Sexy, blonde ‘Anne of Green Gables’ stirs Canadian controversy

A furious Canadian public broiled and raged this week after being introduced to a vamped-up new version of Anne of Green Gables.

A blonde Anne of Green Gables.

The sultry sexpot was spotting on a self-published version of three-in-one Anne of Green Gables book posted for sale on Amazon in November. The comments have been pouring in since then, but came to a head on Wednesday.

Anne is, of course, the beloved fictional character from the Green Gables series by Lucy Maud Montgomery. She is so beloved in Prince Edward Island that the province’s official website has its own Green Gables page.

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The First Damsel of P.E.I. has always been a red-head, as any Canadian who was ever young can attest. And the sexy re-imagining of the heroine caused many fans to bristle at their lost youth.

Here is one comment left on Amazon, a fairly standard example of the more than 100 messages left on the book retail site:

The Globe and Mail reports that the three-in-one series was published by CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform Imprint, a company owned by Amazon. The book itself remains the same.

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So, sure. The character herself hasn’t changed. But that didn’t calm the waters on Twitter, where every Canadian with a pulse had something to say about the editorial re-imagining.

Meantime, the Anne of Green Gables book with the pin-up cover did not appear to be available on the Canadian version of Amazon.

Those of us who feel left in the cold by that can still turn to the Canadian Wheat Board for solace.