Rilla of Ingleside has long been one of my favorites among the Anne books, which is interesting because it's so very different from the rest. All the sudden the little familiar world of Anne's community, concerned only with its gossip and small funny episodes, is invaded by huge events happening outside on the international stage. World War I begins and everything is changed forever.

As the titles implies, this story focuses on Anne's youngest daughter Rilla (short for Bertha Marilla). She is almost fifteen, a lovely, slightly vain and thoughtless young girl enjoying her first dance when the news comes that Britain has declared war on Germany. And Canada cannot let "the old grey mother of the northern sea" fight it out alone. One by one Rilla's brothers and playmates enlist as the war takes over their lives even in secure little Glen St. Mary. Rilla, trying to find herself in the sudden turmoil of her world, finds herself landed with a war-baby to take care of — she, Rilla Blythe, who doesn't even like infants and has no inkling of how to take care of one!

I think I love this book so much because Montgomery manages to tie these world-shaking events to the familiar, comfortable lives of her characters. There is great good humor in this story mixed with the tragedy and fear... just like in real life. The war is always looming, but in the midst of it the Ingleside folk still manage to be themselves. Susan Baker in particular is a wonderful example of this. Susan is first introduced in Anne's House of Dreams but it isn't clear then what a fun character she will become. In this story she really comes into her own. We see the war through her eyes, with her optimistic, sometimes scorching commentary on it, and this is a brilliant move on Montgomery's part. It's so funny because Susan firmly believes that the Kaiser is deeply interested in everything that happens in Glen St. Mary, but several times Montgomery takes us past the humor and shows Susan's fierce, honest patriotism.

Rilla herself is an unusual heroine for Montgomery. She hasn't a spark of ambition, isn't terribly smart or addicted to poetry and literature, doesn't like babies, and starts off rather vain and selfish and thoughtless. I was never really comfortable with her lack of ambition, being full of it myself. But there is something winning about her, and as I reread the book this time I chuckled to myself at how often my own diaries from that age echo Rilla's. It is good to see how she develops through the awful war years.

Montgomery's scorn for pacifists and anyone with pro-German sentiments is quite clear from her depiction of Mr. Pryor — known as "Whiskers-on-the-Moon" because of his great round face and fringe of ridiculous whiskers. He really is a funny character and figures in two of the most hilarious scenes of the book, when Norman Douglas violently stops his pacifist prayer at the union prayer meeting and when Susan chases him out of her kitchen with a pot of boiling dye. Montgomery lived through this war and Rilla of Ingleside was published in 1920. Clearly she felt very strongly about the war and patriotism, and it's hard to argue with her.

This story succeeds on so many levels. It's a wonderful addition to the Blythe family chronicles, but it is also a great depiction, in its own right, of life in Canada during World War I. Funny, sad, and ultimately hopeful, Rilla of Ingleside is a treasure. ( )

One of the best of the Anne series. Serious, tragic, funny, uplifting. I cried, for real, at least four times.

I think that the first and last book in the series are the best. This one, I read regulary when I have a need to cry. Somehow, the way the family, and Rilla in particular, deals with a distant Great War, always gets to me. ( )

This book stands out a lot from the other books in this series which are a lot more carefree even when the characters are having problems. This one had way too much World War I for my taste. There was too much play by play about different battles and events. Rilla was a good character, and she definitely grows, but I had way too much having to hear about this or that war thing. ( )

For some people it may be difficult to read all 8 of the books, but it is worth the journey to get to this tale. Anne of Green Gables is still my favorite because I read it first, but Rilla of Ingleside never fails to make me cry. It has its own distinct feel to it and I in no way felt that the author was attempting to create a "little Anne." In fact, it is darker and more adult than the first one. I highly recommend this book! ( )