Daddy-Long-Legs (novel)

Jerusha "Judy" Abbott was brought up at the John Grier Home, an old-fashioned orphanage. The children were completely dependent on charity and had to wear other people's cast-off clothes. 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.

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. He has spoken to her former teachers and thinks she has potential to become an excellent writer. He will pay her tuition and give her a generous monthly allowance. Judy must write him a monthly letter because he believes that letter-writing is important to the development of a writer. However, she will never know his identity; she must address the letters to Mr. John Smith, and he never will reply.

Judy catches a glimpse of the shadow of her benefactor from the back, and knows he is a tall long-legged man. Because of this, she jokingly calls him Daddy-Long-Legs. She attends a women’s college on the East Coast of the United States. She illustrates her letters with childlike line drawings, also created by Jean Webster.

The book chronicles Judy's educational, personal, and social growth. One of the first things she does at college is to change her name to Judy. 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.

During 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.

Afterwards, Judy graduates from college and is pursuing her dream to become a writer. However, Julia's uncle Jervis proposes to Judy and she refuses because someone like her wouldn't be good enough to marry a Pendleton. After this, Jervis catches a deadly illness during his travel at Canada. Meanwhile, Judy is excited to be invited to meet Daddy Long-Legs in New York City. When she arrives, she discovers that Jervis is Daddy Long-Legs. She reconsiders the proposal and accepts Jervis to be her husband.

Jerusha Abbott - Although she came from John Grier Home, an orphanage, she entered college

Sallie McBride - Judy's college friend

Julia Rutledge Pendleton - Judy's college friend and Jervis's niece

Jervis Pendleton who is eventually revealed to be Judy's benefactor

Jimmy McBride - Sallie's older brother

Daddy Longlegs - The mysterious man that sent Judy Abbot to college and financially supported her

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. These books predated the contemporary view of adolescence. Other authors who wrote in this vein include L. M. Montgomery and Louisa May Alcott. In Georgina Castle Smith's children's novel Nothing to Nobody (1873), Daddy Long Legs [sic] is the name of the orphaned urchin who receives the assistance.^[3]

Daddy-Long-Legs still receives good reviews.^[4] 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. 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. Judy's being an orphan makes her sympathetic and allows for more room for her to learn and grow while in college, reviewers note.^[4]