Her fictional novels often follow the same formula as the Pollyanna or Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm series, in which a young girl, often an orphan, tries to improve the lives of adults through pluck and daring.

[1] How Could You, Jean?, the most famous of the films, was directed by William Desmond Taylor and starred Mary Pickford.

[2] Many of Eleanor's novels were written in East Hampton, Connecticut, at her “Faraway Farm” retreat.

[3] In 1904 she married attorney Charles Chisholm Brainerd, the nephew of the well-known writer Margaret Elizabeth Sangster.

[4] Charles and Eleanor retired to Pasadena, California and are buried in Oakland Cemetery, Iowa City.