Pollyanna is an orphan. Her mother died of sickness when she was very young, and her father also died shortly before the story begins. After these traumatic events, Pollyanna is sent to live with her Aunt Polly, her only remaining family member (her mother had two sisters, Polly and Anna). Aunt Polly is very mean, and does not seem to care much about Pollyanna. This is easy to see why, as Aunt Polly’s sister (Pollyanna’s mother) moved to the West Coast of the US to be with Pollyanna’s father from the East Coast of the US against the will of her family. Polly never wrote to her sister after that, not even when the surviving child was named after Pollyanna’s mother’s sisters, Polly and Anna became Pollyanna.

Aunt Polly continues to be upset through this great novel. However, will Pollyanna be able to reverse her aunt’s negative ways?

Pollyanna gets to know most of the people living in her village within a short period of time. Her friendly, cheery ways affect many others as well. Everyone adores her company, even Mr. Pentleton, who has rarely spoken for the past decade.  

I enjoyed reading this book because of Pollyanna’s positive way of dealing with problems and how she can quickly find a way out of every situation she is faced with. Pollyanna’s positive mental attitude made this novel even more enjoyable to read. Another reason I liked this book was because of the wide variety of characters. I appreciated that the author included so many characters because meeting a lot of different characters throughout the book made the story more interesting, as all of them have a different personality and the author is able to develop that so well.

You should read this book because it is a very fun book to read and the events are thoroughly captivating. I really liked this book, and I think you will too. 

-Peri A.

Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter is available for checkout from the Mission Viejo Library.