Thinking back to the first Mother-Daughter Book Club and Much Ado About Anne, which of the girls do you think has changed the most? Do you have the same favorite character as the first two books, or have you changed your mind?
Have you ever read Daddy-Long-Legs, Dear Enemy, or Just Patty? If you have, did you like them? If not, are you interested in reading them?
Do you know anyone who goes to boarding school? Do you think you would like it, or would you hate to be away from your friends and family like Jess?
Similar to Daddy-Long-Legs, in this book all of the girls get pen pals. Have you ever had a pen pal? What did you write to them about? Did you write snail mail letters, or send e-mails? Have you had the chance to meet your pen pal in person?
Emma is terrified of speaking in public. What fears would you like to conquer?
Savannah volunteers at the local animal shelter. Do you, or does anyone you know, volunteer? What organizations would you be interested in helping?
Megan feels like she is stuck in the middle with her mother and grandmother. Have you ever felt like you were trying to please two people at once?
Jess has a roommate at her new school. Have you ever had to share a room?
Emma, Cassidy, Megan, and Becca go on their class trip to Washington D.C., where they see several famous landmarks and museums. Have you ever been to Washington, D.C.? What would you like to see there?
Emma decides to write an editorial to protest the school uniforms. Is there anything you would like to change about your school? Do you think Emma’s editorial was the best way to ask for change?
Cassidy gets a new baby sister that she didn’t think she wanted, and Megan desperately wants a sibling. Do you have brothers and sisters? Are you the oldest or the youngest? The middle child? Do you get along with them?
If you are an only child, what do you like about it? What don’t you like?
Do you ever babysit? Do you like babysitting? What do you like about it, and what don’t you like as much? Have you ever had to change a diaper?
Do you like trying new kinds of food? What is the most exotic food you’ve sampled?
The girls travel to Wyoming to meet their pen pals. What is the farthest you have traveled?
Do you think Cassidy and Savannah were right to not listen to the adults and send Savannah out into the storm to look for the lost riders? What were the reasons the parents didn’t want Savannah to go? If you were in a similar situation, what do you think you would have done?
Have you performed in a talent show? If so, what did you do? If you haven’t, what do you think your talent would be?
Like Megan with Summer’s quilt, have you ever gotten a present you didn’t know how to repay? Do you think that it’s important to always have a present to give in exchange for a present that you get?
Eventually Jess and Savannah become friends after not getting along. Is there someone that you have given a second chance to that turned out to be a good friend?
Author’s Note
“Mothers and daughters, whether of the old school or the new . . . are recommended to read Jean Webster’s delightfully sparkling and spontaneous little love story, Daddy-Long-Legs.”
—Life magazine (April 10, 1913)
These words, written almost a hundred years ago, ring just as true today as when they were first printed. Jean Webster’s Daddy-Long-Legs was one of those delicious discoveries I made growing up, a book I spotted on a shelf at the library, fell into head over heels, and have loved ever since. Today, one of the especially enjoyable and gratifying aspects of writing the Mother-Daughter Book Club series is getting to highlight treasures like this one, in hopes that readers will want to discover these books for themselves.
And they are! Over the past couple of years I’ve received a steady stream of enthusiastic e-mails and letters from fans, telling me that reading my stories has piqued their curiosity about Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women and Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables. Nothing could make me happier, and I hope the same will be true for Daddy-Long-Legs and Jean Webster’s other wonderful books.
As always, I owe a great many thanks to a great many people who have helped me along the way. Last summer I had the good fortune to visit Vassar College, which was the setting for Daddy-Long-Legs, on a research trip. It’s one of the loveliest campuses I’ve ever seen, and with the kind assistance of Dean Rogers in the Archives and Special Collections Library, I spent a most enjoyable day prowling through Jean’s letters and scrapbooks and photos and other memorabilia. Alexandra Cooper, my intrepid editor at Simon & Schuster, gamely allowed herself to be coaxed out of the office and onto a train to Poughkeepsie to accompany me, and proved an invaluable research companion.
Thanks are also due to the Grossman family, who generously shared their mountain lake retreat with a panicked author as her deadline drew near. (In my research I was cheered to discover that Jean Webster had generous friends of her own, including ones who lent her their home in the Berkshires, where the peace and quiet enabled her to complete Daddy-Long-Legs.)
My agent Barry Goldblatt deserves thanks for always being available for encouragement and wise counsel, as does Helen Quigley and her family for coaching me about all things hockey. My friend Susan Hill Long’s first reader advice is insightful and invaluable, and when I need a break from it all, I know I can count on Suz Blackaby and Rosanne Parry for shop talk and laughs at “Lambucks.” My sisters Lisa Carper and Stefanie Milligan and soul sisters Patty Leeker, Jonatha Wey, Jane Glasser, Sarah Grossman, and Tricia McNeil never fail to astound me with their unconditional love and friendship. Above all, though, my heart overflows with love and gratitude to my husband, Steve—for everything.
ALSO BY HEATHER VOGEL FREDERICK
THE MOTHER-DAUGHTER BOOK CLUB SERIES
The Mother-Daughter Book Club
Much Ado About Anne
Dear Pen Pal
Pies & Prejudice
Home for the Holidays
THE SPY MICE TRILOGY
Spy Mice: The Black Paw
Spy Mice: For Your Paws Only
Spy Mice: Goldwhiskers
Once Upon a Toad
The Voyage of Patience Goodspeed
The Education of Patience Goodspeed
SIMON & SCHUSTER BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS
An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales
are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the
author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales
or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2009 by Heather Vogel Frederick
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