Pollyanna facts for kids
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First edition cover
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| Author | Eleanor H. Porter |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | L.C. Page |
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Publication date
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1913 |
| ISBN | 1-55748-660-3 |
| OCLC | 33897078 |
| Followed by | Pollyanna Grows Up |
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Pollyanna is a book for children written by Eleanor Hodgman Porter. It was published in 1913.
Contents
Story
A girl called Pollyanna is an orphan (her parents are dead). She goes to live with her Aunt Polly (who did not marry) in Beldingsville, Vermont. Pollyanna is happy all the time, and makes other people happy. She plays a game called the "glad game", where you find something to be happy about even when you are sad. Soon, everyone in the town is happy. But then Pollyanna falls out of a tree and she is sad because she cannot walk. She has to learn to be happy again, and then she gets better because a doctor makes her well again. Aunt Polly and the doctor marry.
Summary of the story
Miss Polly Harrington is known around town for being a stern, hard woman who is set in her ways. So it is only a sense of duty that causes her to open her home to Pollyanna, her newly orphaned niece. But Pollyanna is a very special little girl, with a very special game that she teaches to the townspeople. Soon, everyone in town is happier, and glad that Pollyanna came into their lives - everyone, that is, but Aunt Polly. But then a terrible accident threatens to ruin Pollyanna's game forever, and everyone wonders who can teach this little girl to be happy again.
List of Pollyanna books
Glad Books
- Eleanor Porter
- Pollyanna: The First Glad Book
- Pollyanna Grows Up: The Second Glad Book
- Harriet Lummis Smith
- Pollyanna of the Orange Blossoms: The Third Glad Book
- Pollyanna's Jewels: The Fourth Glad Book
- Pollyanna the game
- Pollyanna's Debt of Honor: The Fifth Glad Book
- Pollyanna's Western Adventure: The Sixth Glad Book
- Elizabeth Borton
- Pollyanna in Hollywood: The Seventh Glad Book
- Pollyanna's Castle in Mexico: The Eighth Glad Book
- Pollyanna's Door to Happiness: The Ninth Glad Book
- Pollyanna's Golden Horseshoe: The Tenth Glad Book
- Margaret Piper Chalmers
- Pollyanna's Protegee: The Eleventh Glad Book
- Virginia May Moffitt
- Pollyanna at Six Star Ranch: The Twelfth Glad Book
- Pollyanna of Magic Valley: The Thirteenth Glad Book
- Elizabeth Borton
- Pollyanna and the Secret Mission: The Fourteenth Glad Book
Further sequels
- Reece, Colleen L.
- Pollyanna Comes Home
- Pollyanna Plays the Game
Adaptations
1915 play
In 1915, Catherine Chisholm Cushing published Pollyanna: The Glad Girl, a four-act comedy which was produced with great success in Philadelphia starring Patricia Collinge as Pollyanna. A critic at the time wrote that: "Mrs. Cushing has slashed and sliced and revised and twisted the story of Pollyanna and her infectious gladness until it has become swift-moving, intensely dramatic and very real." In 1918 and 1919 the play toured the U.S. and Canada with 19-year-old Viola Harper (nee Harpman) in the title role.
1920 film
The 1920 American silent melodrama/comedy film Pollyana starred Mary Pickford and was directed by Paul Powell. It was Pickford's first motion picture for United Artists. It became a major success and would be regarded as one of Pickford's most defining pictures. The film grossed $1.1 million (approximately $16,069,000 today).
1960 film
A Walt Disney film, Pollyanna, was released in 1960, starring English actress Hayley Mills in the title role (which made her a Hollywood star and led to a Disney contract). The 1960 film was shot at the McDonald Mansion (aka Mableton Mansion) on McDonald Avenue in what was then the small town of Santa Rosa, California. It was directed by David Swift.
The film was a major hit for the Disney Studios. It also marked the last film appearance of Hollywood actor Adolphe Menjou, who played the hermit-like Mr. Pendergast, who is eventually brought out of his shell by Pollyanna and her friend Jimmy.
The film was not very faithful to the novel. One marked difference from the book (and the 1920 silent version with Mary Pickford) was the treatment of Pollyanna's accident. Originally, she is paralyzed when she is hit by a car, while in the Disney film, the accident occurs because she is sneaking home from a local festival she has been forbidden to attend, and falls when she tries to re-enter her room by climbing the tree outside her bedroom window. The characters have been altered; in the book Aunt Polly does not run the town and is hardly as ruthless or controlling. The town in the movie is named "Harrington", but in the book is called "Beldingsville". The idea of the orphanage and the bazaar with Dr. Chilton and the townsfolk opposing the charity of the rich are not found in the novel. This movie has Jimmy Bean in a far bigger role than the book does. Mr. Pendergast (Mr. Pendleton in the book) has a much more prominent role. Additionally, the ending has been altered slightly; in the movie it is never made clear whether or not she is able to walk again (unlike the original book, the film never had a sequel).
1973 serial
The BBC produced a six-part TV serial in 1973 starring Colyton Grammar School pupil Elizabeth Archard as Pollyanna and Elaine Stritch as Aunt Polly. This was run on the Sunday tea-time slot, where they often ran fairly faithful adaptations of classic novels aimed at a family audience. However it followed the Disney film by having Pollyanna injured in a fall from a tree.
1986 TV series
Nippon Animation of Japan released Ai Shoujo Pollyanna Monogatari (The Story of Pollyanna, Girl of Love), a fifty-one episode anime television series that made up the 1986 installment of the studio's World Masterpiece Theater, and had famous singer Mitsuko Horie playing the role of Pollyanna.
1989 film
There was also a modernized made-for-TV musical version made by Disney (originally airing on NBC) in mid-November 1989 with an African-American cast entitled Polly, which later had a sequel (Polly: Coming Home).
2003 film
A 2003 Carlton Television TV film version of Pollyanna starring Amanda Burton as Aunt Polly and Georgina Terry as Pollyanna is very faithful to the book, with one or two minor differences that do not affect the accuracy of the plot. It uses the original characterizations and storylines, but takes place in an English village rather than Vermont (only the scenery and accents show this—the town is still called Beldingsville). Like the book, it ends with Aunt Polly and Dr. Chilton married and Pollyanna walking, but the scene is the actual wedding with Pollyanna back for a visit rather than a letter as in the book.
2018 TV Soap opera
A 2018 Sistema Brasileiro de Televisão TV Soap opera version of "Pollyanna" called "The Adventures of Pollyanna" (As Aventuras de Poliana, in brazilian portuguese) premiered on May 16th in Brazil. Starring Sophia Valverde as Pollyanna, the soap opera airs Monday to Friday 8:50pm in Brasília time (GMT-3), but it's also uploaded to its YouTube channel everyday, which by December 2018 had already 3.3 million subscribers. Right in its first month, "As Aventuras de Poliana" made a wonderful success, making it one of SBT's most watched TV soap operas ever. The main cast was well received by the public, specially 12-year old actress Sophia Valverde, acting as protagonist for the first time in television. In November 2018, Brazil's Ministry of Justice (Brazil) changed its Content rating classification from "Free" to "+10" due to bullying scenes. The soap opera is expected to be up to 700 chapters long, ending in 2020.
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
"Polly" Whittier appears in Alan Moore's comic The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume 1. She is shown to retain her optimistic outlook.
Images for kids
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Pollyanna statue in front of the public library in Littleton, New Hampshire
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See also
In Spanish: Pollyanna para niños
