Rainbow Valley (Anne of Green Gables, No. 7)

This is a fun book about Anne of Green Gables' kids! It has been a few years since I have read it, but I remember it being just a good, clean, fun book to enjoy; I can't wait to share it with my kids. I bought a beautiful hardcover copy, and am really pleased with my purchase.

I really think the only reason not to find "Rainbow Valley" one of L. M. Montgomery's better novels in the Anne series is because it obviously has the least to do with Anne or her children. Once Anne finally married Gilbert in "Anne's House of Dreams" (1917), Montgomery seemed to be at a loss as what to do with her delightful red-headed orphan now that she was a mother. So when this book was written in 1919 she focused on the four Meredith children who beloned to new Presbyterian minister, John Meredith, who was a widower. I can certainly see where some readers would be less than pleased with this particular direction, but the scene near the end of the novel where little Una Meredith communes with her late mother's wedding dress before going off to get her father a wife is as touching as anything Montgomery ever wrote. To be clear, "Rainbow Valley" is the fifth of the original six Anne books written by Montgomery, which ended in 1920 with "Rilla of Ingleside." It would not be until 1936 that she would write "Anne of Windy Poplars," which became the fourth book in the series and took us back to when Anne was engaged to Gilbert and waiting for him to finish medical school. In 1939 she wrote her final novel, "Anne of Ingleside," which is the least of the Anne books, taking place before "Rainbow Valley" and engaging in some heavy handed foreshadowing as to what would happen to her characters. This 1919 book is dedicated: "To the memory of Goldwin Lapp, Robert Brookes and Morley Shier who made the supreme sacrifice that the happy valleys of their home land might be kept sacred from the ravage of the invader." So clearly Montgomery was thinking of the next book she would write, that would take place during the First World War. At this point in time Anne Shirley has been married to Gilbert Blythe for 15 years and is now the mother of six children: James (called Jem), Walter, Nan, Diana (Di), Shirley, and Marilla (Rilla). The Mrs. and the Doctor return home to Four Winds Harbor from a trip to Europe and discover the new minister and his four children: Jerry, Faith, Una and Carl. Without a mother and a father given over to deams, the manse children tend to run a bit wild. However, it seems that when they try to do their very best, it occasions the most local gossip, and the children are worried they will cost their father his job. Of course the Meredith and Blythe children become good friends, and the manswe children have Anne's stamp of approval, which is good enough for us. Two major plots in the novel involve Mary Vance, an orphan girl who finds an unexpected home and continues to cause trouble for all concerned, and Rosemary West, a young woman who John Meredith falls for but whose sister Ellen does not want to be alone and causes romantic complications that Una needs to iron out in the end. All in all, "Rainbow Valley" reminds me more of "The Story Girl" and "The Golden Road" than any of the other Anne books, with the Meredith chi

This book is great! You need to have read all of the Anne of Green Gables books to understand it. Its about Annes cheeky children who meet the new vicars children.The vicars kids are very naughty and their father is in his own little world most of the time, and doesn't spend much time with them. Annes kids really like them and have adventures with them. The vicars kids also have a runaway orphan who lives with them. She is very outgoing and seems quite common.The children don't know what to make of her at first, but she soon becomes their friend. This is my favourite book out of the Anne series I and would reccomend it to anyone.

This book is about Anne and Gilbert Blythe's children and their friends, the Merediths. It focuses on the Meredith children, Jerry, Faith, Carl, and Una. They are dear, sweet, fun-loving children always getting into trouble by their own heedlessness. The children have many adventures, including the discovery of Mary Vance, a run-away orphan, and the forming of the Good Conduct Club, which provides many laughs for the reader. From the time the Merediths move in, the town lives in fear of what the minister's children will do next. (Example : cleaning the manse on a SUNDAY and holding a prayer competition in the Methodist graveyard!) If you want a book that will make you laugh and cry, then laugh again, this is the one!

I had already read all the Anne books, when I found this one and I liked more than any other book in the world. I guess I liked it so much because I have always liked the children, and I think that Anne's children and the Meredith clan are the best children, that I have ever read about.

I don't quite like Anne of Ingleside as I always want to know more about Anne but Montgomery just focused on Anne's children in the book.However,Rainbow Valley turned out to be completely different.It is as funny,delightful as other novels in the Anne series.Now, I love Anne's children and the manse children very much.But I don't like Mary Vance, she just seemed to be wicked though I know she was actually not, she was just brutally frank. The adventures of the children were as exciting as Anne's.They were all nice little souls.They were angels and to be loved by every one in the world.After reading Anne, I am now looking forward to having the chance to play in graveyards.They are no longer dreadful but beautiful places which bring you much joy and fun as soon as you finish Rainbow Valley. Lastly I think Anne Shirley is Anne Shirley. I can never accept Mrs. Doctor dear or Anne Blythe.