PARENTING ARTICLES & TIPS

Pollyanna, an expert at her favorite Glad Game of always looking at the bright side in her numerous trials, is one of the most popular and enduring characters in all of childrens literature.
As Pollyanna arrives in Beldingsville to live with her strict and dutiful maiden aunt, she exclaims, Oh, Aunt Polly, I dont know how to be glad enough that you let me come to live with you! And from this point she begins to bring cheer into everybodys life, including the sick, the lonely, and the just plain miserable. All are transformeduntil one day when something so terrible happens that even Pollyanna doesnt know how to feel glad anymore.

Eleanor Hodgman Porter (1868-1920), American novelist, was born at Littleton, New Hampshire, and studied music at the New England Conservatory. Her first novels included Cross Currents (1907) and Miss Billy (1911). In 1913 Pollyanna appeared, which was an immediate success that has retained its popularity ever since. A sequel, Pollyanna Grows Up, was published in 1915, and two volumes of short stories, The Tangled Threads and Across the Years appeared posthumously in 1924.