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The Anne of Green Gables books

Montgomery followed Anne Shirley from age eleven to motherhood across eight books. The order is genuinely confusing — two were written decades later and slotted into the middle — so here is the whole shelf, straightened out.

The Anne books have a problem the Oz books don’t: the publication order and the story order disagree. Montgomery wrote the first three straight through, jumped ahead to Anne’s married years, then returned in the 1930s to fill two gaps she’d skipped. Boxed sets number the books by Anne’s age, so a family reading “in order” is actually reading across a 30-year span of Montgomery’s writing life. Kids don’t care. It’s parents who end up confused, usually while standing in a bookstore.

The other thing worth knowing: this series grows up. The first three books are Anne the girl — scrapes, school, and the long war with Gilbert Blythe. From book 5 on she is an adult, and the last two books belong mostly to her children, ending in the First World War. That arc is the series’ great strength, and it also means the right next book depends on your reader’s age, not just their appetite. The age notes below flag where the shifts come.

Six of the eight are in the public domain. We host the first book now — the rest of the free ones are on our production list.

All 8 books, in order

1

Anne of Green Gables1908

Anne arrives at Green Gables by mistake and makes herself unforgettable. Ages eleven to sixteen, and the one every reader should start with.

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2

Anne of Avonlea1909

Anne at sixteen, teaching school in the village that raised her. Gentler than the first — the comedy comes from her pupils and neighbors.

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3

Anne of the Island1915

Anne leaves for college, and the Gilbert question finally gets its answer. Many readers' favorite after the first.

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4

Anne of Windy Poplars1936

Anne's three years as a school principal, told partly in letters to Gilbert. Montgomery wrote it 20 years after the books around it, and readers can feel the seam — it skips fine if a kid wants to press on.

Still in copyright — bookstores only
5

Anne's House of Dreams1917

Anne married, in her first home by the sea. New neighbors carry the book, and one of them gives it the saddest story in the series.

Grief sits closer to the surface here — this one lands best on the older end of Anne readers.
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6

Anne of Ingleside1939

Anne as a mother of six, written last of all the books. Episodic and warm; the children begin taking over the stage.

Still in copyright — bookstores only
7

Rainbow Valley1919

Anne's children and the motherless manse children next door. Anne herself is mostly in the background now — a kid should know the series has changed leads.

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8

Rilla of Ingleside1921

Anne's youngest daughter comes of age while her brothers leave for the First World War. The most serious book in the series and, we'd argue, the best of the late ones.

War, loss, and a brother who doesn't come home — this is the series' grown-up ending, best for readers 12 and up.
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6 of the 8 are in the public domain and can be read free; the rest are still in copyright. Amazon links are affiliate links.

The whole set, on paper

Some families want the row of spines on the shelf, and we get it. The complete set is widely sold as an 8-book box, in several editions.See box sets →

Quick answers

How many Anne of Green Gables books are there?

Eight books follow Anne directly, from Anne of Green Gables (1908) to Rilla of Ingleside (1921). Montgomery also wrote related Avonlea story collections (Chronicles of Avonlea, further Avonlea tales) that visit the same world without being Anne's story. The eight above are the series most families mean.

What order should the Anne books be read in?

Read them in Anne's life order — the numbering above. That's also how the boxed sets number them. The wrinkle is that books 4 and 6 were written decades later and slotted in; they read as gentler, more episodic detours, and a reader who skips them still gets a complete story arc from 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, and 8.

Are all the Anne books free?

Six of the eight are in the US public domain, including the first three. Anne of Windy Poplars (1936) and Anne of Ingleside (1939) were published later and remain in copyright in the US for several more years, so those two are bookstore-and-library books.

What age are the Anne books for?

The first book suits strong readers from about grade 5, and works read aloud earlier. The series ages with Anne: by Anne's House of Dreams she's a married adult, and Rilla of Ingleside is a wartime coming-of-age story that belongs with readers 12 and up. Many families read the first three together and let the kid grow into the rest.

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