In characters and plot, A Girl of the Limberlost is akin to stage melodrama, and the themes of parental responsibility and proper education of children occur in contemporary domestic dramas and problem plays. The novel's combination of detailed descriptions of nature with didactic purpose and moralistic tone is reminiscent of James Lane Allen's A Kentucky Cardinal (1968) and the philosophy of courageous optimism is similar to that of novels by Eleanor H. Porter, Kate Douglas Wiggin, and Alice Hegan Rice.