Customer Reviews

Pollyanna Grows Up

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I love this book!!!! It's just as good as the first one. My sixteen-year-old older sister kept this treasured book in her shelf and urged me constantly to read it. I brushed her off saying that I didn't have time and that it looked boring. One day, I had nothing to do so i picked up the well worn book and began reading. Surprise! I couldn't put it down. Not because it was exciting or suspenceful, but simply because it's one of those feel-good, sweet and uplifting books. On first examanation it doesn't seem deep or like it would have something important to teach, but after a closer look you find what a beautiful message it has to share. A girl, who with her kindness and ever cheerful outlook on her surprisingly hard life, make her a role model for any one. This is a perfect book for any girl who likes a delightful story and a sweet romance. I aggree with the other reviewer about Aunt Polly. She is quite exaperating, but the other wonderful charatures make up for it and she keeps it interesting. So, get a cup of hot chocolate and snuggle down by a warm fire with this book and be prepared for a wonderful time!

"Pollyanna Grows Up" is the sequel to the 1912 classic, Pollyanna and it is surprisingly just as wonderful as the first. Eleanor H. Porter mantained all the magic of the original novel in this very exciting continuation which takes us far away from our well known town of Beldinsville to the grand City of Boston, where little Miss Pollyanna Whittier arrives to cheer up some new friends.

Fully recovered from her previous automobile accident, Pollyanna returns once again to the city of Boston, in request of her kind nurse, Della Wetherby. This last has a sister by the name of Ruth Carew, who is miserable and depressed as a consequence of a great loss, a young nephew by the name of Jamie who was taken away by his father, the woman's brother-in-law and who was never seen again. Della Wetherby's sorrow was just as grand, but her career as a nurse allows her to forget, while Ruth Carew lives alone in her big house in Commonwealth Avenue with nothing else she does or wants to do but to think of the lost Jamie. However, with her visit, Pollyanna soon changes things around, at first driving Mrs. Carew mad but soon she enters her heart.

Pollyanna finds a lot of new friends in Boston, beginning with the servants in Mrs. Carew's own home, Jerry, a young newspaper selling boy, Jamie, a crippled boy who Pollyanna is sure is the lost "Jamie," and Sadie Dean, a homeless working young girl. In Boston Pollyanna spends most of her time trying to locate Jamie, in desperate hope to please Mrs. Carew, but of this I shall say no more, the surprise twist is for the very reader to discover on his or her own.

The second part of the book may not arrive too welcomed by some readers, like Jimmy 'Bean' Pendenton stated, we readers weren't ready to see little Pollyanna grow up. However, although Miss Pollyanna Whittier has indeed grown up, she has managed to mantain her usual personality, even if some of her more innocent charm is gone. Pollyanna indeed needs her gladness and her famouse Glad Game to be able to survive the terrible dark times that have arrived at the Harrington homestead, where she grew up with the strict, but changed Aunt Polly, who has gone almost back to square one.

In conclusion, if you've enjoyed the first part of this story, then you will definitely enjoy the further adventures of the glad girl and all of her old and new friends. Definitely a great sequel to an unforgettable classic!

This is a pretty good story. A little more romance than I expected, but well written. Although grown up, Pollyanna is still her normal optimistic self and her Aunt Polly is really exasperating sometimes. It's a book to read when you just want to relax.

This is a really excellent book, especially for those people who loved the first story about Pollyanna. The first half of the book is a wonderful reintroduction to the little girl Pollyanna and the second half is the story of Pollyanna-grown-up. Her manner of talking has matured with her, but she still plays the Glad Game in a way to win over even skeptical readers. Altogether, it is a most satisfying conclusion and a book I would recommend to anyone who loves the winsome character known as Pollyanna.

I've just finished reading "Pollyanna Grows Up," first published in 1915---the follow-up to the wildly popular "Pollyanna," which I had reviewed recently.

No surprise, Pollyanna is back to work her magic once again in this story. Author Eleanor Porter wisely shifts the location of the first half of the book from small-town Vermont to Boston---a change of scene which allows the heroine to ply her charms on an entirely new set of characters. And from the get-go, the story proceeds pretty much as one would expect. That isn't to say it's dull reading---on the contrary, this story totally got to me emotionally----I seem to be a push-over for the sentimental sort of novels that were popular during this time period! However, once again the chief drawback of the novel is the character of Pollyanna herself; she's much, much too innocently sweet to be the tiniest bit believable as a real-life child. Again, she isn't sugary-sweet in a disgusting Elsie Dinsmore fashion, but some realism to the character would have been refreshing and most welcome.

It seems so unkind of me, but I keep thinking that this character appears for all intents and purposes to be mentally challenged, always acting and speaking like she's about half of her supposed age. This tendency fortunately diminishes during the second half of the novel, which takes Pollyanna from the age of 13 to age 20, but unfortunately she doesn't become any more interesting. The tale ends by successfully wrapping up three separate romances, including Pollyanna's own---and it doesn't take a genius to figure out who she ends up with!

And with this novel the author concluded the Pollyanna story. However, after Eleanor Porter's death in 1920 the publisher was only too happy to continue the Pollyanna series with an additional eleven novels. Now, I've been rather dismissive of these sequels in the past, dimly remembering them as being very typical, cookie-cutter series books practically indistinguishable to most other girls' series of the time period. However, after a re-read of the original two Pollyanna stories I can't help but wonder if a grown-up Pollyanna, as written by a different author, might not actually be an enjoyable improvement over the original child character. I have six of the sequels at hand, so at some point I'm going to give them a try to see what I think. I have almost no recollection whatsoever of any of the sequels, from my childhood reading.

I have to say, bits of this story really got to me even as I recognised its shortcomings, and I'll still give it a recommendation to those who are seriously interested in vintage children's literature, are nostalgia buffs---or those who aren't as sarcastic as I usually am. Heh. But honestly----no, I'm not wildly enthusiastic about this book.

My copy (second impression April 1915) is a match to my copy of the first book; it contains eight tipped-in full page black-and-white paintings for the illustrations---very nicely done. And the cover is of the same attractive fabric as that used on the first book (though in this case it's a light blue instead of green)---I've seen one bookseller refer to the boards as being covered in watered silk. I'm including a couple of photos to show how the pattern shifts in the light---it really is a beautiful binding.

I read this book about 65 years ago and I wanted my granddaughtes to read it. I was so excited
that you had this book in stock, along with the other two. My granddagthers will love it. The Books
came on time and in good shape. Thank you, very much.

Bonnie Cadwell

I've heard of Pollyanna my whole life -- as I am sure many people have. I've even seen the movie.

The book was entertaining, even sweet (in a good way). It's something you could actually read to your children. Pollyanna's game of always finding something to be glad about would be a good one to practise in these depressing days.

Plus, it was free on Kindle!

This book picks up where the first Pollyanna left off. She returns home her legs are healed, but her Aunt and new Uncle are going Europe. They decide that Pollyanna should stay with a woman in Boston who is in need of a dose of pollyannas glad game. Europe was nice for Aunt Polly and her new husband , when they go back they take Pollyanna... Six years pass, the Doc dies. Pollyannas Aunt falls into a deep depression, and she looses all her money. With all these bad things happening its hard for even Pollyanna to keep up the glad game.