4 h 20 minAudiobook7 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens when a quick-witted college girl treats every rule as an invitation to test its limits?
Patty Wyatt has plenty of energy for college, though studying is only part of her plan. With her close friend Priscilla beside her, she turns campus life into a string of schemes and adventures. Classmates bring friendship and rivalry; teachers and officials try to keep order when Patty sees another chance for mischief.
In When Patty Went to College, Jean Webster draws on the dormitories, lectures and friendships she knows from Vassar College. Short, funny episodes take the place of one tightly built plot. Beneath the jokes lies a warmer question: how do young women make an education their own while learning to think for themselves?
What you’ll discover
- A mind for mischief Meet a restless heroine whose sharp wit turns rules into possibilities for another scheme.
- Friendship at the center Follow Patty and Priscilla through shared days, lively plans and the pleasures of close companionship.
- Campus rivalries and loyalties Step into a college world where classmates supply both allies and targets for cheerful mischief.
- High spirits meet authority Watch teachers and officials try to hold the line against Patty's appetite for adventure.
- More beneath the laughter Discover young women taking education seriously without surrendering their jokes, friendships or independence of mind.
Who will love it
For readers who love light, humorous fiction, school and college stories, campus friendships and mischievous heroines, or the early work of Jean Webster.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Patty is a student who tests the rules
- Friendship makes college life bearable and fun
- Pranks and schemes drive the episodes
- Authority pushes back, with limits
- What the story is really about
- How Webster tells it, and what to watch
Who’s who
- Patty WyattA quick-witted college girl who loves jokes and schemes and tests every rule she meets.
- PriscillaPatty's close friend and companion, who shares her days, her plans and many of her adventures.
- Patty's classmatesA varied group of young women whose rivalries and loyalties fill the campus with talk and mischief.
- The college facultyThe teachers and officials who try to keep order and often find Patty a puzzle.
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- Audiobook
- 4 h 20 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
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- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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Quando Patty andò al college
by Jean Webster · 1903
Patty tests every rule at a women's college, where friendship and mischief bring her into clashes with authority.
Medium level2–5 hours to read25 languages
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In short
When Patty Went to College is the first novel by Jean Webster, published in 1903. Webster wrote it soon after she left Vassar College, where she had been a lively and well-liked student.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Patty is a student who tests the rules
At the center of the book stands Patty, a girl with a sharp wit and a great deal of energy. She enters college not as a timid newcomer but as someone ready to enjoy herself and to leave a mark. Webster gives her a voice that is quick, playful and a little daring, and that voice carries the whole book.
Patty does not hate learning, but she cannot take it solemnly. Lectures, examinations and dignified teachers are all material for her humor. She notices the odd habits of people around her and cannot resist commenting on them. This makes her good company on the page, and it also makes her a problem for anyone who wants a quiet campus.
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What is When Patty Went to College about?
It is a comic novel about Patty, a clever and mischievous student at a women's college. Through short episodes it shows her friendships, pranks and run-ins with teachers during her college years.
Who wrote When Patty Went to College and when?
Jean Webster wrote it, and it was published in 1903. It was her first novel, written soon after she graduated from Vassar College, whose campus life shaped the setting.
Is When Patty Went to College a true story?
It is fiction, but it draws on Webster's own experience as a college student. The characters and events are invented, while the atmosphere of campus life comes from her real surroundings.
The author
Jean Webster
1876–1916 · American novelist
Jean Webster was the pen name of Alice Jane Chandler Webster, an American novelist born in Fredonia, New York, in 1876. She later lived in New York City, where she died in 1916. Her novels include When Patty Went to College (1903), Daddy-Long-Legs (1912), and Dear Enemy (1915).
More by Jean Webster
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