School Library Journal Review

Gr 4 Up-This excellent adaptation of Eleanor H. Porter's classic 1913 novel shines with grace and deft casting. Georgina Terry makes an earnest debut in the title role as a recently orphaned 11 year old taken in by her Aunt Polly (Amanda Burton), a cold, dutiful woman who tries to mold Pollyanna into a quiet, retiring, proper little girl. But Pollyanna's cheerful spirit refuses to be dampened, and her ability to make friends with the most unlikely people makes the small English village in which she lives come alive. Her one failure is her inability to get her aunt to play the "Glad Game"-finding something good in any circumstance-which changes many of the villagers' lives. The outpouring of affection from the villagers when tragedy strikes finally opens Aunt Polly's heart and brings the story to a tear jerking, heartwarming close. The supporting cast is wonderful, especially Pam Ferris as the delightfully crotchety Mrs. Snow. Although the novel was set in America, the transplantation of the story to Britain makes sense, as the characters demonstrate life in a rigid social structure. Shot on location in the lush English countryside, acres of greenery and lakes provide a lovely setting for wonderful period costumes. Superficially similar to, and in some ways dependent upon, both Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Kate Douglas Wiggin (1903), which made into a film by Twentieth Century Fox ,and Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery (1908), which was adapted as a television miniseries by Uav Corporation, Pollyanna stands alone as a cheerful admonition to look on the brighter side of things.-Charli Osborne, Oxford Public Library, MI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.