- Paperback: 40 pages
- Publisher: Bantam USA; 2nd edition (1 Jan 1993)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0553269216
- ISBN-13: 978-0553269215
- Product Dimensions: 12.3 x 1.8 x 17.5 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 213,245 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
Anne Shirley is grown up, has married her beloved Gilbert and now is the mother of six mischievous children.
These boys and girls discover a special place all their own, but they never dream of what will happen when the strangest family moves into an old nearby mansion. The Meredith clan is two boys and two girls, with minister father but no mother -- and a runaway girl named Mary Vance. Soon the Meredith kids join Anne's children in their private hideout to carry out their plans to save Mary from the orphanage, to help the lonely minister find happiness, and to keep a pet rooster from the soup pot. There's always an adventure brewing in the sun-dappled world of Rainbow Valley.
These boys and girls discover a special place all their own, but they never dream of what will happen when the strangest family moves into an old nearby mansion. The Meredith clan is two boys and two girls, with minister father but no mother -- and a runaway girl named Mary Vance. Soon the Meredith kids join Anne's children in their private hideout to carry out their plans to save Mary from the orphanage, to help the lonely minister find happiness, and to keep a pet rooster from the soup pot. There's always an adventure brewing in the sun-dappled world of Rainbow Valley.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
27 of 28 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
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 has the least to do with Anne or her children. This one is really more about the four Meredith children who belong to Ingleside's new widowed minister, so I can see where some readers would be less than pleased with the direction of the story in which even Anne and Gilbert's children and secondary characeters. However, a scene near the end of the novel where young Una Meredith communes with the mother's wedding dress before going off to secure a new wife for her father is as touching as anything Montgomery ever wrote.
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 children having a series of humorous misadventures. I am also impressed because as you can tell from the ending when Walter Blythe speaks of "The Piper," that Montgomery is already committed to writing about what happens to these children during World War I in her next Anne book, "Rilla of Ingleside." Even though it is atypical "Rainbow Valley" is my second favorite book in the Anne series and I am the proud owner of a first edition copy.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I didn't want to buy this book. For some reason, I had got the impression that it would just be a collection of vignettes strung together, populated by the 'stock characters' of L.M. Montgomery about getting into 'scrapes' and matchmaking; that it wouldn't have the heart or complexity of some of her greater books.
Well, there are scrapes, and there are matches made. There are busybodies, there are plucky kids, there are crotchety old men who are won around by said plucky kids. But somehow, it all seemed fresh. The first couple of chapters introduce the varied Blythe kids and the new Meredith children who live a slightly Pippi Longstocking-esque life with their absent minded widower father and useless old Aunt Martha. Then Mary Vance shows up. I like to think that Mary Vance is what Anne Shirley could have been, had she not had such a fine and fanciful soul. With Mary Vance, L.M. Montgomery gets to have irreverent fun with a salty-tongued orphan used to working from dusk til dawn. Mary is also taken in by a sober old woman and mends her ways somewhat, but unlike Anne, she never 'rounds out' - she'll always be a comic character and a thorn in everybody's side. She's a good balance to the relentless sweetness of characters like Walter and Una. Especially when she's chasing a terrified Rilla through Glen St. Mary with a dried codfish!
Faith Meredith, too, has a bit of Anne about her - her scene with Norman Douglas reminds me of Anne winning over Mr. Harrison in Anne of Avonlea. And I just wanted to shake Mr. Meredith as the little Merediths go about raising themselves by meting out punishments for their 'scrapes' - Una fainting from a self-imposed fast and Carl spending all night in a wet graveyard! Mr. Meredith wakes up in time and with a helping hand from Una, all is resolved.
And then there is the war. Rainbow Valley was published in 1919, but set about ten years before the start of the First World War. L.M. Montgomery meant it as a foreshadow of Rilla of Ingleside, as well as a reminder of the happy places and innocent high spirits that she held so dear and so necessary to protect. The childrens' imaginations are seized by the story of the Pied Piper, and Walter spontaneously foresees a time when the Piper will call and he and Jem, Jerry and Carl will have to follow, while the girls must wait at home. It's so poignant...
