My age registered in single digits when my mother handed me a copy of Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery. I immediately opened the book and read the first paragraph. I exclaimed, "It's all one run-on sentence!" I suppressed the urge to rewrite that paragraph and kept reading.

In short order, I read all eight of the books about Anne Shirley. I was delighted by her misadventures. It was the first time I'd read a series that followed a character's entire life. It was fun to watch Anne grow up and change from an unwanted orphan to an adopted daughter and student to a teacher and a mother. The earlier books, powered by the fun of youth and whimsy, are my favorites in the series.

I love the character of Anne Shirley because she is smart, spunky, sassy, bold, determined, and creative. I related her to her love of stories, her insatiable appetite for knowledge, and her vivid imagination.

After tackling the Anne octet, I read many of L.M. Montgomery's other stories, such as the Emily trilogy and Magic for Marigold. I found them all enjoyable. Montgomery's writing is detailed and exquisite, with dialogue specific to certain characters and accurate depictions of small towns and certain time periods. She created characters which were both daring and thoughtful, who fought to realize their dreams, and who respected their origins and their families.

I've never been to Canada, but someday, I'd like to visit Prince Edward Island, the province where many of Montgomery's stories take place. Until then, I'll simply watch Kevin Sullivan's great film adaptations of Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea starring the incredible Megan Follows and feel as if I'm there.

Learn More about Lucy Maud Montgomery

You may read many of Lucy Maud Montgomery's works online, thanks to Project Gutenberg.

Wikipedia offers a biography and bibliography about the author.

University of Guelph in Canada appears to have a lovely collection of Lucy Maud Montgomery's manuscripts, journals, and scrapbooks.

Travel on Today's One-Shot World Tour

Last year, Colleen's idea to spotlight books and authors from a specific country led to the One Shot World Tour: Best Read With Vegemite, a blogfest of love for Australian authors.

Since the first One Shot World Tour (OSWT) was a success, we're taking another trip. Join us today as we celebrate Canadian authors. Simply post about any book of any genre for any age group written by a Canadian author, then provide Colleen with the link to your post and you'll be included in the day's round-up.

Today's participants include:
Aurora's Journal
Big A, little a
Bildungsroman
Bookshelves of Doom
A Chair, a Fireplace & a Tea Cozy
Chasing Ray
Chicken Spaghetti
Educating Alice
Finding Wonderland (Post 1)
Finding Wonderland (Post 2)
A Fuse #8 Production
The Journal of Impossible Things
NYRB
Once Upon a Bookshelf
Original Content
Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
Shaken & Stirred
Teen Book Review
Wands and Worlds
Worth the Trip

I pledge allegiance
To the tour
Of the united bloggers of literature
And to Colleen Mondor,
Who planned it all
One nation
On the net
Cool and literate
With interviews and book stuff
For all

A few months ago, Colleen from Chasing Ray organized the first Summer Blast Blog Tour (SBBT), in which bloggers had the opportunity to interview a multitude of fascinating and talented authors, with new and exclusive interviews posted every day for a week. Colleen has now organized a blog tour which is quite worldly: the One-Shot World Tour (OSWT), in which bloggers will feature a book or books by an author from a certain country.

The first stop on our tour is Australia - with a few side trips to New Zealand - making this inaugural edition Best Read With Vegemite.

Aussie Tales

When I was in elementary school, my sister had a very cool pen pal in Australia named Mel. When the girls discovered that their younger sisters who were nearly the same age, the younger set became pen pals as well. Our families met early in our friendship, when her family took a big trip to America. During that day, as well as in the years and letters to come, we giggled over the words our countries used differently. To me, jumper was a sleeveless dress best worn over a cute shirt and tights; to Zoe, it was a sweater. When she asked for tomato sauce, I pictured what I'd add to a pasta dish until she reached for the bottle of ketchup.

Zoe and I wrote back and forth for at least five years. We shared a love for performing and a love of books. We could talk about classics one moment and The Baby-Sitters Club the next.

At one point, our Australian sisters sent us a container of vegemite. We tried it, but we didn't care for it.

I do wish we were still in touch. Zoe and Mel, I hope you are doing well, and that you are successful and happy!

Today's Topic

In 2005, I read Finding Grace by Alyssa Brugman. I enjoyed it so much that I included in on my Best Books of 2005 list, under the category of best backlist titles. I followed it up with Walking Naked, her second novel for teens, which was also well-written. I snatched up Being Bindy as soon as it was released in America last year. It was a fun, realistic story, and I added that to many of my middle school booklists. Though I enjoyed all three of these novels, it was Finding Grace that struck me the most. Here's my original review:

In this thoughtful novel, a high school graduate becomes the caretaker for a woman who became brain damaged as an adult for reasons unknown . . . at first. As Rachel learns more about her charge Grace, she also learns more about herself.

Finding Grace was surprisingly poignant. Rachel is appropriately awkward at first, not certain how to act around Grace. She is also on that brink between being a kid and being an adult, having graduated from high school but not completely knowing what she wants to do next. My heart went out to each of the characters in turn, and the writing kept me wanting to find out more about all of them.

Finding Grace explores and respects injuries and recovery of an adult after an accident while simultaneously detailing teenage embarrassment in a very gentle way. I recommend this book to teens and adults alike.

Culture Clash or Crash Course?

