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Penny Pollard #1
Penny Pollard's Diary
Penny's diary reveals her love of horses and her hatred of such things as wearing dresses, doing homework and old people until a meeting with the unusual eighty-one-year-old Mrs. Edith Bettany begins to challenge her point of view.
56 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1983
6 people are currently reading
140 people want to read
About the author
Robin Klein
85 books76 followersWinner of the Dromkeen Medal (1991).
Robin Klein was born 28 February 1936 in Kempsey, New South Wales into a family of nine children. Leaving school at age 15, Klein worked several jobs before becoming established as a writer, having her first story published at age 16. She would go on to write more than 40 books, including Hating Alison Ashley (adapted into a feature film starring Delta Goodrem in 2005), Halfway Across the Galaxy and Turn Left (adapted into a television series for the Seven Network in 1992), and Came Back to Show You I Could Fly (adapted into a film directed by Richard Lowenstein in 1993).
Klein’s books are hugely celebrated, having won the CBCA Children’s Book of the Year Award in both the Younger Readers and the Older Readers categories, as well as a Human Rights Award for Literature in 1989 for Came Back to Show You I Could Fly. Klein is widely considered one of Australia’s most prolific and beloved YA authors.
Robin Klein was born 28 February 1936 in Kempsey, New South Wales into a family of nine children. Leaving school at age 15, Klein worked several jobs before becoming established as a writer, having her first story published at age 16. She would go on to write more than 40 books, including Hating Alison Ashley (adapted into a feature film starring Delta Goodrem in 2005), Halfway Across the Galaxy and Turn Left (adapted into a television series for the Seven Network in 1992), and Came Back to Show You I Could Fly (adapted into a film directed by Richard Lowenstein in 1993).
Klein’s books are hugely celebrated, having won the CBCA Children’s Book of the Year Award in both the Younger Readers and the Older Readers categories, as well as a Human Rights Award for Literature in 1989 for Came Back to Show You I Could Fly. Klein is widely considered one of Australia’s most prolific and beloved YA authors.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
November 29, 2014
The original and the best! And how fabulous was old Mrs. Bettany? I recall watching Penny Pollard on the ABC as much as reading her, too - can't recall if they were episodes on Kaboodle, or a series all of its own.
(Aha! Google to the rescue, as usual!)
Re-read May 2012 and I swear, I read the first line and could have just RECITED the rest of it, it was so gloriously familiar! I must have read this hundreds of times in primary school. BEST. BOOK. EVER. Also, it's funny to read it back as a grown-up and notice how similar Bridget Jones' diary-writing style is to Penny's!
And yes I totally tried to make "jam tin stilts" after reading this. They were not as easy to walk on as imagined though! And I remember also making cone cups from patty pans :D I seriously need my own copy of this so I can just re-read it forever. Penny and Mrs. B are so much fun!
(Aha! Google to the rescue, as usual!)
Re-read May 2012 and I swear, I read the first line and could have just RECITED the rest of it, it was so gloriously familiar! I must have read this hundreds of times in primary school. BEST. BOOK. EVER. Also, it's funny to read it back as a grown-up and notice how similar Bridget Jones' diary-writing style is to Penny's!
And yes I totally tried to make "jam tin stilts" after reading this. They were not as easy to walk on as imagined though! And I remember also making cone cups from patty pans :D I seriously need my own copy of this so I can just re-read it forever. Penny and Mrs. B are so much fun!
November 5, 2017
Summary
Penny Pollard's Diary written by Robin Klein and illustrated by Ann James is an Australian middle grade book in the format of a girl's diary.
Penny Pollard is a 10-year-old girl who despises elderly people for being boring, Annette Smurton for owning a horse, and Simone for being a goody two shoes.
Her class visits a nursing home for senior citizens as part of their community work project. She escapes and goes outside where she meets Mrs. Edith Bettany, an elderly lady who shares a similar personality to Penny. They quickly become friends and Penny visits her frequently.
Penny's humorous voice shines through in her diary, accompanied by photographs, illustrations and mementos.
Review
I remember reading about Penny Pollard as a child, and loving her quirky sense of humour, and the interesting format of the books.
I thought the diary format was interesting and unique. I liked the contrast between the illustrations and photographs.
The shorthand diary language was a little hard to get into, especially when I put the book down several times. However, I got the hang of it after a while.
I recommend this book for anyone who's 9 years and older and wants to read a book about a humorous and troublesome girl's adventures in diary format.
Penny Pollard's Diary written by Robin Klein and illustrated by Ann James is an Australian middle grade book in the format of a girl's diary.
