Great Illustrated Classics: Little Women

by Louisa May Alcott

Generations of readers young and old, male and female, have fallen in love with the March sisters of Louisa May Alcott’s most popular and enduring novel, Little Women . Here are talented tomboy and author-to-be Jo, tragically frail Beth, beautiful Meg, and romantic, spoiled Amy, united in their devotion to each other and their struggles to survive in New England during the Civil War.
It is no secret that Alcott based Little Women on her own early life. While her father, the freethinking reformer and abolitionist Bronson Alcott, hobnobbed with such eminent male authors as Emerson, Thoreau, and Hawthorne, Louisa supported herself and her sisters with "woman’s work,” including sewing, doing laundry, and acting as a domestic servant. But she soon discovered she could make more money writing. Little Women brought her lasting fame and fortune, and far from being the "girl’s book” her publisher requested, it explores such timeless themes as love and death, war and peace, the conflict between personal ambition and family responsibilities, and the clash of cultures between Europe and America.

Genres: Classics, Childrens

231 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2009

About the author

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.

Reviews

[Ariana Gaub · Rating 4 out of 5]

WEHH so cutie now i actually have to read the real book.

[kanishk · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely LOVED this version of all the famous books because they had a pretty hardcover, pretty illustrations in the book, and it was easy for school-going me to read within about a week.

[Emily Storie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was an easier understanding of little women. Didn’t take me long to read and it flowed well.

[Daniel Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it, but I didn't love it. I liked the parts where people were getting married, and I liked Amy and the Laurence boy. However, I didn't like the part where Beth dies. I also didn't like that they weren't kids for very long. It's probably a book for bigger kids. I'm only six. If there was a book about the childhood of little women, I would give it five stars.
- Juniper

[Ariadna Abigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sigo odiando el tratamiento final que la escritora le da a los personajes.

[Ruth Bryant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was Nice reading this honestly. I haven't picked it up an awhile so deffinately brought back some nostalgia

[Greygirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

~4 Stars~ I really liked this book it had romance and it showed hardships. I didn’t like the romance because it didn’t end how I wanted it to. Read with my Dad.

[Sue CNM · Rating 4 out of 5]

I need to read a book based on one of the characters from Little Women so I read this abridged version to get familiar with the story. Great book for young readers and now I'm caught up!

[Regina Gonzalez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read it in 5th grade (like at 12 years old) for a book in the bag, had to do a presentation around it and I remember having so much fun acting out all the drama and marriage proposals hahaha. It keeps the best parts of the classic while giving kids a realistic glance at it. I obviously loved it! Gotta read the real version now!

[Omkar Doifode · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would love to read unabridged version. This version just dont give feeling of reading a novel.