Eleanor Hodgman Porter was born on December 19, 1868, in Littleton, New Hampshire. Porter's mother was an invalid, and Porter herself suffered from ill health as a child and never finished high school. Although she later recovered and led an active outdoor life, her childhood experiences provided material for the story of Pollyanna and for Porter's other works of fiction. As a young woman, Porter studied at the New England Conservatory of Music and embarked upon a career as a singer, but changed her profession to writing after her marriage in 1892. Porter submitted stories to magazines, at first with little success. But from the time she published her first novel, Cross Currents, in 1907, until her death in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on May 21, 1920, Porter was a remarkably prolific and successful writer of fiction for young adults. Her popularity continued well after her death, and many of her works...