Also in Looking Glass Library. Also by Jean Webster. Product Details. Inspired by Your Browsing History. Fog Magic. Julia L. Clair de Lune. Cassandra Golds. Eight Princesses and a Magic Mirror. Natasha Farrant. Chronicles of Avonlea. Lewis Carroll. The Happy Prince and Other Stories.
Hans Christian Andersen. On Christmas Eve. Ann M. Rose in Bloom. Louisa May Alcott. The downside is that it is one sided.
When the world should have widened it cut off. Daddy Long Legs ends too soon and footnotes the growing up past the newness. Sometimes people tell themselves things. Jerusha tells herself she's over her past of being an orphan. She's not, it made her who she was. The telling and back and forth on that felt like a nervous tic, something to do with your hands when nervous, that one cannot disguise.
Other things, being "grateful" and learning to smile through tedium was telling. Who wants to read a self help book? Letters should be like talking to yourself and to someone you care about at the same time. Mantras are not going to keep The Beatles from splitting up. Yeah, yeah it was written eons ago. She marries a bossy man who "knows what's best" for her. If I were her friend getting letters about this guy I'd not worry about her because she knows when she's taken advantage of and told to be grateful like the mistress of the asylum she tries to scorn with tongue and cheek but cannot help biting the insides of her cheeks not to scream.
I didn't fall in love with her. I'd have written back and asked questions. Maybe then. Can you believe that I used to be a letter writer?
Shared correspondence is a good place for sad wonderers who want to know. Daddy waited too long to write letters he does eventually, as Jervis. We don't get to read them. He could get to be warm too. It could have been worse. I have the Jabba playset somewhere too!
But I am not posing in a bikini. The movie version stars Fred Astaire as Daddy. I've not seen it yet. Astaire was movie star playing a movie star kind of guy to me. I never warmed or really wondered about him. Coughs except for a bio I read for a project many years ago.
Don't remember any of it! Leslie Caron was annoying in that movie she did with Kirk Douglas. She's Jerusha. I'll probably hate her. There's also a sequel, Dear Enemy, that sounds awful. I did like My Dearest Enemy which sounds like it was influenced by the awful sounding book. Most optimistic orphans: 1. Pollyanna 2. Little Orphan Annie 3.
Anne of Green Gables 4. Jerusha 5. Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm I only know the name. Maybe she is sunnier? Shirley Temple was insane. My mom had dolls of her in all of her movie incarnations. I had to look at them while she pestered me to be more upbeat. That's like glass half empty. Goodreads says Webster was great-niece to Mark Twain. Did she sit around quoting him a lot?
Did she say "My great-uncle Mark Twain said Sep 03, Werner rated it really liked it Recommends it for: Fans of early 20th-century general fiction. Recommended to Werner by: It was a common read in one of my groups. Shelves: general-fiction , classics. Note, Sept. Before this book was nominated as a common read in my Vintage Tales group, I'd never even heard of it, or of Jean Webster Going into it, my expectations weren't particularly high.
As it turned out, though, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the reading experience! Though not well-known today, Webster wrote roughly a score of books in her short lifetime she died on the cusp of Note, Sept. Though not well-known today, Webster wrote roughly a score of books in her short lifetime she died on the cusp of From this book, it's clear that she belongs to the Realist tradition --though, unlike the regionalist Realists of that day, she doesn't at least here go in for a sense of place or regional dialect; the geographic location of the orphanage where foundling Jerusha "Judy" Abbott grows up, and of the women's college she eventually attends, are left indeterminate.
The premise here, in some ways though not others , is similar to a distaff version of Great Expectations : a disadvantaged adolescent is befriended and raised in station by an anonymous benefactor, whose deliberately concealed identity creates an element of mystery; she knows only that he's a trustee of the orphanage. The book title comes from his tall frame and long limbs which, on the one occasion at the beginning of the book where she caught a passing glimpse of his back, made his shadow resemble a daddy-long-legs.
Unlike Pip's benefactor, however, Judy's influenced by reports from her teachers that she's intelligent and has writing talent puts most of his benevolence into educating her rather than showering her with spending money, though she gets a decent amount of the latter. Most of the book is written in the epistolary style, consisting of letters written by Judy to the eponymous "Daddy-Long-Legs," as directed by the terms of her arrangement with him --which also stipulate that he won't reply to her, so it's a one-sided correspondence.
