Books with author Jean Webster

Alice Jane Chandler Webster, Mrs. McKinney (1876-1916) was an American writer and author of many books published under the pseudonym Jean Webster. In 1897, Webster entered Vassar College as a member of the class of 1901 majoring in English and economics. She was a contributor of stories to the Vassar Miscellany and as part of her sophomore year English class, began writing a weekly column of Vassar news and stories for the Poughkeepsie Sunday Courier. After graduating she began writing When Patty Went to College, in which she described contemporary women's college life. After some struggles finding a publisher, it was issued in March 1903 to good reviews. She then started writing the short stories that would make up Much Ado About Peter (1909), and with her mother visited Italy for the winter of 1903-4 including a 6-week stay in a convent in Palestrina, while she wrote The Wheat Princess. It was subsequently published in 1905. She supported women's suffrage and education for women. Her other works include: Jerry Junior (1907), The Four Pools Mystery (1908), Just Patty (1911), Daddy-Long-Legs (1912) and Dear Enemy (1915).

This is the much-loved tale of Judy Abbott, a lively, endearing young girl growing up in an orphanage. Her dreams of college seem in vain until the unknown benefactor offers to pay for her tuition. The only requirements are that she must write to him every month, and that she can never know who he is. Judy's letters to him about life at college are full of her hopes and dreams, troubles, and a growing friendship with the handsome Jervis Pendleton. With so much going on in her life, Judy can scarcely stop writing, and when she discovers who daddy long-legs is, there is a happily-ever-after surprise.

Daddy-Long-Legs is a 1912 epistolary novel by the American writer Jean Webster. It follows the protagonist, a young girl named Jerusha "Judy" Abbott, through her college years. She writes the letters to her benefactor, a rich man whom she has never seen. Jerusha 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 off a gravestone (she hates it and uses "Judy" instead), while her surname was selected out of the phone book. At the age of 17, she finished her education and is at loose ends, still working in the dormitories at the institution where she was brought up. 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 also 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 will never 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 "girls' college" on the East Coast. 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 orphan asylum, was never exposed.

How is this book unique? Illustrations includedOriginal & Unabridged EditionOne of the best books to readClassic historical fiction booksExtremely well formattedDaddy Long-Legs is a 1912 epistolary novel by the American writer Jean Webster. It follows the protagonist, a young girl named Jerusha "Judy" Abbott, through her college years. She writes the letters to her benefactor, a rich man whom she has never seen.Jerusha Abbott brought up at the John Grier Home, an old-fashioned orphanage. The children were wholly dependent on charity and had to wear other people's cast-off clothes. Jerusha's unusual first name was selected by the matron off a gravestone (she hates it and uses "Judy" instead), while her surname was selected out of the phone book. At the age of 17, she finished her education and is at loose ends, still working in the dormitories at the institution where she was brought up.

Jean Webster (1876-1916) was an American novelist, playwright, and social activist. During the start of the twentieth century (1912), Webster wrote "Daddy-Long-Legs", an epistolary, best-selling novel that she developed into a play. It met with much success, and the characters were sold as dolls, the money from which going to charities to help fund orphan adoptions. In 1915, Webster published the sequel, "Dear Enemy". Written in the same epistolary form, "Dear Enemy" met with best-selling acclaim as well. The novel is unique in that the story is propelled by crude, stick-figure animations, drawn by Webster herself, that add a whimsical air to the social issues addressed, the care of orphans and women's life choices in particular. Sadly, Webster died of childbirth fever in 1916, just a year after the success of "Dear Enemy".

When Patty Went to College is a humorous novel about life in an all-girls' college at the turn of the century. Patty is a happy; fun-loving prankster who defends the weak and uses her clever brain only when it suits her. The end of the novel sees her contemplating life outside of college; and wondering whether her misbehavior will stand her in good stead for it.