Daddy Long Legs

by Jean Webster

This is an old book, a classic that is now often categorized as YA or even children's literature.. We do not have a copy of this book in the library, but I think I am going to buy one. It was truly an entertaining read and could well be adapted to modern times. Maybe I will do that in fact. But for now I will just review it for you.

It's a story about Jerusha Abbott who was brought up in an orphanage. Jerusha is a bit to imaginative for a proper girl in the earliest part of the 1900s. When she turns 18 she really has no where to go and is kept on in the employ of the orphanage until one of the trustees offers to pay her way through college and give a monthly allowance because, known only as John Smith, believes she has great potential as a writer. She is required to write to him monthly and told not to expect correspondence from him.

The story is told through the letters she writes to him. First off she renames herself, Judy at college and nicknames her benefactor 'Daddy Long Legs.' Many of her letters are preoccupied with imagining who he is and what he looks like and asking for an occasional response. She gets one of two responses over the many years she writes, but never any information about him.

The letters are very funny and sometimes silly, nothing like you would imagine from a young woman of that time. Except for the language you would expect the same letters from a young woman today. I could imagine Audrey Hepburn as the character of Judy. In my mind she is one of those silly, slightly awkard, and very unconventional girls that Hepburn so often played in films. I was completely amused by her imaginings and descriptions of college life. And there is of course, a little vein of a love story with in the book and the mystery of who her John Smith truly is.

The book is not long and is a very simple and quick read. I definitely recommend it to just about anyone who wants a light, funny story to pass the time.

There were many film adaptations of this book as well, including on with Fred Astaire, that apparently was very far off from the original story. I have requested a copy of the movie and will review it as well.