Judy's being an orphan makes her sympathetic and allows for more room for her to learn and grow while in college, reviewers note. Reviewers also note that people tend to be attracted to orphans and orphanages, especially now that they have been mythologized in fiction such as Little Orphan Annie. Reviewers comment on its relatability to a wide variety of audiences and unique nature in comparison to other modern books' – it isn't filled with action or melodrama, but rather just regular life. Īdvertisement of Jean Webster's novel Daddy-Long-Legs Current reception ĭaddy-Long-Legs still receives good reviews. In Georgina Castle Smith's children's novel Nothing to Nobody (1873), Daddy Long Legs is the name of the orphaned urchin who receives the assistance. Other authors who wrote in this vein include L. These books predated the contemporary view of adolescence.

The book is dedicated 'To You.' Today this book is often classified as children's literature, but at the time it was part of a trend of 'girl' or 'college girl' books which featured young female protagonists dealing with post-high-school concerns such as college, career, and marriage. She designs a rigorous reading program for herself and struggles to gain the basic cultural knowledge to which she, growing up in the bleak environment of the orphanage, never was exposed.ĭuring her stay, she befriends Sallie McBride (the most entertaining person in the world) and Julia Rutledge Pendleton (the least so) and sups with them and Leonora Fenton. One of the first things she does at college is to change her name to Judy. The book chronicles Judy's educational, personal, and social growth. She illustrates her letters with childlike line drawings, also created by Jean Webster. She attends a 'girls college' on the East Coast. Because of this, she jokingly calls him Daddy-Long-Legs. Judy catches a glimpse of the shadow of her benefactor from the back, and knows he is a tall long-legged man. However, she will never know his identity she must address the letters to Mr. Judy must write him a monthly letter because he believes that letter-writing is important to the development of a writer. He will pay her tuition and give her a generous monthly allowance.

He has spoken to her former teachers and thinks she has potential to become an excellent writer. One day, after the asylum's trustees have made their monthly visit, Judy is informed by the asylum's dour matron that one of the trustees has offered to pay her way through college. Jerusha's unusual first name was selected by the matron from a gravestone (she hates it and uses 'Judy' instead), while her surname was selected out of the phone book. The children were completely dependent on charity and had to wear other people's cast-off clothes. Jerusha Abbott was brought up at the John Grier Home, an old-fashioned orphanage. It follows the protagonist, Jerusha 'Judy' Abbott, as she leaves an orphanage and is sent to college by a benefactor whom she has never seen. Daddy-Long-Legs is a 1912 epistolary novel by the American writer Jean Webster.

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