Anne of Ingleside (L.M. Montgomery)

Genre: Period fiction (takes place around 1900 in Canada)
Year Published: 1939

One of the interchangeably adorable children of Ingleside had a fancy, a brilliant, whimsical fancy. This child did not tell anyone, not the other children of Ingleside, nor the grown-ups (Mummy, Daddy, and Susan the Live-In Cook/Maid/Nanny).

Oh, the fancy of that adorable child! It was full of fairies and wonderment. Or perhaps it was full of ghosts and terror. But in any case, it truly was such a fancy as had never been heard of on all of P.E. Island.

But then the Cruel, Real World intruded upon the child's fancy. Oh, how could it be borne?? The poor little child thought the world would come falling down.

In the throes of agony, the child went to Mummy and told her all about the fancy and subsequent demolishing of said fancy. Mummy didn't laugh -- she never laughed at her dear, lovely children! -- but instead said something so understanding and kind that the child felt that the world was just after all. Ah, Mummy was the best mummy in the world.

Lather, rinse, repeat. Three thousand times.

Recommended? If you can stand the above, then by all means, go for it.