I read and reviewed each of the four titles collected here separately, so this is just for my own records. I read the series several times as a kid, and if none of the books here were my favourite in that series (that would be House of Dreams) I still very much enjoyed them, and continue to do so during my current reread.

The rating for the collection's an average of the individual ratings. Green Gables and Anne of the Island both got four stars from me, whereas Avonlea and Windy Poplars got three. The latter two were bumped down because of the execrable Davy and the absence of Gilbert respectively, but even though I have a soft spot for child Anne, I do find her older self less, well, less intermittently annoying. Which is a terrible thing to say! I'm laughing as I type it, but really... as much as people love Anne (and I include myself in that) the girl could talk a person to death and she has purple prose written all over her heart. You know it's true. I think I commented in one of the individual reviews that the poetry 16 year old Anne would send to lit journals is too awful to bear thinking about, and I maintain that to be the case. Which only makes me feel more affectionate towards her, I suppose... my 16 year old self's poetry would have been awful too.