That Perfectly Pesky Pollyanna!

 Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter

Avonell Marie 

(phone interview, Sunday, February 3rd)

   I loved this book when I was in elementary school. I remember that our teacher used to read a chapter aloud to the class every afternoon. I can't exactly remember if it was in 3th or 4th grade, but I do recall that all the students were on the edge of their seats waiting to find out what would happen next. Pollyanna is about a little girl named, of course, Pollyanna. She is always so positive and optimistic; no matter what happens to her, she looks on the bright side. You know that expression about seeing the glass as "half full" instead of "half empty"? Well, that's what Pollyanna is like. 

     I don't remember the exact story all that well (3rd grade was a long time ago for me!) but I do remember that she lives with her grouchy aunt in a nice town. She helps everybody in the town see the bright side of bad situations. Well then Pollyanna has a terrible accident (I guess I'm spoiling the story, right?) and even for a while she lies in bed having trouble seeing anything good about it. Eventually what happens is that all the people in the town come to see her to cheer her up! 

     Really, it's a very happy and positive book. I think children today should read it so they can feel good about things. There are so many terrible things that happen in the world; it is nice to read about pleasant things too!

                          Source: Wikipedia

Ms. Forbes' comments:

     When I called my mother on Sunday to ask her to tell me about her favorite book when she was young, I suspected that she would write about Pollyanna! Why? Well, because one day when I was about 12 or 13, I was going through some old stuff in a closet in our house and I found this book. It was a very old copy(see the cover above  - it’s the same as the one I found!) with yellowed pages. Her name before she was married was written in it, so I knew that it had been her book when she was young. Anyway, I asked her about it at the time and she said that she loved it when she was little. 

     Naturally, I read it so I could see what was so great about it. Total drivel in my opinion! As my mother said, it is about a girl who is always happy, sunny, and optimistic no matter what happens. Please!! It’s ridiculous! Nobody can be that positive 100% of the time! It’s not the most realistic book you could ever read, honestly, but I guess I understand what my mother means when she says that it’s nice to read something pleasant every so often, especially considering all the terrible things that happen in the world. 

     Pollyanna has become a well-known character in literature that people used to say to people who were too unrealistically positive:“Don’t be such a Pollyanna!” (kind of the opposite of saying to someone: “Don’t be such a Scrooge!”).

     Anyway, I already knew that my mother likes to be kind to people and that she thinks that if you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all. However, I did learn that her teacher used to read the book aloud to the class. It’s kind of cute to imagine my own mother in 3^rd grade! I have a hard time believing that the boys in her class were that excited about this book, though.