Pollyanna

Prices for book: Pollyanna

Book ISBN: 9780486432069

Author(s): Eleanor H. Porter

Document type: Trade Paper

Publisher: Unknown

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Reviews

Worth reading!

Rating: 100%

Call me an overly-sensitive sap, but I think Pollyanna is a wonderful story. While it may not be "great literature," its optimistic, silver-lining-on-every-cloud message is inspiring, valuable, and timeless. Pollyanna demonstrates the "proactivity" described in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: namely that you have the power and the freedom to choose your response in any given situation. As human beings, we have the ability to choose to not be controlled by our circumstances; happiness is a choice. Granted, constant happiness is not realistic, and Pollyanna experiences challenges that would bring anyone down, and we see her humanity when she loses her ability to see the silver lining. I can see how cynical people would complain about how unrealistic the book is, but it is obviously about an EXCEPTIONAL person, someone we should all strive to emulate; and these exceptional people who can choose, maybe not happiness in every circumstance, but at least to find meaning and a reason and drive to keep living DO EXIST (see the extreme example of Victor Frankl's experience in concentration camps).

I pity the kids whose negative reviews tell me that they've lost their childhood innocence. Maybe the ends are too neatly tied in the end and maybe the characters are cliche, but its sweetness and innocence and the overall inspiring message of optimism make Pollyanna worth reading - and aren't those neatly tied happy endings just so satisfying sometimes? And to those who complain of her similarities to Anne Shirley - what's wrong with that? The story IS different; and we can all stand to benefit from reading more positive, life-affirming, soul-nurturing books.

J. Fortain (Amazon.com)

"...an overwhelming, unquenchable gladness for everything that has happened or is going to happen."

Rating: 60%

Although I appreciate those inspiring folks who believe that the glass is half full, choose to look on the bright side, and see a silver lining in every dark cloud, eleven-year-old Pollyanna takes the concept to an irritatingly higher level. Her businesslike forty-year-old half-namesake aunt Polly who resides in Beldingsville, Vermont, agrees to take on guardianship of the orphaned girl, not out of love but of duty, and relegates her to an uncomfortable, unadorned room. The girl welcomes flies, greets (and eventually befriends) standoffish townspersons, and can think of something good in even the worst situation as a direct result of her adherence to the rules of the "just being glad," game that she learned from her father (p 38) "the game was just to find something about everything to be glad about-no matter what `twas." Those she befriends quickly jump on the pro-Pollyanna bandwagon. She is slow, however, in transforming her aunt (who forbids her to talk of her father thus learns late of the game) from cool to convert. Pollyanna brightens the world of a bedridden woman, brings out the best in a penny-pinching bachelor, rescues the same man, and helps an orphan boy find a family. And when tragedy strikes, she faces the challenge cheerfully. The book ends as one might expect.

Although a positive attitude is admirable, Pollyanna's pleasantness was too much for me. This book might qualify as the book with one of the most distracting words of all time with its repeated use of a dual-meaninged (now rarely used in this context) synonym for "exclaim." Better: Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery, Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren and Clarice Bean Don't Look Now by Lauren Child.

Julee Rudolf (Amazon.com)

Uplifting Book

Rating: 100%

This is a classic happy/uplifting book. Looking for a pick me up in tough times, read Pollyanna.

Scott M. Bryant (Amazon.com)

Classic and heartwarming

Rating: 100%

I read this book as a child and then again as an adult. I enjoy the lightness of this book. Pollyanna exemplifies everything that I want to be as a human being. She may appear, at times, to be on the "too perfect" side of things. But her "Glad Game" has stuck in my mind for over a decade now. As childish as it may seem, I play that game when things get tough, and it helps. Pollyanna is a must read for anyone of any age!

buckbuckgoose (Amazon.com)

A Book for Boys and Girls

Rating: 100%

Written by Kurisa Suhr
If you think this book is just for girls - think again! A story that involves overcoming the biggest struggles that life has to throw at you is something that can help everyone. We all face difficult problems in our lives and Pollyanna is a story that will touch your heart. She is a ten year old girl who turns life into a "Glad Game" and finds a positive way of looking at very difficult challenges in her life. The characters are not just girls and women and the stories are about true problems that we all face. Pollyanna is a special book with a special message for everyone.

Kurisa Suhr (Amazon.com)

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