Epistolary novels fell out of favor later in the 20th-century, and may have an unfamiliar feel to a generation that seldom writes paper letters. But it's also a wonderful character study of a thoroughly likable, infectiously enthusiastic girl who's apt to steal your heart. Yes, she has her moments in the dumps, too, and times when she can be tactless; that just means she's human like the rest of us. She IS a college girl, though, learning a college girl's vocabulary, so there are occasional big words here.
If one or two are unfamiliar to a reader, it's just a chance to build ones' own vocabulary! Naturally, being a different person than Judy is, I didn't agree with all of her opinions. My religious attitudes are different from her essentially secular ones though I'm no more enamored of the grim, handed-down Puritanism of rural New England than she is! But her attitudes are realistic for a young person of her background, being college-educated in the height of the Progressive era; and in many of the ways that she looks at life, I can recognize that she's wise and perceptive.
Many readers will tumble onto a particular plot point much sooner than Judy does I did, for instance, --but no spoiler here! But I don't see this as a defect; it imparts an added element of fun to the book if we're in on something Judy doesn't know. Since the usual treatment for tonsillitis is amputation, it's hard to picture her having it twice; and it's also hard to imagine a high school graduate not knowing that Shelley was a poet, or that Henry VIII was married more than once.
But these are minor quibbles. My main problem with the book which cost it the fifth star is the fact that for me, Judy's benefactor came across as a bit too distant, with his policy of strict secrecy about his identity and refusal to answer her letters, and too bossy and controlling at several junctures. He communicates his wishes through his secretary. To her credit, though, she defies his bossiness on a couple of points, and makes her own decision!
The whole situation, of course, becomes more complicated than it starts out; and if our title character had handled the arrangement more sensibly, the book wouldn't have the same distinctive feel and flavor.
But to me, it was still a bit off-putting. That didn't keep me from really liking the book! Webster wrote a sequel to this novel, Dear Enemy. At this point, I wouldn't seek it out as such --I'm trying not to get sucked into more commitments to series and sequels right now. But if I ran across a copy of it, I'd give it a read!
View all 13 comments. Shelves: wishlist-for-dtbs-to-keep , lolz , young-adult-teen , read-in , classics , read-on-kindle. I found Daddy-Long-Legs courtesy of the lovely ladies over at Young Adult Anonymous and then devoured it in one sitting. The conditions of receiving the monetary support are that he will remain anonymous as such, Judy calls him many things but most often Daddy-Long-Leg I found Daddy-Long-Legs courtesy of the lovely ladies over at Young Adult Anonymous and then devoured it in one sitting.
The conditions of receiving the monetary support are that he will remain anonymous as such, Judy calls him many things but most often Daddy-Long-Legs because she's only seen him once in shadow against a wall and he looked tall and thin and that she write him monthly letters.
Fans of epistolary fiction will love this, as well as Anne-girl fans, because Judy is spunky, hilarious, and outspoken in an Anne of Green Gables way. After a while I wanted the story to get to the point, though I never really tired of Judy's voice.
Once the endgame of the author becomes clear, it is funny to see the actions of Judy and her benefactor change. I also think this book would appeal to fans of movies like Meet Me In St. Louis and the older versions of Cheaper by the Dozen. The descriptions of the homes, families, clothes, and such really made me picture those movies I've seen time and time again.
I feel kind of like a badass that I placed both those movies in the same time period as Daddy-Long Legs before looking the dates up. This mini-review was part of a series of 7 mini-reviews of short YA books I wrote for a post over at our blog, The Readventurer. View all 7 comments. Shelves: i-recommend , all-time-fav , golden-sparks , movie-first , cover , underhrs , nostalgia , reviews , favorite , I actually liked this journal-like book about the ordinary life of the main character.
I cried during the last letter, even though I knew the ending all along. I loved it. I've been reading comments here and there about how this book is not that good and the central relationship is creepy and it is anti-feminist.
Well, of course if you think it's not that good, that's your prerogative; I won't go that far; but I don't understand, either. This book is amazing. Judy is so completely accessible, and her roommates and college friends are so funny. But she isn't happy all the time, and she isn't fake; she has days of deep depression, as you might expect from someone with her upbringing.
I loved it every time I read it when I was a kid, but then when I went to college and reread it, I appreciated it even more; because lots of what Judy experienced, I identified with, though on a different level--my educational background was also different from most of my classmates, I also felt like I had to watch what I said about pre-college life because I quickly found that people didn't get it, and I also wasn't used to having my own money to spend my own fault, because I never worked in high school.
