This is a book where the main focus is not on Anne and Gilbert, but on their six children and the four children of the new minister, John Meredith.
He is a widower and his children are Jerry, Faith, Una and Carl.
They actually are the main focus of the novel, as they get into scrape after scrape which offend the town.
We see all of the children grow up a bit and do see the older ones start to form attachments to each other.
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3 of 5
Faith and the Town
Each of us has had the experience of having our actions being judged before we have had the chance to explain our logic.
Faith often tries to explain the behavior of herself and her siblings, but her explanations cause even bigger scandals.
What do you think about the way Faith deals with the town’s judgment of her actions? Are you surprised later when it is Ms. Marshall Elliott who defends her?
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4 of 5
Rainbow Valley
This novel focuses a lot of its time on describing the growing friendships amongst the children.
Anne’s children are the more confident, more popular, surrounded by friends, characters. They are “respected” members of Glen Saint Mary.
Compare and contrast the Blythe children and the Meredith children. Are they really that different?
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5 of 5
Journal Topic
Pick one of the following topics and write your 5 paragraph journal entry:
Examine all of the fun types of activities that the children engage in during this novel. How does this novel show how connected and close the their friendships are? How do these activities compare to your social activities?
At the end of this novel, we see Walter make a somewhat eerie prediction about a “Piper” who will pipe the boys round the world. What does this symbolize?