The only disappointment, perhaps, is the relative absence of Anne and Gilbert (poor Gilbert, as soon as Anne agreed to marry him his life purpose seemed to be fulfilled and he never spoke another word! I miss that mischievous boy of the first book!). Although the other characters describe Anne as 'still a little girl inside', she has most definitely grown up and has a sort of benevolent, angelic presence in this book. I guess that was the fate of the post-puberty heroine in those days!
Well, there are scrapes, and there are matches made. There are busybodies, there are plucky kids, there are crotchety old men who are won around by said plucky kids. But somehow, it all seemed fresh. The first couple of chapters introduce the varied Blythe kids and the new Meredith children who live a slightly Pippi Longstocking-esque life with their absent minded widower father and useless old Aunt Martha. Then Mary Vance shows up. I like to think that Mary Vance is what Anne Shirley could have been, had she not had such a fine and fanciful soul. With Mary Vance, L.M. Montgomery gets to have irreverent fun with a salty-tongued orphan used to working from dusk til dawn. Mary is also taken in by a sober old woman and mends her ways somewhat, but unlike Anne, she never 'rounds out' - she'll always be a comic character and a thorn in everybody's side. She's a good balance to the relentless sweetness of characters like Walter and Una. Especially when she's chasing a terrified Rilla through Glen St. Mary with a dried codfish!
Faith Meredith, too, has a bit of Anne about her - her scene with Norman Douglas reminds me of Anne winning over Mr. Harrison in Anne of Avonlea. And I just wanted to shake Mr. Meredith as the little Merediths go about raising themselves by meting out punishments for their 'scrapes' - Una fainting from a self-imposed fast and Carl spending all night in a wet graveyard! Mr. Meredith wakes up in time and with a helping hand from Una, all is resolved.
And then there is the war. Rainbow Valley was published in 1919, but set about ten years before the start of the First World War. L.M. Montgomery meant it as a foreshadow of Rilla of Ingleside, as well as a reminder of the happy places and innocent high spirits that she held so dear and so necessary to protect. The childrens' imaginations are seized by the story of the Pied Piper, and Walter spontaneously foresees a time when the Piper will call and he and Jem, Jerry and Carl will have to follow, while the girls must wait at home. It's so poignant...
The only disappointment, perhaps, is the relative absence of Anne and Gilbert (poor Gilbert, as soon as Anne agreed to marry him his life purpose seemed to be fulfilled and he never spoke another word! I miss that mischievous boy of the first book!). Although the other characters describe Anne as 'still a little girl inside', she has most definitely grown up and has a sort of benevolent, angelic presence in this book. I guess that was the fate of the post-puberty heroine in those days!
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
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.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Enchanting as always, although not really about Anne
I really enjoyed this, but it doesn't seem to fit in with the rest of the series properly. Although all of the other 'Anne' books have secondary characters who have their own... Read more
Published on 19 May 2010 by Rachel
Childhood Ups and Downs
Rainbow Valley (Children's continuous series)
A book it was hard to put down for me. Anne has several children who befriend a family from the manse and this book is... Read more
A book it was hard to put down for me. Anne has several children who befriend a family from the manse and this book is... Read more
Published on 14 Nov 2009 by Mrs. L. E. M. Marsden
A truly enchanting,story capturing the magic of childhood.
I have read this book many times,since I first discovered it as a child.Each time I read it I immerse myself into the lives of Anne ,Gilbert and their clan,and put the rigours of... Read more
Published on 26 July 1999
As funny and adventurous as other LMM books!
I think this book is as worth-reading as the rest of the other Anne books. I think people who love kids will love this book even more because both the children of Ingleside and... Read more
Published on 17 July 1999
A Great book!!!
There wasnt to much of the Merediths, and it was just as good as the others. I loved every sentence of it.
Published on 4 Jun 1999
The most charming book in the world
I had already read all the Anne books, when I found this one and I liked more than any other book in the world. Read more
Published on 14 Jan 1999
Too much focus on the Meredith clan.
I really like the Meredith clan, but I just don't think they should be the entire focus of the book. Read more
Published on 13 Dec 1998
The antics of Anne's children as they begin to grow up
"Rainbow Valley" although still a very charming, touching, and funny book, tends to lack the focus of Montgomery's other novels. Read more
Published on 25 Jun 1998
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