The relationship between Jervis and Judy this is why it's under a spoiler; I've been annoyed by people spoiling this to people who haven't read it, too could seem creepy if one only looked at it on a shallow level, and with 21st century eyes.
For one thing, he wasn't THAT old. It doesn't seem like an age difference that would have been creepy at the time, and I actually have met a few couples with similar age differences today. For another, she got to know him on normal terms; it wasn't like he was grooming her or anything--it wasn't GIGI.
Or whatever. Finally, it is so not anti-feminist. I guess it bothers some people that she gets married right out of college and never "does" anything with her education, and that Jervis tells her what to do. She calls him on it, thoroughly. He learns his lesson. And one can only assume that after they're married, they continue with all the philanthropy that refurbishing of the John Grier Home in the second book wasn't cheap. The odd thing is, I've had difficulty convincing people of it.
View all 14 comments. Mar 22, Susan's Reviews rated it it was amazing. Judy and Jervis will live forever in my heart - I believe this was the first serious "romantic" novel that I read in middle school and reread in high school!
You can pick up many of Jean Websters books for free on Amazon. Highly recommended! Shelves: omiljene-knjige , ebooks. Relived one of my favorite childhood cartoons with this one, it was such a light and good read, exactly what you need when the exams are around the corner and you need something funny to lift your mood. I would recommend this for women and girls who like chick-lit books.
As for the characters I loved each and every one; Judy Abbott A super cheerful orphan girl who got a scholarship to continue her Relived one of my favorite childhood cartoons with this one, it was such a light and good read, exactly what you need when the exams are around the corner and you need something funny to lift your mood. As for the characters I loved each and every one; Judy Abbott A super cheerful orphan girl who got a scholarship to continue her studies in one of the finest high schools in Washington D.
Used Condition: Fair. First edition copy. No Dust Jacket Slightly dampstained. Young Adult Fiction, literature, Epistolary Fiction. Dust Jacket Condition: Fair. First Photoplay Edition. First photoplay edition, , copyright which is the original publication date of the book, well before the motion picture. Green hardcover with endpapers, frontis and additional black and white plates from motion picture photos, color illustrated dustjacket. The book is in very good condition with a slightly faded area to the spine corresponding with a dustjacket chip, good hinges, firm text block, clean pages, no names or other markings.
The mylar protected dustjacket is a little age-yellowed with chips to the spine ends, other wear, some old tape repairs to the reverse side, overall design and lettering except for the spine complete and in good to very good condition.
Hard Cover. Decor Designers Henry Thayer, Etc. Original blue, green and white cloth with floral designs on spine and cover. An attractive oldie, clean, tight and unmarked. Webster, Jean; Ardizzone, Edward Illustrator. Published by Meredith Press, New York, Used - Hardcover Condition: Very Good-. Condition: Very Good-. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. Illustrated by Edward Ardizzone illustrator. First Edition Thus. Text is clea. Cover shows light normal wear.
Two small spots on dedication page. Dust jacket shows normal edgewear. Previous owner notes on front free endpaper and top of front flap of DJ. Dust jacket shows original release price. Published by Brockhampton Press, Leicester, Condition: Near Very Good. Edward Ardizzone illustrator. First edition first printing thus Octavo hardback. Illustrated Brown marks on end papers left by removed selotape otherwise Near Very Good condition in Near Very Good price-clipped dust jacket now in transparent protective sleeve Previous owner's book plate on front end paper.
From Australia to U. Dust Jacket Condition: No dust jacket. A firm, book, edges slighty dusty. Scan available. Webster, Jean - line drawings illustrator. First Edition, Light external wear. No markings, binding tight, clean, white and bright.
Decorative blue cloth with yellow lettering to front board and spine. In Mylar protector. Her best-known books feature lively and likable young female protagonists who come of age intellectually, morally, and socially, but with enough humor, snappy dialogue, and gently biting social commentary to make her books palatable and enjoyable to contemporary readers. Photoplay Edition. A Photoplay edition. Thursday afternoon.
Just one last note before you begin your reading adventure. First of all, Judy Abbott is a very funny narrator and her letters will make you laugh.
Reprinted with the permission of Random House Children's Books. Jean Webster. The Millions. Sign up for our Children's Bookshelf newsletter!
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