Q 01/05

In Pollyanna, what came in a missionary barrel instead of the doll Pollyanna wanted, inspiring the glad game?

A) A pair of crutches

B) A boy's patched overcoat

C) A worn hymnbook

D) A cracked school slate

Answer · why

A) A pair of crutches

A pair of crutches was all the barrel held for a child, so her father taught her to be glad she didn't need them. That first round became the game she...

Q 02/05

Which child actress won a special juvenile Oscar for playing the title role in Walt Disney's 1960 film Pollyanna?

A) Patty Duke

B) Hayley Mills

C) Annette Funicello

D) Shirley Temple

Answer · why

B) Hayley Mills

Hayley Mills received the Academy Juvenile Award for the part, the first of six films she made for Disney. Her accent was explained by giving the hero...

Q 03/05

In and around Philadelphia, the word Pollyanna is a colloquial name for which holiday gift-exchange tradition?

A) White elephant

B) Yankee swap

C) Secret Santa

D) Stocking stuffers

Answer · why

C) Secret Santa

Secret Santa is often called a Pollyanna in the Philadelphia area. In the tradition, members of a group are each randomly assigned one person to give ...

Q 04/05

In Eleanor H. Porter's novel Pollyanna, what strikes Pollyanna on her way home from school, leaving her unable to walk?

A) A runaway carriage

B) A freight train

C) A motor car

D) A bolting horse

Answer · why

C) A motor car

A motor car hit her as she crossed the road, and nobody could say afterward who was to blame. Disney's 1960 film replaced the accident with a differen...

Q 05/05

Thanks to Eleanor H. Porter's famous heroine, calling someone a Pollyanna suggests that person is unfailingly what?

A) Talkative

B) Sentimental

C) Obedient

D) Optimistic

Answer · why

D) Optimistic

Optimistic to a fault is what the word implies today, often as a put-down for naivety. In the novel the idea is gentler: always look for the good side...