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Little Women (Junior Classics for Young Readers) by Louisa May Alcott (January 1, 2009) Paperback

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About the author

Louisa May Alcott

4,122 books10.6k followers
Louisa May Alcott was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet best known for writing the novel Little Women (1868) and its sequels Good Wives (1869), Little Men (1871) and Jo's Boys (1886). Raised in New England by her transcendentalist parents, Abigail May Alcott and Amos Bronson Alcott, she grew up among many well-known intellectuals of the day, including Margaret Fuller, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry David Thoreau, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Alcott's family suffered from financial difficulties, and while she worked to help support the family from an early age, she also sought an outlet in writing. She began to receive critical success for her writing in the 1860s. Early in her career, she sometimes used pen names such as A.M. Barnard, under which she wrote lurid short stories and sensation novels for adults that focused on passion and revenge.
Published in 1868, Little Women is set in the Alcott family home, Orchard House, in Concord, Massachusetts, and is loosely based on Alcott's childhood experiences with her three sisters, Abigail May Alcott Nieriker, Elizabeth Sewall Alcott, and Anna Bronson Alcott Pratt. The novel was well-received at the time and is still popular today among both children and adults. It has been adapted for stage plays, films, and television many times.
Alcott was an abolitionist and a feminist and remained unmarried throughout her life. She also spent her life active in reform movements such as temperance and women's suffrage. She died from a stroke in Boston on March 6, 1888, just two days after her father's death.

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5 stars
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4 stars
15 (27%)
3 stars
12 (22%)
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
Profile Image for Katy.
1 review
January 24, 2026
A good, emotional story, but I can’t form a full opinion without the full story. I would 100% read it again.
Profile Image for Jan.
708 reviews17 followers
October 23, 2024
Little Women, re read, and unfortunately by mistake I obtained this copy, thinking it would be the full book I read as a child. It is not. The above has plenty of pictures, and tells the basic story. However I was unaware that the book I read in one full book, and also the story we often see in the movies, is called part I and part II! Obviously I was unaware of this when I ordered it, and only ordered to read again, as we are reading "March" in our book club next month, which is all about the girls father, before he married and became the girls father. Therefore, we were requested to re read "Little Women."

Little Women is about 4 girls in America written by Louis May Alcott, which use to be every girls read when I grew up, however ... who knows what the young read now! Not I.

The girls father has gone off to war, which I don't think ever quite sunk in when I was small, as not being American born, the Civil War was not much known to me. The girls are Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy. Amy is the youngest and a real prat, Joe becomes an author, and Beth and Meg have their own qualities. The mother seems very kind, but I have never met any mother like this. Different time, different world! The girls talk all the while about poverty, and yet, the family employees staff! The girls do go out into the world to help the family out in several ways.

What I did like about the junior classic was all the pictures. Therefore, if getting for a young lady to read in today's world, make sure you get part I and II, this just goes to Joes teenage years and her first chance of her become an author. There is much more to the story. Therefore, before choosing this one, research and get the full story.
Profile Image for Chloe.
298 reviews1 follower
February 1, 2024
I'll be honest, I've had this version of the book for years and thought it was the regular one. Since it was the book I brought with me on a trip home, I decided to read it anyway.

I guess it was good for kids? Sometimes the characters were so straightforward it made me laugh. However, what really bothered me was that I know Beth dies and she didn't in this version. Also, I'm pretty sure the dad was supposed to die and Laurie was supposed to kiss Jo. (I've seen the musical.) I think it would've been much better had it been nomal.

It was also only the first half of the original, so that encourages me to read the original soon.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
36 reviews
March 18, 2024
Didn’t realize this was a young readers version when purchased.

I loved every moment of it. It is such an easy to read book with cute drawn pictures every second page or so. Only a portion of the original story.

The “little women” are simply trying to be the best, most kind and honest that they can be and 🥹😭😭 10/10 would recommend.
Profile Image for Daylin.
77 reviews
July 11, 2025
The og book that I read in first grade that made me obsessed with little women
Profile Image for junica.
16 reviews
September 29, 2025
such a cute and easy read. it was fully illustrated and reading this made me actually want to read the original version.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews

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