A peak into Anne of Green Gables and Abominable Science

Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Rose City Reader.

I joined the 2014 Classic YA/MG Challenge and the book for this month is Anne of Green Gables.  I loved this book as a girl and haven't re-read it for years.

Mrs. Rachel Lynde lived just where the Avonlea main road dipped down into a little hollow, fringed with alders and ladies' eardrops and traversed by a brook that had its source away back in the woods of the old Cuthbert place; it was reputed to be an intricate, headlong brook in its earlier course through those woods, with dark secrets of pool and cascade; but by the time it reached Lynde's Hollow it was a quiet, well-conducted little stream, for not even a brook could run past Mrs. Rachel Lynde's door without due regard for decency and decorum; it probably was conscious that Mrs. Rachel was sitting at her window keeping a sharp eye on everything that passed, from brooks and children up, and that if she noticed anything odd or out of place she would never rest until she had ferreted out the whys and wherefores thereof. 

(Whew! That is one heck of an opening sentence.)

Ladies' eardrops ???  Ah - Fuchsias!


For my non-fiction selection, I am feeling a bit frivolous - how about this ... Abominable Science by Daniel Loxton and Donald Prothero. I would post the cover, but honestly it is pretty yeargh and would go very poorly with the lovely fuchsias.

Ever since we were youngsters, we have been enthralled with ideas about monsters and magnificent creatures with mythic and ancient roots. Indeed we have never really gotten over being smitten with magical beasts. That is why one of us became a writer and an illustrator of books for young readers about creatures great and small, and the other became a paleontologist who studies the history of life on Earth as revealed through fossils.

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For The Friday 56 hosted at Freda's Voice here is something from around the 56% mark of Anne of Green Gables -

"Dear me, there is nothing but meetings and partings in this world, as Mrs. Lynde says," remarked Anne plaintively, putting her slate and books down on the kitchen table on the last day of June and wiping her red eyes with a very damp handkerchief. "Wasn't it fortunate, Marilla, that I took an extra handkerchief to school today? I had a presentiment that it would be needed." 


From Abominable Science on page 56 we get ...

Some accounts feature Sasquatches with with huge pointed ears, complex markings, or heights over 12 feet tall. Bigfoot is reported in many colors, at many sizes, with many diverging anatomies. In some reports, Bigfoot can speak human languages. And, although this is systematically downplayed in the mainstream Bigfoot literature, it is very common for witnesses to claim that Bigfoot has paranormal features and abilities, such as eyes that literally glow, psychic powers, or flying saucer type vehicles. 

(Mainstream Bigfoot literature ? This seems to be an oxymoron.)

Okay - I am sold - you can find anything on the Internet.

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Update - The Midnight Garden is holding a raffle for all six of the Anne of Green Gables books.