Anne at Spadina House

Anne of Green Gables: A Literary Icon at 100 (Spadina Museum) — There are some people who just can’t get enough of that fiery red-headed orphan Anne Shirley. I’m pretty much one of them. I’ve visited most of the sites in PEI, but this traveling exhibit by Ryerson professor Irene Gammel still adds to what we know about the creation of one of Canada’s most famous literary characters. The focus is on Montgomery’s influences, from the magazines and books she was reading, which supplied her ideas about Anne’s appearance, and her personality. Gammel also shows us how the writer’s interest in fashion comes out in Anne’s interest in “puffed sleeves” and her hairstyle. I liked seeing how the people in Lucy Maud’s life come out in her books, from lost loves and parents, and even her own cousin, little Ella Macneil, who was adopted by her aunt and uncle through a screw-up — they had asked for a boy. A short video running in the middle of the tiny exhibit room in the basement of the Spadina Museum reiterates and sometime illuminated the show’s contents. It’s such a small room you can hear it loud and clear as you travel the room, which I found distracting when I was trying to read. But its matter-of-fact approach helps hold the ideas of the exhibit together. If you’re travelling this summer, you might see the exhibit in Montgomery’s home province, at Green Gables and in Charlottetown, and it’ll be in a few other Canadian cities as well. Showing until September 2, admission is $5.66 for adults, $4.72 for seniors and youth, 416-392-6910.