ROFL! My guess is that the books are in the public domain in the US, so some yahoo slapped them together and put a tacky cover on it.
Woah, woah, woah.... So anybody could just grab any book with an expired copyright, slap a new cover on it, and make money? I'd be rolling in my grave.
Wait! I have butloads of debt. Maybe I can grab some Sheakespeare, slap a sexy David Tennant on the cover of Hamlet, and become a millionaire!!! *schemes*
I think most people are just amused at the pure silliness of it. Everyone probably has their own vision of Anne, whether from reading the books, or seeing another cover illustration, or watching one of the movies . . . but I don't think anyone has ever envisioned Anne as a sort of blonde cheerleader farm girl. It's a little like doing a cover of Anne Frank as a blonde party girl.
My mom gave me the book with this cover.
It was. That's the box-set I've got. Every book is a different color.I remember that cover! I think it was part of a boxset later on.
I went to the house/museum on P.E.I. about 15 years ago and remember it being quite popular with the Japanese tourists!
You are correct on both details. Expect soon to get a version of Moby Dick featuring a cover with a young shirtless Fabio holding a harpoon and with his right leg photoshopped into a phallic wooden peg.
caw