Pollyanna

Eleanor Porter's 1913 novel earns its place as a classic not through sentimentality alone but through the genuine crisis at its center: Pollyanna, who has spent the entire book teaching everyone around her to find something to be glad about, is struck by a car and loses her ability to walk. She must then live inside her own philosophy at its hardest. That test gives the Glad Game moral weight it would not otherwise have. The novel's faith-compatible themes — her father was a minister, the Glad Game was born of a childhood disappointment at Christmas — make it a natural fit for families with religious values. Common Sense Media rates it highly. The honest caveat is that modern readers sometimes find Pollyanna's relentless positivity implausible, and Porter's prose style reads as distinctly period. Neither concern should stop families from reading it together. A century of readers have found something real here, and so will yours.