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If the last book wasn't really about Anne, this go-round isn't even about Anne's children. Instead, we meet the new minister's kids. Talk about a family that really NEEDS Nanny Mc Phee! Reverend Dad has been floundering since his wife passed away, leaving him to raise four young 'uns alone. He's a loving father, but constantly distracted, and preoccupied. He can frequently be found with his nose buried in a book. (I can relate.) Though an elderly, bumbling relative is attempting to care for them, the kids are mostly bringing up themselves.
And, they're only doing a so-so job of it.

Lucky Faith, the oldest girl, gets to be The Anne of this novel. Seeming an awful lot like a certain girl once called "Carrots," Faith gets into scrapes, takes dares, and makes bold, persuasive speeches to her elders. She even commits the unforgivable blunder of going bare-legged to church. (Horrors!)

As you can imagine, village tongues are a-waggin'.

While this is certainly not the best of the series, it's a decent enough outing with lots of love and laughs. It provided just the escape I needed from the anxieties of the modern world. Ahhhh . . .



*11/14/24 - One thing to add on my latest read of this book: I'd forgotten about runaway, Pippi Longstocking-like foundling, Mary Vance. Though she mostly got on my nerves with her bossiness and "words of wisdom," this bit where the minister's children attempt to explain the concept of Hell as the devil's domain to her made me laugh aloud:

" . . . I didn't know he lived anywhere. I thought he just roamed round. Mr. Wiley used to mention hell when he was alive. He was always telling folks to go there. I thought it was some place over in New Brunswick where he come from."

There you have it, folks. Stay away from New Brunswick.
Or else.