Anne of Green Gables

The wildly popular children's story Anne of Green Gables features Anne Shirley, a red-headed, green-eyed chatterbox of an orphan girl who is adopted by a family in Prince Edward Island, Canada. The parents wanted a boy to help around the farm, but a mix up gave them Anne, who instantly stole their hearts. Mark Twain once described the character Anne Shirley as "e;The dearest and most moving and delightful child since the immortal Alice,"e; which is about as solid an endorsement from a literary hero as one can get. Lucy Maud Montgomery imagined the book years earlier, having written on a slip of paper: "e;Elderly couple apply to orphan asylum for a boy. By mistake a girl is sent them."e; That scrap of paper would prove to be incredibly fruitful, as Anne of Green Gables would go on to sell about 50 million copies.