Anne of Green Gables and other great books

Have you read the Anne- series from Lucy Maud Montgomery? It's awesome for somebody like me tired of long winters. I started a couple of months ago and am almost done. There is 7 or 8 books to the series. They have the most amazing descriptions of nature in them and because every 250-300 pages book covers 3-4 years of Ann's life the season change frequently, with spring and summer receiving the most glorious descriptions. I watched a few episodes of the film series too and I hope the did not manicure the landscape too much but it looked great. I bet P.E.I. a hundred years ago was still nicer than it is supposed to be today - apart from those pesticide-laden potato fields. I did not like the fact that for the film series they made stories up, especially the part where Ann & Gilbert get involved in WW I. That's not in the books! Any how, the characters in the books are awesome too. So it is to read about life and values a century ago. Lots has changed and it keeps changing even faster. 

I have also read in between Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv, a book about children growing up alienated from nature. It's a sad book because it so true. It's about the situation in the USA in particular with lots and lots of studies done in the US. And even though I like to pretend everything bad is worse in the US I bet it's not too far off from Canada and other developed countries (some exceptions become obvious in the book, such as the Scandinavian countries). Alone the quotations in the book from parents and children about nature are worth reading. When gardening is boring because tools have not improved, when playing indoors is better because all the electrical outlets are there, when more and more people consider themselves shy because of growing stranger-danger fear, when people don't make the connection between riding ATVs in the desert or forest and harm caused by motorised vehicles in natural environments, when children learn more about the rain forest than about the plants and animals outside their window then something is wrong. The next generation is growing up with a lack of nature and this books picks it out every single reason and discusses it. It also presents solutions and shows off where change is taking place for the better. Even if you don't have a kid it's a great read.