"Pollyanna" by Eleanor H. Porter

I was a teen when I last read Pollyanna.  I worried a little, this time, that I would see a lot of flaws in it, or be less enchanted by the book as I used to be.  People these days like to turn their nose up at it and call it unrealistic and goody-goody and blah blah blah.  What if I'd gotten old and it just didn't work for me anymore?

Um, yeah, I inhaled the book in two days.  It absolutely engrossed and charmed me.  I pity the jaded folks who find this book saccharine or treacly or whatever.  It does not offer a trite "spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down" philosophy.  But it does show that attitude and perseverance can make a difference in how people endure -- or do not endure -- hardships. 

This book does not flinch away from hardships.  Pollyanna's mom died when she was tiny, and now her dad has died too.  She travels across the continent to live with an aunt who does not hide the fact that she does not want this child.  Pollyanna is told not to mourn her beloved father because her aunt didn't like him.  She's told with words and actions that her aunt does not want her or like her, but is only taking her in out of a sense of duty.  Not even out of pity, much less kindness, but only duty, like paying taxes.  Porter never writes as though those trials don't hurt this girl.  She shows us a forlorn child who cries, who mourns, who trembles in fear, and who desperately wants to be loved and cared for.  But she also gives her heroine a loving father who, before he died, taught this girl a valuable truth: attitude matters.

Yes, Pollyanna strives to find something to be glad about in every situation.  And she teaches everyone around her the "glad game," from a crabby invalid to a reclusive crank to a fellow orphan.  The only person she can't teach it to is her aunt, because her aunt has forbidden Pollyanna ever speaking of her dead father.  Then, something tragic happens, and Pollyanna has to learn her game over again.

Some people seem to think Pollyanna Whittier is an Anne Shirley rip-off?  Well, I mean, it's true that Pollyanna is an orphan girl taken in by someone who doesn't want her at first.  She's cheerful and makes friends easily.  But that's all the similarity I can see.  Stories about orphans overcoming adversity were a HUGE trend in the early twentieth century.  I think Pollyanna has a little more in common with What Katy Did by Susan Coolidge -- particularly the big adversity that both Pollyanna and Katy must grapple with.

Anyway, I loved rereading this book.  I'm so glad I joined the #DisneyOriginsBookclub on Bookstagram this year, because it got me to pull this off my shelf!  And then, about a day after I finished reading it, I fell while roller skating and broke my arm.  I have lots of chances to play the Glad Game now!  I'm glad I only broke one arm.  I'm glad I didn't break a leg.  I'm glad it was me and not one of my kids.  I'm glad my husband was right there to get me to the ER.  I'm glad it was me and not my husband because he couldn't work with a broken arm.  I'm glad my kids are done with school for the summer.  I'm glad this didn't happen when my kids were really little.  And on and on and on :-D

Particularly Good Bits:

"He said if God took the trouble to tell us eight hundred times to be glad and rejoice, He must want us to do it" (p. 160).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: G.  Clean and lovely and uplifting.  Suitable for all ages!

This has been my 45th book read for my third Classics Club list!  Getting close to that magical 50 again!