Together with Seal in Canada offering the paperback editions, Delacorte in the U.S. has launched polished hardcover adaptations for seven- to 10-year-olds of L.M. Montgomery’s most famous novels. This version of Anne of Green Gables, by Shelley Tanaka, whose previous work includes The Anne of Green Gables Diary, is about one-quarter the length of the original. Tanaka condenses most of the descriptions, while maintaining much of Montgomery’s dialogue and wording. She delivers Anne’s best-loved scrapes in a pacey retelling – perhaps too pacey. Occasionally, Tanaka dispatches an event so quickly that the characters hardly have time to react to it, or the readers to assimilate it.

Emily of New Moon is adapted by Priscilla Galloway, author of three novels for Annick’s Tales of Ancient Lands series. Emily of New Moon is a more satisfying read than Anne of Green Gables; while proportionally no longer, it gives the impression of being fuller. Galloway does not use any shorthand with the characters’ lives. She shows the characters’ growth by relaying one incident in fulfilling detail rather than summarizing broad external changes. Galloway seems to have conserved more passages revealing the inner life of the heroine than Tanaka. This may, however, merely reflect the fact that Emily is a more introspective character than Anne, less often embroiled in lighthearted high jinks.

There is no question that these adaptations are well executed. Both stay true to the spirit of their sources; the heroines’ characteristic voices emerge clearly despite the cuts and the simplified diction. The question is whether we need adaptations of these books at all.

My girlfriends and I embarked on Montgomery’s novels when we were nine and 10. Aren’t we dumbing down if we suggest that today’s nine- and 10-year-olds need Reader’s Digest versions? The inside cover of each adaptation directs young readers to the complete stories of Anne and Emily but will they ever read the genuine articles once they’ve got hold of these streamlined renderings? There is a risk that the unabridged Anne of Green Gables may seem flat to a young reader who knows how the major conflicts are resolved.

As it stands, the curious child could be inspired to tackle the full-length Anne of Avonlea or Emily Climbs to find out what happens next, but if pared-down versions of the sequels are published, young readers will have even less motivation to seek out the original works.