Rainbow Valley (1919)

Anne’s kids find new playmates. Overall, a bit better than Anne of Ingleside — the Blythe kids are more interesting in this book, and the Meredith children are a lot of fun. My one major gripe is Rev. John Meredith, the severely absent-minded minister father who supposedly loves his kids but who doesn’t notice their poor food and household conditions, and on the rare occasions where he wakes up enough to notice, he doesn’t do anything about it, until he finally gets married to a woman who’ll take care of all that. I don’t find him funny or endearing; I pity him, but I also find him criminally irresponsible. At the very least, he could apply to one of his neighbors for advice — the Blythes live quite nearby, for example — or he could shell out the money for a good housekeeper; there’s no hint that this would be impossibly expensive for him. He’s one of these people who would make a fabulous contemplative monk or celibate priest but who has no business being a family man. ( )

I liked this one more than the last, somehow. Perhaps because it didn't pretend to be about Anne when it wasn't, really. It's sad that it's the seventh of the Anne of Green Gables series, and Anne is hardly in it, of course, but the children are sweet, and interesting to read about. I think maybe the writing was a little better than in "Anne of Ingleside", too. ( )

Anne's kids are almost as much fun as she is, but the preacher's children really make the book. ( )

Overall a pleasant installment in the Anne of Green Gables series, albeit one that focuses much more on her children and their friends, the Merediths. The children get into all sorts of scrapes and mischief but at the same time there is a great deal of poignancy in the air: Walter Blythe talks about a "pied piper" who will call away him and all the other boys to the other side of the world (foreshadowing of the First World War), while the Meredith children struggle valiantly to meet the demands of village society, trying to bring themselves up without a mother and a rather absent-minded father while being subjected to the laser-like focus of the gossips. This is the sort of book that can be picked up and put down fairly easily, but it may help to have Anne of Ingleside relatively fresh in your mind when reading it, just to keep better track of the cast of characters. ( )

I liked this better than the previous book in the series, but I was hoping get to know the Blythe children better. They're there as well as Anne, but it is more focused on the Presbyterian minister's children and the girl they find and help get a home, Mary Vance. This might make a cute movie for TV though. ( )