I absolutely love Anne of Green Gables, so I loved having this book to read to my young daughters. They are able to experience Anne at a young age and hopefully be influenced by her ambition and sense of adventure. The illustrations were adorable and the writing is splendid. I adore this children's book!

Super cute little story of Anne Shirley wondering what or who she would be if she wasn't herself. Would she be a wood nymph? A princess? A rose? Or what if she didn't have red hair?! That would be a horror in my opinion.
I loved the soft, almost dreamy looking artwork. In the end, I am so thankful Netgalley and Tundra Books gave me a copy of this book to review.

I really enjoyed this book. The illustrations were adorable and I really enjoyed the story. I feel like if a second grader read this book, they wouldn’t necessarily understand much about who Anne is but that might be the point . I loved reading Anne of Green Gables and watching Anne with an E so I understood all the references and thought the book was adorable.

Thank you Netgally and the author and publisher for the free review copy of If I couldn't be Anne.

I thought the illustrations were gorgeous. This little book is a great nod to Anne Shirley. It has very little text per page so it's a quick easy read.

What I didn't enjoy was the repetitive use of a certain sentence. I found that a little irritating.

4 stars.

This book brought me back to my love of Ann with an e and all of the wonderful memories with her. Gorgeous illustrations portrayed scenes from the book as the author took us down memory lane.

This is a very cute introduction to Anne of Green Gables. The illustrations were my favourite part, but I wish there had been a little bit more to the story.

A beautiful introduction to Anne of Green Gables! Soft, dreamy illustrations and poetic descriptions on every page. Parents who loved Anne with an E as kids will love sharing this with their children.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC.

From the team that brought us Goodnight, Anne comes this sweet little book that perfectly captures the spirit of Anne Shirley with evocative text and dreamy pictures.

Anne muses on what she would be if she weren't herself. For those familiar with the character, it's easy to see how her ideas are in perfect sync with Montgomery's original themes. Even Anne's dislike of her red hair is mentioned (although it's emphasized that red is far better than green, a nod to an incident in Anne of Green Gables).

The illustrations by Geneviève Godbout are soft and magical, yet somehow still manage to capture Anne's somewhat (often unintentionally) mischievous spirit. They're in the same style as those in Goodnight, Anne, and they're simply lovely.

I would definitely recommend this to fans of Anne, as well as to those looking for books about imagination and self-esteem.

The team of Kallie George and Genevieve Godbout bringing us picture books inspired by Anne of Green Gables is everything I have ever wanted in kidlit.

In their new collaboration If I Couldn’t Be Anne we get the most lyrical and descriptive language to share with young readers. We also get the most brilliant and beautiful two page spreads, with Anne featuring prominently. We truly love these books to inspire the next generation of Anne fans and provide young readers with incredible descriptive language. I think there are times when we shy away from books with a lot of words or “big” words in them, assuming that our youngest readers won’t understand or won’t be able to sit still until the end of the story. Any book, as long as the subject matter is age appropriate, is a great book to share with a child. The more we read aloud to our children and expose them to language, the more likely they are to become readers themselves, hopefully life long readers. Thanks to Kallie George and Genevieve Godbout our young readers will be inspired by Anne of Green Gables and parents can share a book that has a special place in our hearts with our children right from day one.

Every spread in this book is worthy of a place on your wall. If I could paper The Bee’s room in spreads from both Goodnight Anne and If I Couldn’t Be Ane I would. Since The Bee has red hair like Anne, she can see herself in Genevieve Godbout’s illustrations and can be inspired by all of the kindred spirits in Anne’s stories

ARC Copy...I would best describe the narrative as dreamy warm illustrations render with a soft touch alongside gentle gentle-warm prose/verse characteristic of George's writing style with a rambunctious-energetic protagonist with imaginative zeal and energy that the words may not be able to contain within. Good addition to the Green Gables library.

This is a lovely picture book of Anne with an E! If you like Green Gables I think you will like this book. Anne has dreams of what she could be if she couldn't be Anne with an E, but realizes that being herself is the best after all.

If I Couldn't Be Anne is a fun and adorable book for children that does more than tell a story!
Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a perfectly lovely book. As an Anne fan, I loved the gorgeous illustrations and lyrical text.

The only thing that kept it from being a 5 star book is that as a picture book the target audience is younger than that for the original books. I'm not sure how much a child who hasn't read the original books or seen the movies would enjoy this.

This is a beautifully illustrated picture book where Anne from Anne of Green Gables tells of what she would do in life if she weren't herself. Much of it is fantasy (a gull, the wind dancing on treetops, a lily maid, a tightrope walker...). The illustrations are whimsical and lovely. The text is sparse, making it a great bedtime book for those parents who must read a stack at bedtime (surely that's not just me?) and want enjoyable but brief ones in the pile some nights. :) This book will make a wonderful companion to the novel, but also stands on its own as a sweet little picture book.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for the purpose of review.

This was a cute read about Anne Shirley, and would make a good introduction to her character. The illustrations were beautiful, but there wasn’t much of a story, so this was just okay.

There is a special place in my heart for all things Anne. I'm in love with this book, this is such a cute and easy read and the illustrations are absolutely gorgeous.

As a long-time Anne lover, I knew I'd have to read this children's homage to one of the most beloved literary characters ever!

The book took elements from Anne of Green Gables and wove them into a beautiful poem that delighted this Anne fan. There have been many different Anne interpretations and some of them haven't been my cup-of-tea because I don't feel they hold true to who Anne really was.

But, this book was written how I imagine Anne would've spoken if L.M. Montgomery gave Anne license to write poetry for children in her books!

Not only was the story wonderful; but the illustrations were whimsical and sweet. I love how well the author and illustrator captured the spirit of Anne Shirley.

This book was delightful and perfectly captured the spirit of Anne Shirley. It reads more like a poem than an actual story, and for this reason I think it would appeal most to existing fans of Green Gables. The illustrations are soft and silly. Overall, this is a welcomed and charming addition to Anne's world.

My only complaint is that it's over. Such beautiful illustrations! And the references made me smile. A perfect little book for fans of Anne of Green Gables.