May the Fourth be with all of you~
I actually had a lot more work than I expected to do today, but because I managed to read A Little Princess after writing yesterday’s post, and Little Lord Fauntleroy and Pollyanna aren’t too long, I actually have three books to talk about!
Three books in which all the protagonists are “good children”. Sara Crewe and Little Lord Fauntleroy are both given everything they desire (for a time, in Sara’s case) and Pollyanna is determinedly good natured. My reactions to them, however, are quite different.
Sara is a true Story Girl (more so than L. M. Montgomery’s Story Girl in my opinion), and she really makes things sparkle. And while she is a very wise child, the fact that the book is mainly about her trials and her attempts to be a princess in spite of it make her my favourite of the three protagonists (I still tear up when Ram Dass brings her all those nice things!)
Cedric Fauntleroy, on the other hand, has too charmed a life. Basically everyone loves him, even his grumpy, misanthropic grandfather. He has one trial and that resolves itself pretty quickly thanks to his friends. I don’t actually like him as much as I did.
Pollyanna has absolutely not EQ/is very KY (空気読めない aka she cannot read a room) but she has a pretty hard life and the fact that she has to work for people to like her make her more interesting and endearing than Cedric Fauntleroy.
So out of the three good children I read about today, my favourite is Sara (great at stories + actually has trials), followed by Pollyanna (not nearly as charming but she tries and she grows on you, like with Aunt Polly), and then Cedric Fauntleroy (because he has such a charmed life it’s a bit hard to like him very much). Of course, if we include disagreeable Mary in the list (because The Secret Garden is part of the three-story collection I have), then she goes to the top to tie with Sara Crewe.
Right, so tomorrow – we’ll see what I can read tomorrow. Perhaps I’ll suddenly switch from Children’s Fiction to Austen. I made Bath Buns today and have a sudden hankering for Persuasion (because I just realised I don’t own a copy of Northanger Abbey)c
I haven’t read Little Lord Fauntleroy, but have read the other two. A Little Princess was a long time ago. Pollyanna was a few years back, with my kids.
You must be a really fast reader!
Now that you mention it, it’s true that Pollyanna is pretty clueless about what people are thinking. And that this is part of her superpower. It means she’s not daunted by others and will go ahead and say the awkward thing that no one else would say, but that might be just what the person ultimately needs. In a more selfish person, this would be an terrible trait indeed.
Haha I think being familiar with the stories help me to read faster too!
Pollyanna’s lack of ability to read the room works out for the best in her case. But being reminded of it was a bit of a shock, especially since I spent so long in Japan where reading the room was taken for granted :p
Yet another reason I wouldn’t do well in Japan. 😉
I think you are right, that kind of cluelessness only works out well in fiction …