Anne of Avonlea

Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery, 277 pages

In this sequel to Anne of Green Gables, Anne Shirley has grown up a bit, and is now a 16-year-old schoolteacher in a one-room schoolhouse on Prince Edward Island. This book is every bit as idyllic and squeaky-clean as its predecessor, filled with picnics, daydreams, and mischievous children getting into relatively harmless situations.

While this was a nice break from some of the more adult books I've read lately (A Song of Ice and Fire series, I'm talking to you), this was a bit TOO squeaky clean. A book where the most talked-about scandal is a town hall that's been painted the wrong color? Where we have no idea what the foul-mouthed parrot actually said, just that it was rude? Where a child gets reprimanded for saying "whopper" instead of "falsehood"? Yeah, this is quite possibly the least objectionable book in existence (I mean, unless "being a titch too pro-Canada" is objectionable), making it a poor choice for Banned Books Week.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed it and I'll definitely keep reading this series, whenever I need a good palate cleanser from a sex-gore-violence-filled novel. (So, whenever George R.R. Martin finally gets around to releasing Winds of Winter. Right after that.)