Meg Makes a Friend

Portraits of Little Women

by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Romantic Meg March is thrilled when she's asked to sing at Lily Prescott's wedding. She practices with extra care because she loves the bride and wants the celebration to be beautiful.



But as soon as Meg meets the groom's much younger sister, Julia Thorpe, the two girls clash. Meg can't believe that Julia dislikes Lily and is angry when Julia changes the wedding song seconds before the ceremony. What's worse, when the wedding couple takes off on their honeymoon, Julia comes to stay at the Marches! Meg watches as Julia charms all of her sisters--as she seems to take Meg's place in their hearts. It's time for a showdown that will make Meg and Julia enemies for life, or turn enemies into special friends.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Middle Grade

112 pages, Hardcover

First published March 9, 1998

About the author

Susan Beth Pfeffer was an American author best known for young adult and science fiction. After writing for 35 years, she received wider notice for her series of post-apocalyptic novels, officially titled "The Life as We Knew It Series", but often called "The Last Survivors" or "Moon Crash" series, some of which appeared on The New York Times Best Seller list.

Reviews

[Tarissa]

In which we find our favorite four "little women", perhaps at a slightly younger age than when we meet them in the famous classic. Meg, the oldest, is ten.

It may seem like a quick, light story, but whether young readers notice or not, it's filled with historical details that end up sticking in your mind, and good morals too. This includes hypothetical questions about slavery (a big issue, as this is just before the Civil War), as posed by Mr. March to very young (yet educated) daughter. Also in the song selections for the wedding, we see hints of 19th century America, as well as in several minor specifics concerning daily life. Don't tell the kids, but this is educational.

I was pleasantly surprised many times by the author introducing familiar details that fans will recognize from Litte Women... such as Jo casually spouting out slang. Grim Aunt March making her appearance and pronouncing the girls as heathens when they don't exhibit the very best of manners. Best of all (my favorite) is when the girls perform their delightful plays together!

Overall, it's a cute story for young girls -- and yet has the reader learning too. It can be read either before Little Women to introduce the characters to a new reader, or after Little Women to keep the fun adventure going.

Includes a recipe and craft project in the back.

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This book was read during the Louisa May Alcott Reading Challenge found on:
https://inthebookcase.blogspot.com

[Jenifer Dale]

I feel that this author does a good job of trying to bring the characters personalities from the original book to life in these books. The character of Lily made me mad at first, but when you dive into her story you honestly just wanted to feel sorry for her (a bit). Throughout the book we see both Meg and Lily fight their friendship, but the book has a lovely ending.