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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/35515
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/35515
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

For some time now I've been curious about how to classify a small group of literary works. They include _The Secret Garden_, _Polyanna_, and to a lesser extent _Anne of Green Gables_. I'm sure there are others, but I haven't read them. While I personally am not planning on writing such a story, I feel that it would be useful to those who are, to know what to call their work. This will help in the publishing field.

While the events can differ quite a bit, these stories all seem to follow the same general idea: a young child (in these instances always a girl) is sent to live with people who are solitary, dark, brooding, unfriendly, etc. Throughout the story she brings some manner of light to their lives, as well as a changing cast of side characters. Below I've broken down each story to further show this common outline.

My question is this: Is there a term for these stories? Is this perhaps a sort of subgenre with an actual name? If you wanted to publish a story like these today, how would you pitch it?

You _could_ say they are all coming of age stories, but I personally think that's a bit of a stretch. _Anne of Green Gables_ certainly is a coming of age story, but the other two aren't. _The Secret Garden_ does change the main character by the end, but that's not really a coming of age story (unless I misunderstand the genre definition). _Polyanna_ changes only the people about the main character, and certainly isn't a coming of age story.

* * *

Breakdown of examples: Note that these are essentially very brief synopses, so do not read if you haven't read the books.

_The Secret Garden_

> _The Secret Garden_ is about a young girl, Mary, who comes to live with her uncle (grandfather?) in England. Her uncle is always away, brooding over the death of his late wife, but Mary quickly discovers he has a son, bedridden and in a constant state of believing he will die. The boy does in fact just need sunlight and exercise, and Mary eventually convinces him to visit the secret garden she has discovered. Mary's uncle returns to his home to find his son cured, and light re-enters his life.

_Anne of Green Gables_

> In this tale, a young girl is adopted by an old couple. She was in fact adopted by accident, and at first the new parents try to send her back. She is there to stay however, and they soon come to love her. Probably more of coming of age story than the other two, but the basic pattern is still there.

_Polyanna_

> Probably the best example of the pattern, _Polyanna_ is about a girl who comes to live with a lady (cannot remember how; it's been awhile since I read it). The lady, as well as plenty of side characters, are all stuck in their lives in some fasion, focusing inward on themselves, instead of seeing all the life about them. Throughout the book, Polyanna gets them all unstuck.

Original score: 4