Monday, October 1, 2012  Voice, character growth, and Daddy Long
Legs  I just finished reading Daddy Long Legs, by Jean Webster,
published in 1912, to my girls. The story: Jerusha "Judy" Abbott
is an orphan. A trustee of the John Grier Hall finds her snarky
high school essay on trustee visiting day at the home amusing,
and on a whim, decides to send her to college. He's done it a
few times before for boys, but never girls. His conditions: she
will write a monthly letter, letting him know how things are
going and what she's learning. He will pay for college and send
her money, but will never reveal his name or anything about him.
She is to call him Mr. Smith. All Judy knows is that he's rich,
he apparently dislikes girls, and he is tall (she saw his shadow
around the corner as he left that day). So she calls him Daddy
Long Legs, and writes funny letters about what she's learning,
the extent to which she tries to hide her true origins (because
in 1912, the girls who are in college are definitely not people
who