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Lulu's Library #1
Lulu's Library, Volume 1 of 3
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.
- GenresClassicsShort Stories
122 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 26, 2011
12 people are currently reading
108 people want to read
About the author
Louisa May Alcott
4,069 books10.6k followersLouisa 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.
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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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 26, 2025
3.5 stars & 4/10 hearts. This is a collection of short stories, some magical or fairytale, and others just simple stories.
A Christmas Dream - 3.5 stars. A spoiled little girl, sick of having too much Christmas, dreams a mix-up of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and ends up celebrating Christmas much better. It was a funny, sweet story, with a lot of good lessons in it!
The Candy Country - 3.5 stars. This little girl is blown away on an umbrella and ends up in Candyland, where she quickly learns too much sweetness turns sour! A visit to Bread-Land helps her out, and in the end she learns a valuable lesson about usefulness. There was a sort of wishing/magic type of thing involved in this story.
Naughty Jocko - 3 stars. A little boy takes in an unhappy monkey who begins terrorizing the neighbourhood with his tricks. It’s somewhat funny, but ends rather sadly…
The Skipping Shoes - 2 stars. Kitty’s new shoes turn out to be magic and make her do all sorts of good things. I think the magic in this story could be easily adapted to a more Alice-in-Wonderland type of story.
Cockyloo - 3 stars. A sweet little story of a rooster and the good life he lived… and the misadventures of his bad brother.
Rosy's Journey - 3 stars. This story was an adaption of the famous old tale of the young man who is on a journey to find someone (usually a princess) and comes across helpless ants, mice, etc. Choosing to help them, he finds they can help him in the end. It’s sweet, and all imagination—not magical, as far as I can recall.
How They Ran Away - 4 stars. This story was very sweet and funny, about two little boys who discover that running away is not as fun as the books make it seem to be. I enjoyed it quite a lot!
The Fairy Box - 1 star. Every day she’s been good, a fairy grants May a wish, and when she’s been bad, the fairy gives May a punishment.
A Hole in the Wall - 4 stars. This was a very sweet little story of a crippled boy trying to stay happy and a little girl encouraged the adults around her to make others’ lives better. I loved it!
The Piggy Girl - 3 stars. A little girl who refuses to be cleaned dreams she’s a pig and learns a valuable lesson.
The Three Frogs - 3 stars. Three little frogs make different choices and find how they affect their lives.
Baa! Baa! - 4 stars. This story is funny, inspiring, and darling. Two little girls can’t stand to see the sheep in the cattle cars suffering from thirst, and decide to help… causing unforeseen ripples of good.
A Favourite Quote: A very warm and a very busy week followed, for the berries were punctually delivered at the farm, and successfully sold at the station; and, best of all, the sheep were as faithfully watered as two little pails and two little girls could do it. Every one else forgot them. Mr. Benson was a busy old gentleman far away in the city; Miss Alice was driving, boating, and picnicking all day long; and the men at the depot had no orders to care for the poor beasts. But Tilda and Patty never forgot; and, rain or shine, they were there when the long train came in, waiting to do what they could, with dripping pails, handfuls of grass, or green branches, to refresh these suffering travellers for whom no thought was taken. Their arms were very tired lifting the pails, their backs ached with lugging so much water, and mother would not let them wear any but their oldest clothes for such wet work; so they had their trials, but bore them bravely, and never expected to be thanked.
A Favourite Humorous Quote: They were so tired they could hardly walk, and longed to lie down anywhere to sleep; but, remembering the hunter's story of the bear, they were afraid to do it, till Tommy suggested climbing a tree, after making a fire at the foot of it to scare away the bear, lest he climb too and get them. But, alas! the matches were left in their first camp; so they decided to take turns to sleep and watch, since it was plain that they must spend the night there. Billy went up first, and creeping into a good notch of the bare tree tried to sleep, while brave Tommy, armed with a big stick, marched to and fro below. Every few minutes a trembling voice would call from above, "Is anything coming?" and an anxious voice would answer from below, "Not yet. Hurry up and go to sleep! I want my turn.”
A Christmas Dream - 3.5 stars. A spoiled little girl, sick of having too much Christmas, dreams a mix-up of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and ends up celebrating Christmas much better. It was a funny, sweet story, with a lot of good lessons in it!
