Jerry Junior

Jerry Junior by Jean Webster and Illustrated by Orson Lowell first published in 1907. This book has GORGEOUS illustration by Orson Lowell, which are really the best thing about the book. It is a perfectly nice book, but just not in the same ballpark as Daddy-Long-Legs in terms of originality or interest. The story concerns a rich young American fellow wooing a rich young American girl in Italy by masquerading (poorly; I don’t think he ever fooled ANYONE) as a donkey driver….a picturesque donkey driver. Jean Webster (1876–1916) was an American writer and author of many books including Daddy-Long-Legs and Dear Enemy. Her best-known books feature lively and likeable young female protagonists who come of age intellectually, morally, and socially, but with enough humor, snappy dialogue, and gently biting social commentary to make her books palatable and enjoyable to contemporary readers.