Pollyanna by Eleanor H Porter was first published in 1913. That makes it a pretty impressive 100 years old. If you’re not familiar with the story, it’s about an orphaned little girl who has to go to live with her rather austere aunt. On her arrival, she manages to infect the local people with her constant cheerfulness and endless positivity and changes the life of her lonely aunt, despite her aunts best efforts. It has been made into a play for Broadway and a musical by Disney (starring Hayley Mills) over the years.
Yes, it’s obviously a story from a completely different generation and some of the words and phrasing will be tricky for young readers to get their heads around. But the reason it’s still in print is a good one-it’s a classic story that’s well told. Pollyanna is a remorselessly cheerful little girl and what’s not to like about that?
If reading this type of story feels slightly off putting to you and seems difficult to read aloud or read alone for children, searching around opened me up to the opportunity to try out audio versions of the book which we can listen to instead. I find these can work as they are adapted and therefore are almost dramatised-so you feel like your listening to a play, rather than the straight story. They can be a great introduction to classic stories. One of our favourites to work in this way is The Railway Children by E Nesbit.
Why not try to get yourself a copy, whether paper, ebook or audio and discover a classic tale.
Here’s one of my favourite quotes from the book to wet your appetite:
“For the third time since Pollyanna’s arrival, Miss Polly was punishing Pollyanna—and for the third time she was being confronted with the amazing fact that her punishment was being taken as a special reward of merit”
Excerpt From: Eleanor Hodgman Porter. “Pollyanna.” iBooks.
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