Daddy Long-Legs: Large Print Paperback – Large Print, November 30, 2019

I love this book.  I've read it a dozen times, maybe more, and was bereft when I couldn't find it in my stacks recently.  So when it was a freebie through Early Bird Books, I jumped at the chance to have a digital copy at least.  Though I admit i approached it with trepidation last night.  I'd just finished a book I didn't really care much for, and after rereading A Wrinkle in Time and finding that it didn't really live up to my memories, I feared that I might be setting myself up for more disappointment.And in fact, there was one, which I will discuss later in the review.  But the story itself? Still captivating.  The characters, all seen through the eyes of the narrator, Judy Abbott, are both amusing and quite human. She -- Judy/Jean Webster -- has an eye for human silliness, but a forgiving one.  It's a humane book that made me smile and gave me some warm fuzzies when I needed them.It's the story of an orphan who is sent to college by an anonymous benefactor on the condition that she writes him one letter a month to let him see how she's progressing.  But Judy, who has been an orphan since babyhood, and was raised in an orphanage, is hungry for some kind of familial contact, so she creates a kind of grandfather/father/uncle figure in her mind, and addresses her benefactor as "Daddy Long-Legs," since all she knows about his is that he's tall and wealthy.Her letters are warm, rich, and amusing, and it's easy to fall in love with a girl who is in the process of falling in love with the whole world, a world she couldn't even imagine growing up as she did. I could read Judy's adventures all day, and recommend this book as a balm to treat weltschmerz.  Five stars for the story.Alas, three stars for the Open Road Media Young Readers version.  The original is filled with charming drawings, but Open Road didn't include any of them.  Or rather, they included exactly ONE. Why they chose to do that is beyond me.  It's either weird or it's sloppy, but that one illustration really irritated me.  I wasn't happy that all the rest were gone, but had there been some consistency I'd have shrugged and thought "Oh well."  But including one of them meant that including them all wouldn't have been a problem, and they just decided not to bother.So I'm happy to have the text, but I would recommend a different digital version.

I wanted to read something light and fun after breaking my heart with "Lily and the Octopus," and I chose "Daddy-Long-Legs" by Jean Webster. It was published in 1912 and is about a girl raised in an orphan "asylum," who is surprised to learn that she's been chosen by an anonymous benefactor, one of the asylum's trustees, to receive a college education, complete with a generous monthly allowance. Because she is not told the true name of her benefactor and has surmised only that he's tall, from a brief glimpse of him from behind, she has decided to call him Daddy-Long-Legs. As part of the arrangement, she's required to write at least monthly letters describing her educational and social progress. The story is told through her letters. The language, the humor, the sheer goodness of the letter-writer all work together to make this a delightful read. Here are a couple of passages I especially enjoyed:"The crows in the pine trees are making such a clamour! It's an intoxicating, exhilarating, calling noise. You want to close your books and be off over the hills to race with the wind."Regarding her visit to New York: "But aren't the streets entertaining? And the people? And the shops? I never saw such lovely things as there are in the windows. It makes you want to devote your life to wearing clothes."

This version reads like a computer translation from a foreign language. As the author is American, this seems highly unlikely. One example is the first sentence of 20 Jan of her second year of college: "Did you ever have a sweet infant woman who changes into stolen from the cradle in infancy?" What is that supposed to mean?? This reference is at 43% into the book, location 1234. That's not the worst example, it is just one from where I happen to be reading it (or trying to read it).

I love the story and wanted to give a copy to a friend. This edition -- by this publisher -- appears to be photocopied from another text, with no illustrations. Small type and big margins. It's a cheap reprint, that will spoil the book for new readers. Get it from a different publisher.

This is different from most books I've read and I wasn't sure about the format at first, but J. Webster does a good job with providing enough details in each letter to make the story interesting. I like how Judy's language matures throughout the book so you sense her growth and change as she discovers who she is and who she wishes to be. Looking around before reading this for a book club, the age suggestion was for grade 6-8 but the vocabulary seems to be too advanced for most 12-14 year olds unless they are well read and need the challenge. Other than that, the plot was unique and comical reading of her experiences. I find that she is very relatable and that she is a great example of optimism despite her struggles and fears. I also enjoyed watching her frustration over who DLL is even though the reader begins to figure it out halfway through. Some people don't like that and normally I don't either, but this was well done. It's a fairly quick read, though it did take longer than I expected it to. I'd definitely recommend this to others.

Wrong words, bad grammar, does not make sense, broken up all weird. I wish I had read the bad reviews before I bout this piece of garbage. What a travesty to do to such a wonderful story.

I read this as a kid and my sister reminded me how much I loved it and suggested I read it now.It's the story of an orphan who gets the chance to go to college thanks to a generous benefactor. It was published in 1912 but somehow does not feel overly dated!!I loved it again! This is not necessarily just a kids book in that the narrator is a college student. I love the structure of writing the book as a series of letters. I am so glad I read it again after all this time!

I down-loaded and re-read this beautiful book during a bout of insomnia to give myself a gentle read. The epistolary style made it seem particularly attractive. After all, I could break off at any point and go back to bed... I discovered that actually one of the elements of this book that makes it particularly compelling is the fact that one can always read just one more letter!Although often regarded as a children's book, there is plenty for adults. It is lovely to watch Judy grow in confidence both in her new surroundings and in her relationship with her patron, in addition to seeing her develop intellectually as time and her course progress. Looking back on one's own college / university education also gives a different perspective to a childhood or teenage reading of the book. I am delighted that I revisited it!At least one review comments that a lack of illustrations spoils the book. I agree that this would be the case, since they are an integral part of the letters in which they occur. In my illustrated edition (clearly indicated as such) I found the line drawings and Judy's annotations were clear in the Kindle format. As the reviews relate to the title rather than the specific edition, it is the one with the 'Daddy Long Legs' figure silhouetted against a fence.

I've read Daddylonglegs at least 4 times but I've mislaid my original 1920s copy so I downloaded a Kindle version and am most disappointed. In the Kindle version you can't enjoy the drawings as they are not included. Also the version I downloaded does not actually make sense. The words are in the wrong order. It's illegible and unreadable.PS It's a beautiful little book which always soothes me when I'm sad. The Kindle version has made me mad!

I was so pleased to find this as a Kindle deal...a book I had been given by my librarian when I was maybe about 12...it is a coming of age novel that is quite enchanting. I rarely re-read books but this has stood the test of time...more than 50 years later I have thoroughly enjoyed the portrait of a young 17 year old from an orphanage taking her first steps into a wider world and the discovery of herself as a person within it.I have now bought the kindle collected works and shall explore Jean Webster's other works

I do remember reading this when I was a young adult, but decided to read it again and I was not disappointed. It is a great story. I am not one for reading a lot of classics, but I would recommend this one. It is about a young girl who has been in an orphanage most of her life. She is then given the chance to go to college but is not allowed to know who is sponsoring her. The book is all the letters that she writes to her sponsor who she calls Daddy Long Legs. I loved the writing style and the language used in the book. There were so many wonderful quotes, that I had to write a lot of them down to remember them. Well worth the read.

There's something wrong with this edition - as if it has been backtranslated by machine from another language...words completely in the wrong order, incorrect words chosen, something has gone desperately wrong with this file. Don't waste your money