The Summer Nostalgia Reads series challenges library staff to return to beloved childhood favorites to see how they hold up years later. Some stories are just as magical as we remember, while others inspire new perspectives that only come with age. Join us as we relive our literary youths and find out just how much we've changed.
Summer is for Reading Childhood Nostalgia
When I was 10, my dad remarried. It had just been the two of us for five years, an eternity for a child, so this was quite a change in our lives. I was open to but wary of my new stepmother, a smart, very well put-together elementary school teacher who had two grown children and a teenage son. I don’t have to imagine that she was also wary of me — a grubby adventurer and apple of my father’s eye who argued for fun, because she is still my father’s wife, and we have since shared many laughs about those early days.
My stepmother recognized my love for books and immediately saw the opportunity to form a bond with me. She bought me books, including a shiny new copy of Where the Sidewalk Ends, complete with a personal inscription. She brought books home from her classroom that she thought I would enjoy, and she talked to me about everything I read. But perhaps the most impactful bookish gift she gave me was the recommendation to read L.M. Montgomery. I devoured Anne of Green Gables and then, suffering from what I now know of as a book hangover, rather begrudgingly started the Emily of New Moon series, which was almost sure to be a disappointment after my journey with Anne.
No one was more surprised than me when this became my new favorite book series. I read and re-read them at least four times throughout my childhood. Eventually, as one unfortunately must, I moved on. I read other books, expanded my horizons, and formed other literary attachments. And if I’m being completely honest, I did kind of forget Emily, Saucy Sal, Cousin Jimmie, Blair Water, the Wind Woman, and “the flash”. The details didn’t stick with me for the next 30 years, but the reading experience did. When discussing our favorite childhood books with my peers, Emily of New Moon still shines like a beacon in my memory. But explaining why I loved it so much, what specifically about it made it so formative, became a challenge after three decades.
Does Emily of New Moon Still Hold Up?
So now in 2026, the most auspicious year I turn 40, I have revisited Emily at New Moon Farm and am pleased to report that yes, this book holds up. L.M. Montgomery possessed a truly timeless talent. Her lush, transportive prose whisked me away to Prince Edward Island just as thoroughly now as it did then. To see this time and place through Emily’s eyes is to appreciate the beauty of nature in a way that only the relentlessly whimsical are capable of. These are books to get happily lost in, so well written that here in the future I am patting 10-year-old me on the back for her impeccable taste in literature.
You were right, Little Leah, this is very good.
Between the paragraphs of our precious protagonist appreciating all of the fascinating things about her physical environment is the story of a heartbroken girl striving to begin her life anew among strange, difficult people. Emily is always vulnerable, in a way. She believes she keeps her grief and anxiety buttoned up, but in reality, Emily wears her heart on her sleeve at all times. I believe Little Leah saw her as brave. She is, in fact, very brave, but Mom Leah can clearly see the cracks in her facade. I related to and admired Emily when I saw her as my peer. Now, I have grown up and she remains a child. I wish I could give her a cookie, a hug, and her own room full of cats.
Despite this shift in perspective, the things that made Emily appeal to me at the age of 10 remain the same. As much as I love Anne Shirley, I didn’t see myself in her the same way I saw myself in Emily. Anne is gregarious; Emily is more reserved. Anne is impulsive; Emily very focused. Anne is a dreamer, always building castles in the sky, where Emily indulges in flights of fancy but keeps her feet on the ground. I was very interested to learn recently that many modern scholars and readers have headcanoned Anne as having ADHD, and Emily as being on the autism spectrum. They both exhibit traits of neurodivergence, including passionate interests, vivid imaginations, eccentric personalities, and difficulty navigating social situations. These qualities have undoubtedly helped generations of “weird” girls like myself feel seen and represented.
Anne and Emily also have the most delightful friends, but my favorite is Emily’s bestie, Ilse Burnley. Her impassioned speeches and shocking diatribes are here all these years later giving me life.
“You proud, stuck-up, conceited, top-lofty biped!”
Biped! *chef’s kiss*
What Did Not Age Well
As much as I hoped to re-read this more-than-half-forgotten gem and find it completely lacking any fault at all, I knew better. Perhaps I even recalled feelings of discomfort I had 30 years ago. You see, a number of adult men are fascinated with Emily. This shows up in the book in a variety of ways, from fawning over her, making highly inappropriate comments about her looks when she is 10-12 years old, to a 36-year-old distant relative telling her that he will “wait” for her, then keeping a memento of her in a copy of Jane Eyre. Um, gross.
So I’m not spoiling this book, or events that occur later in the series, I will just say that all ends happily for Emily. And despite espousing many of the social values of the Victorian era, including the norm of very young ladies being pursued by much older men, Montgomery managed to be progressive in her portrayal of bright, bold, driven girls who become successful and happy women. Their education, artistic endeavors, and economic independence are at the forefront of the storytelling. I am willing to concede that in this place and time, those allowances for women were ideal enough and not being propositioned by men old enough to be their fathers might have been too idealistic for the time it was written.
The Joy of Reliving Childhood Faves
Revisiting Emily of New Moon turned out to absolutely be worth my precious reading time, and I even intend to complete the rest of the series, Emily Climbs and Emily’s Quest, over Summer Reading.
One moment of this journey in particular stands out to me. As I mentioned, I’d forgotten almost all of the details. I was up late, reading into the night as is my habit, when I got to the part where Emily, in one of the many letters she writes to her late father, mentions “yesterday was my birthday”. The date of this entry? The day after my own birthday. I sat up and gasped, then laughed, because in a flash, I remembered 10-year-old me having this revelation in the exact same way.
This is yet another way that books are magic. Our favorites through the various chapters of our lives don’t have to be fondly remembered when they can be relived.
—Leah Newton is a Readers' Services Technician at Lawrence Public Library.
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