Though Finding Grace does not focus outright on Australian culture, politics, or other country-specific topics, American readers will know from the start that they aren't reading a book set in their country simply because of the terms Rachel uses to reference her schooling and graduation. Nevertheless, the story is all about people and their relationships, and it will appeal to readers of any age or nationality who are looking for a coming-of-age story.

Other Works

In addition to the three aforementioned titles, Alyssa Brugman also writes the Shelby Shaw pony series, which currently has four titles: For Sale and Swap, Beginner's Luck, Hot Potato, and Hide & Seek. Her newest novel, Solo, is now on sale in Australia. None of these titles appear to be available in the USA - yet. I keep checking bookshops and the public library, just in case!

Australian Round-Up (Thanks to Kiba and Kelly)
Colleen at Chasing Ray kicked things off with a post about the works of Nick Earls
Margo Lanagan interviewed at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
Melina Marchetta introduced at Writing and Ruminating
Big A, little a writes about Anna Feinberg and her Tashi series
Jenn at Not Your Mother's Bookclub interviews Simmone Howell
Chicken Spaghetti reviews Kathy Hoopmann's award winning All Cats Have Asperger Syndrome
Gwenda at Shaken and Stirred is all about How Sassy Changed My Life, The Red Shoe by Ursula Dubosarsky and a wee bit more with Margo Lanagan
John Marsden's Tomorrow series discussed at Jen Robinson's Book Page
Jaclyn Moriarty and Penni Russon's Undine at Finding Wonderland
Little Willow discusses Finding Grace by Alyssa Brugman at Bildungsroman
At A Chair, a Fireplace & a Tea Cozy it is all about Catherine Jinks and her four "Pagan" books
Does My Head Look Big in This? and John Flanagan's The Icebound Land at Interactive Reader
Queenie Chan interviewed by the YA YA YAs
Hot Men of Children's Literature: Australian Edition, as well as John Marsden and "The Rabbits" (Part Two) (Part Three) at A Fuse #8 Production
Peter Temple at Light Reading

Next Up
In two weeks, many of these blogs - including Bildungsroman, and again led by Chasing Ray - will be posting Radar Recommendations, encouraging folks to pick up books that may have fallen under their radar. Future stops on the world tour are currently being booked. Stay tuned!

Related Booklists and Posts at Bildungsroman
Full of Grace
From a Land Down Under
Summer Blog Blast Tour (SBBT)

On Friday, August 3rd, I got up bright and early - which I always do, but this time, I had a very special purpose. I had been invited to speak on a panel with four other lit-happy bloggers at The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators conference. Our panel was entitled Having Our Say: Blogging About Children's Literature. I was flattered to be in such good company and looked forward to meeting my fellow panelists - Gina from AmoXcalli, a. fortis and TadMack from Finding Wonderland and Readers' Rants, and Kelly from Big A, little a - in person.

Sadly, Gina had become ill earlier in the week and was unable to attend. However, she truly was a part of our panel, as she created the bulk of our PowerPoint slideshow, which she then put online. Thank you so much, Gina, for all of your hard work. I hope that you are feeling better and that we do meet up in the future.

Kelly and I met up in the morning and discussed the wonders of technology and travel until TadMack and TechBoy arrived. Before we knew it, it was time for the conference to begin, and poor a. fortis was still stuck in traffic. Kelly, TadMack and I scurried into the grand ballroom, where nearly one thousand people had already gathered, and listened to the hilarious welcome speech from Lin Oliver, the SCBWI Executive Director.

The faculty members - anyone speaking on a panel - then lined up and introduced themselves one by one (or group by group - go, Class of 2k7!), with each person saying one word that represented his/her/their panel or mood. When John Green introduced himself and added, "Nerdfighters," a young woman screamed loudly to show her support.

Yes, that was me.

I apologized to Kelly and TadMack for bursting their eardrums. Shortly thereafter, we took to the stage, introduced ourselves, and said:

"Controversy . . .
" . . . conflict . . . "
" . . . and connectivity."

Oh, how I adore alliteration!

a. fortis arrived shortly after the introductions. We all headed over to the room where our panel was going to be held. While telling each other our life stories and discussing new and classic stories, we reviewed the slideshow, which ran throughout the panel.

Once our room filled up, we filled an hour with talk and laughter. I know we could have talked all day about the importance of literacy, free speech, and communication. After briefly introducing ourselves, we talked about our love of literature and of blogging while TadMack clicked through screenshots of various lit blogs and online events. We talked about The Cybils, Toon Thursday, Poetry Friday, The Edge of the Forest, readergirlz, the upcoming 1st Annual Kidlitosphere Conference as planned by Robin Brande, MotherReader's The 48 Hour Book Challenge, 7-Imp's 7 Kicks, The Carnival of Children's Literature, Chasing Ray's various events (the Summer Blog Blast Tour and Wicked Cool Overlooked Books plus the upcoming Winter Blog Blast Tour, Radar Recommendations, and One-Shot World Tour), Class of 2k7, The Longstockings, and more.

Many thanks to the bloggers, authors, and readers who attended our panel. Thanks also to those who sent us notes of support and good luck wishes.

I have an idea for next time: broadcast the panel live on the internet - podcast, anyone? - or incorporate a chat element, making it accessible to the everyone who can't attend in person and encouraging them to take part and ask questions.