Daddy-Long-Legs

Judy caught only a glimpse of her benefactor's long, thin shadow on the wall, so she nicknames him Daddy-Long-Legs. Her letters, decorated with her own funny little drawings, describe her first experiences of ordinary life: choosing clothes, making friends, reading the books everyone else already knows and discovering that she is clever and funny. Her friends Sallie and Julia, and Julia's charming uncle Jervis, become important parts of her new world.

Over four years Judy grows from an anxious orphan into a confident young woman with strong opinions about education, independence and fairness. She spends summers on a farm in the countryside and begins to write stories of her own. The letter format makes her voice delightfully immediate, and her humour is still fresh more than a century later. The ending contains a gentle surprise that many readers guess before Judy does. Some attitudes reflect the time, but her spirit feels modern.

Charming, funny and uplifting, followed by a sequel, Dear Enemy. It is short enough to read in an afternoon and has been loved by generations of readers, many of whom go back to it again and again. About 208 pages in the Puffin Classics paperback.