A thorough examination of the context and impact of the irrepressibly optimistic literary darling

Roxanne Harde is associate professor of English, associate dean (Research), and a McCalla University Professor at the Augustana Faculty of the University of Alberta. She has published extensively on American women writers, children's literature, and popular culture.

Roxanne Harde's profile page

Lydia Kokkola is professor of English and education at Luleå University of Technology, Sweden. She is author of Fictions of Adolescent Carnality.

Lydia Kokkola's profile page

For the reader prepared to go beyond received opinion, this volume will show that Porter's Pollyanna is far more than a sophomoric account of bubble-headed optimism. Open its pages and you will discover the evangelical roots of self-improvement books, a vision of this nation's enduring 'radical innocence,' and a girl trickster whose manipulations are above reproach and invulnerable to suspicion. Harde, Kokkola, and company are to be congratulated for pulling back the curtain on the remarkable novel that is Pollyanna.

Jerry Griswold, author of Audacious Kids: The Classic American Children's Story

This collection provides a sustained look at an influential text that lavishly repays close attention. The wealth of critical approaches on display reflects Pollyanna's complex position as a literary, philosophical, and pop culture phenomenon repeatedly adapted to other media and cultures. Harde and Kokkola's volume is a welcome addition to the Children's Literature Association Series.

Claudia Nelson, professor of English, Texas A&M University, and past president of the Children's Literature Association