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Polly Oliver's Problem: A Story For Girls
Polly Oliver's Problem is a heartwarming story for young girls written by Kate Douglas Wiggin. The book follows the life of Polly Oliver, a young girl who has just moved to a new town with her family. Polly is struggling to adjust to her new surroundings and make friends, but she is determined to find her place in the community. As Polly navigates her new life, she faces a number of challenges and obstacles. She must deal with the pressures of fitting in, the difficulties of making new friends, and the ups and downs of family life. Despite these challenges, Polly remains determined to overcome her struggles and find happiness in her new home. Throughout the book, readers will be captivated by Polly's journey and inspired by her resilience and determination. Wiggin's writing is engaging and heartfelt, and her characters are relatable and endearing. Polly Oliver's Problem is a timeless story that will resonate with young girls today just as much as it did when it was first published over a century ago.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.
- GenresClassics
232 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1893
3 people are currently reading
51 people want to read
About the author
Kate Douglas Wiggin
610 books163 followersKate Douglas Smith Wiggin
Kate Douglas Wiggin, nee Smith (1856-1923) was an American children's author and educator. She was born in Philadelphia, and was of Welsh descent. She started the first free kindergarten in San Francisco in 1878 (the "Silver Street Free Kindergarten"). With her sister in the 1880s she also established a training school for kindergarten teachers. Her best known books are The Story of Pasty (1883), The Birds' Christmas Carol (1886), Polly Oliver's Problem (1893), A Cathedral Courtship (1893), The Village Watchtoer (1896), Marm Lisa (1897) and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1903).
Kate Douglas Wiggin, nee Smith (1856-1923) was an American children's author and educator. She was born in Philadelphia, and was of Welsh descent. She started the first free kindergarten in San Francisco in 1878 (the "Silver Street Free Kindergarten"). With her sister in the 1880s she also established a training school for kindergarten teachers. Her best known books are The Story of Pasty (1883), The Birds' Christmas Carol (1886), Polly Oliver's Problem (1893), A Cathedral Courtship (1893), The Village Watchtoer (1896), Marm Lisa (1897) and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1903).
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 5, 2024
Note, Oct. 5, 2024: I've just edited this review to correct a typo; I'd written "Los Angeles" when I meant "San Francisco." (I actually DO know the difference. :-) )
I read this 1893 novel in the 1951 printing by Grosset and Dunlap, which is an omnibus volume that includes Wiggin's The Birds' Christmas Carol (to which this novel is said to be a sequel --how that's true isn't immediately apparent, but there actually is a very real tie-in that becomes apparent a bit more than halfway through). The book spine lists no title but that of the earlier book, and I'd never heard of this one, so it's inclusion was a total surprise to me. Having read (and liked) the first one as a seasonal read back in 2020, this one was sort of a "loose end" I wanted to tie off, without really knowing what to expect. But it quickly won me over! :-)
While I characterized the first book as probably better appreciable by adults than children, the title character here is 16 when the tale begins (she turns 17 before it ends), and the subtitle indicates an intention to market this book to "girls," apparently teens. (If "YA" had been a book-trade thing in the author's time, that would probably have been the idea here.) However, while protagonist Polly is female, her "problem(s)" and challenges here --coping with genteel poverty, finding her vocation in life, and eventually dealing with -- are not at all unique to the distaff side of the species; males can easily relate to them too. It could be called a "coming of age" story, and that's a unisex theme as well (indeed, Edgar Noble comes of age here too, though he's a bit older than Polly --then as now, girls mature faster than boys). The diction and vocabulary as such would not be challenging for modern teens. Adults can also appreciate this (obviously, I did!); in keeping with her era, Polly is psychologically more like an adult than she is like all too many modern teens. This book also does not have the often formulaic and sappy romance plot strand that many adult readers find off-putting in much contemporary YA fiction --nor, actually, any romance at all as such. (Though I could imagine a "friends to lovers" scenario in future years.... :-) )
Unlike The Bird's Christmas Carol, this novel has a definite geographical setting, California in the 1880s, with action alternating between Santa Barbara on the southern coast and San Francisco and its across-the-bay neighbor Berkeley. Wiggin lived in both localities in the 1870s-80s, which accounts for the deftness of her physical descriptions and evocation of the setting(s) --there's much more sense of place here than in the earlier book, and this one benefits from that. Polly is a very well-developed and well-drawn character, probably because there's a great deal of the author in her. (Wiggin pioneered in the development of kindergarten services in California, something that greatly interests Polly too, and that's far from the only similarity; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_Do... .) This book also has the most open and frequent reference to the author's own Christian faith (shared by her characters) that I've found in her novels, having now read four of them. (It comes up naturally in conversations where the contexts evoke it, rather than being artificially dragged in.)
Perhaps the most salient feature of this book, and the one factor that might make this a challenging or uncongenial read for many modern teens and adults, is that Wiggin's literary vision is quite frankly a moral one. She wants to inspire her readers to grow in virtue; and she doesn't have any doubt that altruism, kindness, resilience and patience in the face of adversity, and responsible discipline and industry in the pursuit of constructive goals (among other qualities) actually are virtues. Moreover, if she feels that breaching the famous "fourth wall" serves her purpose, she'll jolly well breach it, whether she's been granted a permission slip by today's critical clerisy or not. The result is a moral climate in the book so far removed from contemporary jaded cynicism that we're conscious of being in a different (and more wholesome) world, even though there's no hiding here from the tragic dimension of human life. For many modern readers, the whole mindset of the book would be too alien to enter into. For others, it's a breath of fresh air, and an encouragement to rebuild caring human community in the face of the profound rot and decay of our social fabric.