The Candy Country - 3.5 stars. This little girl is blown away on an umbrella and ends up in Candyland, where she quickly learns too much sweetness turns sour! A visit to Bread-Land helps her out, and in the end she learns a valuable lesson about usefulness. There was a sort of wishing/magic type of thing involved in this story.
Naughty Jocko - 3 stars. A little boy takes in an unhappy monkey who begins terrorizing the neighbourhood with his tricks. It’s somewhat funny, but ends rather sadly…
The Skipping Shoes - 2 stars. Kitty’s new shoes turn out to be magic and make her do all sorts of good things. I think the magic in this story could be easily adapted to a more Alice-in-Wonderland type of story.
Cockyloo - 3 stars. A sweet little story of a rooster and the good life he lived… and the misadventures of his bad brother.
Rosy's Journey - 3 stars. This story was an adaption of the famous old tale of the young man who is on a journey to find someone (usually a princess) and comes across helpless ants, mice, etc. Choosing to help them, he finds they can help him in the end. It’s sweet, and all imagination—not magical, as far as I can recall.
How They Ran Away - 4 stars. This story was very sweet and funny, about two little boys who discover that running away is not as fun as the books make it seem to be. I enjoyed it quite a lot!
The Fairy Box - 1 star. Every day she’s been good, a fairy grants May a wish, and when she’s been bad, the fairy gives May a punishment.
A Hole in the Wall - 4 stars. This was a very sweet little story of a crippled boy trying to stay happy and a little girl encouraged the adults around her to make others’ lives better. I loved it!
The Piggy Girl - 3 stars. A little girl who refuses to be cleaned dreams she’s a pig and learns a valuable lesson.
The Three Frogs - 3 stars. Three little frogs make different choices and find how they affect their lives.
Baa! Baa! - 4 stars. This story is funny, inspiring, and darling. Two little girls can’t stand to see the sheep in the cattle cars suffering from thirst, and decide to help… causing unforeseen ripples of good.
A Favourite Quote: A very warm and a very busy week followed, for the berries were punctually delivered at the farm, and successfully sold at the station; and, best of all, the sheep were as faithfully watered as two little pails and two little girls could do it. Every one else forgot them. Mr. Benson was a busy old gentleman far away in the city; Miss Alice was driving, boating, and picnicking all day long; and the men at the depot had no orders to care for the poor beasts. But Tilda and Patty never forgot; and, rain or shine, they were there when the long train came in, waiting to do what they could, with dripping pails, handfuls of grass, or green branches, to refresh these suffering travellers for whom no thought was taken. Their arms were very tired lifting the pails, their backs ached with lugging so much water, and mother would not let them wear any but their oldest clothes for such wet work; so they had their trials, but bore them bravely, and never expected to be thanked.
A Favourite Humorous Quote: They were so tired they could hardly walk, and longed to lie down anywhere to sleep; but, remembering the hunter's story of the bear, they were afraid to do it, till Tommy suggested climbing a tree, after making a fire at the foot of it to scare away the bear, lest he climb too and get them. But, alas! the matches were left in their first camp; so they decided to take turns to sleep and watch, since it was plain that they must spend the night there. Billy went up first, and creeping into a good notch of the bare tree tried to sleep, while brave Tommy, armed with a big stick, marched to and fro below. Every few minutes a trembling voice would call from above, "Is anything coming?" and an anxious voice would answer from below, "Not yet. Hurry up and go to sleep! I want my turn.”
February 26, 2016
I really didn't like this. I didn't know that it was a volume that was made up of twelve stories. When I discovered this though, I didn't let it put me of and decided to give it a try.
After reading this though only the first story 'a Christmas dream' interested me. I liked the plot but not the character as she seemed boring. The other stories lacked a good plot to me and were made up of characters that all seemed to be the same.
This book was intended for children and that's who I would recommend it for.
After reading this though only the first story 'a Christmas dream' interested me. I liked the plot but not the character as she seemed boring. The other stories lacked a good plot to me and were made up of characters that all seemed to be the same.
This book was intended for children and that's who I would recommend it for.
January 1, 2021
Hard cover version
December 4, 2021
I didn’t realise there were actually 12 stories. Not a bad read…
kindle
July 26, 2023SKW to BHW
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews