25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not only 2 great books - but a great value!, September 21, 2006
This review is from: Daddy-Long-Legs and Dear Enemy (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)
In Daddy-Long-Legs, Jerusha Abbot is an orphan that gets sent to college by a mysterious trustee that thinks she has a future as an author. The only hint to his identity is the glimpse that Jerusha had of his long legs, as he was leaving. His only request is that she write him a letter once a month (with no hope of ever having a reply). For the next four years, Jerusha learns to be like "other girls", and we watch her grow and mature as she finds her voice.
Dear Enemy, the wonderful sequel, is set after Daddy-Long-Legs, where Jerusha is given the orphanage where she grew up. She enlists her best friend from college (whom we are introduced to in Daddy), Sally, to run the orphanage. Sally, a flighty society girl, is completely changed as she learns to love her orphans and the new life she has chosen to lead.
Both of them are romantic, fun and thoughtful, without the preachy-ness of some of the other girls novels published around the same time.
Best part is that BOTH books are published in this one volume - which is a great deal (and saves room on my already overflowing bookshelf). Footnotes in the back of the book help define some of the terminology/setting of the era.
This is a classic that I read as a child, and I'm so happy to have found it again!
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Great stories but this edition is AWFUL., September 19, 2010
I love Daddy Long Legs and Dear Enemy. They are wonderful stories and great for children, especially girls. I ordered this edition to send to my sister who is 14 for her birthday. When the book arrived I flipped through it - and was surprised and upset to find that there are no pictures in this edition! Jean Webster's original editions include drawings from her characters that are cute and truly add to the story being told. Instead, this book has something written like "This is me, herding cows (2)." There is no index in the back for the drawings, they are just missing. This is truly sad - the pictures are a big and fun part of the story. So I'm returning this edition on account of its lameness.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Just like old times, July 24, 2008
This review is from: Daddy-Long-Legs and Dear Enemy (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)
After watching the latest movie of Daddy-Long-Legs (Fred Astaire and Leslie Caron), I had to reread my old favorite and was delighted to find the book at Amazon combining it and Dear Enemy. It was even more delightful than I remembered, probably because I understood a lot more of the humor. I recommend it to anyone from 10 to 80 who likes a nice story about nice people! Written in 1914, it portrays a different world than ours. Written as letters, it's just plain fun. I first got it from an elderly friend of my mother's, probably in the 1930s, and have read it at least half a dozen times. Enjoy!
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