Reviews

Gr 7-10-"I heard someone say once that the years from 15 to 19 are the best years in a girl's life. I'm going to make them perfectly splendid-just fill them with fun." Rilla, the youngest daughter of Anne (of Green Gables fame), has no idea that history will intervene with her plans. On the night of her very first dance at the Four Winds Lighthouse, Rilla has little on her mind but thoughts of Kenneth Ford and whether or not he will ask her to dance. It's on that very night that Canada joins with England to battle Germany in World War I. The young men of Ingleside leave for Europe and Rilla spends the next five years evolving from an aimless, shallow girl into a thoughtful and gracious young woman. Along the way she rescues a war baby in a soup terrene, secretly helps a girlfriend marry, and endures the deepest grief when her beloved brother dies. Narrator Barbara Caruso does a fine job interpreting the many different characters in L.M. Montgomery's 1921 novel. Listeners might sometimes feel distanced from Rilla due to the third person, omniscient narration, but those that stick with the story will be rewarded. Montgomery's deft prose nicely interweaves world events into the Blythe family story. Fans of the Anne books will enjoy this final installment of the series.-Tricia Melgaard, Centennial Middle School, Bixby, OK Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.