Will I love Pollyanna?

The orphan girl Pollyanna moves in with her strict aunt in New England. Despite a difficult start, Pollyanna's exuberance and positivity affect everyone who meets her, and she spreads joy and love wherever she goes. I loved Pollyanna when I read it as a young girl and patterned my life after her positive thinking. Pollyanna, like myself, often finds her optimistic attitude tested, but she always learns to find happiness in every situation.

Most people only know the term ‘Pollyanna’ from its dictionary definition: “an excessively or blindly optimistic person.” We think of a cutesy, ebullient, ever-happy individual with no worries in the world, almost ‘blind’ to reality. The real Pollyanna, in this book by Ms. Porter, is anything but blind. As Pollyanna holds herself to a death-bed promise made to her father, she actively chooses optimism over pessimism when faced with the hardships of life. And it is certainly not always easy for her. She struggles to avoid despair by searching for the good in even the most difficult… show more.