Pollyanna Grows Up is the first sequel to Pollyanna, and the only one written by Porter herself. Numerous following sequels have been written by various authors. Pollyanna's crippling spinal injury has been cured, and she begins to teach a new town the "glad game". She makes many friends and two of her childhood friends, Jimmy and Jamie, court her. Jimmy is an energetic, healthy young architect and Jamie is a crippled literary genius. Jimmy also discovers secrets of his past.