Penny Pollard is a 10-year-old girl who despises elderly people for being boring, Annette Smurton for owning a horse, and Simone for being a goody two shoes.
Her class visits a nursing home for senior citizens as part of their community work project. She escapes and goes outside where she meets Mrs. Edith Bettany, an elderly lady who shares a similar personality to Penny. They quickly become friends and Penny visits her frequently.
Penny's humorous voice shines through in her diary, accompanied by photographs, illustrations and mementos.
Review
I remember reading about Penny Pollard as a child, and loving her quirky sense of humour, and the interesting format of the books.
I thought the diary format was interesting and unique. I liked the contrast between the illustrations and photographs.
The shorthand diary language was a little hard to get into, especially when I put the book down several times. However, I got the hang of it after a while.
I recommend this book for anyone who's 9 years and older and wants to read a book about a humorous and troublesome girl's adventures in diary format.
April 13, 2020
Missing just one of Robin Klein’s Penny Pollard series and read this week to get that nagging “that book was popular when I was young but I cannot remember what it was about” feeling answered. Penny was herself through and through. She had an answer or excuse for every action she took and she was never regretful in her choices. I love how you get her strong sense of self whilst she is painting an elaborate and outrageous lie of a world to meet her agenda and then her real self ... still strong and unapologetic ... she was great. It took me a bit get used to the child like sentence structures in the first book but once at ease with that in a published book, all was well. Great trip down memory (or lost memory) lane.
February 12, 2026
I loved Penny Pollard so much because of her quirky personality 🥹
Just like here, I hate wearing dresses because they make me feel SUUUPERRR ITCHY :(
Anyways, this was a really good read even though I have never read Penny Pollard before (I actually made the mistake of accidentally read the last book in the series FIRST and I didn’t know any of the characters like who’s Mrs Bettany again) but I finally realised so I read the diary next and it was soooooooo gooooooooood!!!!
I would definitely recommend it ;) 🤪
Just like here, I hate wearing dresses because they make me feel SUUUPERRR ITCHY :(
Anyways, this was a really good read even though I have never read Penny Pollard before (I actually made the mistake of accidentally read the last book in the series FIRST and I didn’t know any of the characters like who’s Mrs Bettany again) but I finally realised so I read the diary next and it was soooooooo gooooooooood!!!!
I would definitely recommend it ;) 🤪
December 15, 2019
Birthday Book #45 from my friend Sandra. Cute "diary" by 10-year-old, horse obsessed Penny Pollard, who doesn't want to join in the class visit to a nursing home but finds a true friend in old Mrs. Bettany and learns about her life. A cute story, though the "diary" format was a bit rough. Liked all the old pictures, though.
June 29, 2019
Read this to revisit an old favourite from my childhood. This book is the reason I suddenly wanted a horse for a short while when I was a kid. The book seemed funnier to my adult mind, and it ended way too soon.
June 30, 2018
Beautiful story of young girl meeting older lady and the friendship that happens as she understands and learns from them older lady. Some great moments here. Klein is a great author.
July 12, 2019
This book will always be awesome, no matter how old I get!
February 8, 2015
Revisiting a book that I considered fabulously cool when I was eight or so. Glad to find it's still fantastic and Penny is just as rebellious and determined as I remembered. I picked this up as a conversation reminded me of this book, and well, heck, why not?
The edition I read this time wasn't quite the fabulous original edition I read in primary school, given that book would now be around thirty I daresay any copy in a library has suffered a painful death by now.
Still, good fun to revisit something from my childhood and find it's still got it.
The edition I read this time wasn't quite the fabulous original edition I read in primary school, given that book would now be around thirty I daresay any copy in a library has suffered a painful death by now.
Still, good fun to revisit something from my childhood and find it's still got it.
February 14, 2016
The edition I had of Penny Pollard's Diary featured a swap card with a picture of a horse. Of course, I just had to have it and bought it at the Scholastic book fair in primary school. I remember really liking it because Penny was Australian and there was that immediate connection and familiarity there. It was a very typical middle-grade book for girls that I read countless times. Penny was a cheeky trouble-maker!
February 2, 2015
I loved Penny Pollard books as a kid. I was a goody goody so I really liked reading about the adventures of this cheeky troublemaker. This is the first one and tells the story of the unlikely friendship between Penny and an old lady.
January 26, 2014
This was one of my favourites as a kid. Penny is a wonderful character and I remember badly wishing that I had a cow jug of my own!
October 20, 2015
Can't wait to have one of my reading groups read this! I had forgotten how much fun it was!
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews