Let's get this out of the way first: I don't like Jean Webster's books. The only one I've read in recent memory was DADDY-LONG-LEGS, and it didn't work for me. The fact that the girls all loved it, then, didn't exactly ring true, though I was not bothered by the girls being unanimous in their enjoyment of LITTLE WOMEN or ANNE OF GREEN GABLES. I had a hard time keeping the voices straight in this one, and I couldn't tell one pen pal from the other, even after the real-life pen pals came on stage. The situations seemed real enough, what with lots of conflict and even more drama. One roots for these girls to find their way. And the grandmothers, both "real" and adopted, are my favorite characters by a mile.