As soon as Pollyanna arrives in Beldingsville to live with her strict and dutiful maiden aunt, she begins to brighten up everybody's life. The 'glad game' she plays, of finding a silver lining in every cloud, transforms the sick, the lonely and the plain miserable - until one day something so terrible happens that even Pollyanna doesn't know how ot feel glad about it.
Eleanor H. Porter was born in New Hampshire in 1868. As a young woman she trained as a singer but after marrying in 1892 she turned to writing. During the course of her career she wrote many novels for children and adults, but her most famous book was 
Pollyanna. Glad Clubs sprang up across America and the book was made into a Broadway show and a Hollywood movie, adding to the enormous popularity of Porter's famously sunny character. As a result, Porter was a commercially successful and popular writer during her lifetime. She died in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1920.
Neil Reed has been an illustrator for more than 20 years and has illustrated novels such as
Goodnight, Mr. Tom and
What Katy Did. As well as illustrating, Reed enjoys landscape design and painting. He currently lives in Cornwall.
Pollyanna – Eleanor H. Porter
1
MISS POLLY
Miss Polly Harrington entered her kitchen a little hurriedly this June morning. Miss Polly did not usually make hurried movements; she specially prided herself on her repose of manner. But today she was hurrying – actually hurrying.
Nancy, washing dishes at the sink, looked up in surprise. Nancy had been working in Miss Polly’s kitchen only two months, but already she new that her mistress did not usually hurry.
‘Nancy!’
‘Yes, ma’am,’ Nancy answered cheerfully, but she still continued wiplÓ)