were needed. So, they published the full version of the book with its original title, Anne of Windy Willows.

Movie and TV Shows

A movie based on the novel was made in 1940. It was a follow-up to the 1934 film Anne of Green Gables. The actress Anne Shirley (who used to be called Dawn O'Day) played Anne again. The movie did not make a profit.

The book was also a main source for the TV mini-series Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel, which came out in 1987.

See also

In Spanish: Ana, la de Álamos Ventosos para niños