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73 pages 2 hours read

Eleanor H. Porter

Pollyanna

Eleanor H. PorterFiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1913

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Chapters 1-11Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 1 Summary: “Miss Polly”

Forty-year-old Miss Polly Harrington is the only surviving member of her family and lives alone in the grand Harrington residence in Beldingsville, Vermont. She is fussy and ill-humored but prides herself on being a good woman and so agrees to take in her 11-year-old niece Pollyanna Whittier when her brother-in-law dies. While her maid Nancy thinks this will be fun for Miss Polly, Miss Polly is more cynical. Her older sister Jennie married a poor preacher Reverend John Whittier and following their move West, became estranged from the Harrington family, who looked down upon John. Still, Jennie continued to write to them for a time and named her sole surviving child Pollyanna for her sisters Polly and Anna. Jennie died before her husband, which means that Pollyanna is now an orphan.

Chapter 2 Summary: “Old Tom and Nancy”

Nancy gets to work preparing the room Miss Polly has assigned to Pollyanna. Nancy thinks that Miss Polly is cruel for assigning Pollyanna a shabby, uncomfortable little attic room when she has such a big house.

Later, in the garden, Nancy bumps into the gardener, Old Tom. She shares the astonishing news that Jennie’s daughter Pollyanna will be coming to live with them.

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