I read this 1893 novel in the 1951 printing by Grosset and Dunlap, which is an omnibus volume that includes Wiggin's The Birds' Christmas Carol (to which this novel is said to be a sequel --how that's true isn't immediately apparent, but there actually is a very real tie-in that becomes apparent a bit more than halfway through). The book spine lists no title but that of the earlier book, and I'd never heard of this one, so it's inclusion was a total surprise to me. Having read (and liked) the first one as a seasonal read back in 2020, this one was sort of a "loose end" I wanted to tie off, without really knowing what to expect. But it quickly won me over! :-)
While I characterized the first book as probably better appreciable by adults than children, the title character here is 16 when the tale begins (she turns 17 before it ends), and the subtitle indicates an intention to market this book to "girls," apparently teens. (If "YA" had been a book-trade thing in the author's time, that would probably have been the idea here.) However, while protagonist Polly is female, her "problem(s)" and challenges here --coping with genteel poverty, finding her vocation in life, and eventually dealing with -- are not at all unique to the distaff side of the species; males can easily relate to them too. It could be called a "coming of age" story, and that's a unisex theme as well (indeed, Edgar Noble comes of age here too, though he's a bit older than Polly --then as now, girls mature faster than boys). The diction and vocabulary as such would not be challenging for modern teens. Adults can also appreciate this (obviously, I did!); in keeping with her era, Polly is psychologically more like an adult than she is like all too many modern teens. This book also does not have the often formulaic and sappy romance plot strand that many adult readers find off-putting in much contemporary YA fiction --nor, actually, any romance at all as such. (Though I could imagine a "friends to lovers" scenario in future years.... :-) )
Unlike The Bird's Christmas Carol, this novel has a definite geographical setting, California in the 1880s, with action alternating between Santa Barbara on the southern coast and San Francisco and its across-the-bay neighbor Berkeley. Wiggin lived in both localities in the 1870s-80s, which accounts for the deftness of her physical descriptions and evocation of the setting(s) --there's much more sense of place here than in the earlier book, and this one benefits from that. Polly is a very well-developed and well-drawn character, probably because there's a great deal of the author in her. (Wiggin pioneered in the development of kindergarten services in California, something that greatly interests Polly too, and that's far from the only similarity; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_Do... .) This book also has the most open and frequent reference to the author's own Christian faith (shared by her characters) that I've found in her novels, having now read four of them. (It comes up naturally in conversations where the contexts evoke it, rather than being artificially dragged in.)
Perhaps the most salient feature of this book, and the one factor that might make this a challenging or uncongenial read for many modern teens and adults, is that Wiggin's literary vision is quite frankly a moral one. She wants to inspire her readers to grow in virtue; and she doesn't have any doubt that altruism, kindness, resilience and patience in the face of adversity, and responsible discipline and industry in the pursuit of constructive goals (among other qualities) actually are virtues. Moreover, if she feels that breaching the famous "fourth wall" serves her purpose, she'll jolly well breach it, whether she's been granted a permission slip by today's critical clerisy or not. The result is a moral climate in the book so far removed from contemporary jaded cynicism that we're conscious of being in a different (and more wholesome) world, even though there's no hiding here from the tragic dimension of human life. For many modern readers, the whole mindset of the book would be too alien to enter into. For others, it's a breath of fresh air, and an encouragement to rebuild caring human community in the face of the profound rot and decay of our social fabric.
August 30, 2015
I will say this book is well written. The first time I read it, it was just my drop because I wanted a cozy, comforting easy read on a sleepless night. A year or so later, same conditions, I read it again. Strangely, somehow this time it was a little less comforting; perhaps that was down to me. Maybe I was just feeling a bit grumpier, but I don't know: the good old trope-for-girls of "work hard, love your mum, and stay home and you will be rewarded" grated just a bit this time round. Perhaps because when the chips are really down Polly is rescued by a chance-met wealthy woman who basically adopts her and takes her away from all the hard work and poverty and sorrow into the lap of luxury. Is it a coincidence that her room in that lap of luxury is done all in white and silver--the colours of virginal purity? I doubt it. Perhaps because her girl friends all just happen to be quite wealthy as well, and yet love our sweet, simple working-class heroine for the reasons cited above. Everyone seems to bow before Polly's unconscious moral superiority.
Yeah. Like they do.
Maybe I'm old and jaded. Maybe I'm just jealous.
Probably.
Yeah. Like they do.
Maybe I'm old and jaded. Maybe I'm just jealous.
Probably.
May 26, 2021
I love Kate Douglas Wiggin.
July 6, 2019
This was cute and sweet. I enjoyed Polly.
August 27, 2014
3.5 stars. This one had more of a plot than the book which precedes it, A Summer In a Canyon, which was simply a fun chronicle of a 19th-century summer vacation. But having read A Summer In a Canyon first, I was a little disappointed not to find more of Bell and Philip and Margery and the others in Polly Oliver's Problem—though Polly is definitely a lively and engaging character herself. It also ended rather suddenly without wrapping up some things that I suspected might be wrapped up...although most readers will probably be able to make a guess about future events on their own. Like most of Kate Douglas Wiggin's books, though, it's a sprightly, charming and lightweight little book for pleasure reading.
May 22, 2024
Oh goodness, SUCH a fun book. As someone who loved Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm to absolute bits as a child, I decided to check out the author’s other books. They did not disappoint. It is always a little refreshing to read books by an author who relies less on the plot than she does her wit and skillful banter between characters. (I call them flimsy books and I adore visiting them once in a while to give my brain a break. Lol.)
There is no tension, no suspense—just pure pleasant babble and enough storyline to support it.
Delightful to revisit my childhood books in this manner.
There is no tension, no suspense—just pure pleasant babble and enough storyline to support it.
Delightful to revisit my childhood books in this manner.
December 1, 2008
For the most part, I really liked this one! The humor was great, and Polly was a really vibrant character.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews