The other evening I descended my stairs to find my husband snuggled on the couch with a picture book and my 3 year old son, reading. This is not unusual. What was unusual was that my thirteen year old daughter sat with them listening intently as well. The book, not surprisingly, was Louisa May and Mr. Thoreaus Flute.
It is a well woven story of inspiration and the search for authentic self. The illustrations have a distinctly natural appeal that defers to the passion of Thoreau very well. They absorbed my youngest. The story and the words are engaging and inspiring enough for my eldest, a big fan of Little Women. It is a lovely book to share with your young creatives.

I wasn't looking forward to starting this novel-sized biography to gather information for my research paper, but once I began it, it was hard to put it down! It shows how truly interesting and amazing and difficult Louisa May Alcott's life was. It's longer than most of the other Louisa bios I have seen, and it contains a wealth of information and details while remaining easy to read. It also includes background information on the May and Alcott families, as well as pictures sprinkled throughout the book. I highly recommend it for research or pleasure reading!

MEG MAKES A FRIEND was a great book. It is about a ten year old girl named Meg. Meg has been asked to sing in a wedding. But the groom's much younger sister, Julia, decides to play the wrong song (she will play the piano while Meg sings) and makes Meg sing the wrong song. So Meg is angry at Julia. But then Meg discovers why Julia acted the way she did, and that Julia is really very kind and is just sad because her brother is marrying, and the orphaned Julia, who has been raised by her brother, will be forgotten by her brother. This was a great book I highly reccomend.

I read Little Women in school and laughed all the way through it! I promised myself that I would never read Alcott's work again. But when I came across this book, I decided to give it a chance. This is NOT Little Women. This is an insightful, harrowing novel that is by no means for children. This book is a treasure! One you will want to read again and again!

Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) is famous for her classic novels Little Women and Little Men. What is less well known is that she was also a very accomplished poetry. Over her remarkable literary career she published sixty poems for both children and adults, and was given to freely interspersing verse in her novels and stories. Enhanced with an informative introduction by Robert S. Nelsen, The Poems Of Louisa May Alcott showcases her poetry for a new generation of readers, documenting her as one of the most versatile and gifted of the 19th Century literary greats.............

When Louisa May Alcott was a little girl, her father moved the family to live in an experimental commune in the orchard town of Harvard, Massachusetts. The idea was that inhabitants would live on unleavened bread and apples, abstain from sex, and expound on the universe. The experiment lasted only from July to December, when it predictably fell apart. In adulthood, Louisa trained a comic eye on the whole experience, and wrote this brief, funny parody of it, with only names changed to protect the innocent. Also included here are girlhood diaries kept by Louisa during this experience, which offer insight into what life was like at such a place in those days. These diaries are made doubly amusing by a few marginal notes Louisa added to them later in life. For anyone interested in Alcott family history, or in the crazy days of the transcendentalists (the 19th century's version of the sixties), this short work is a must read.

The Fruitlands commune was a fascinating experiment that took place in beautiful Harvard, Mass. when Louisa was a child. "Transcendental Wild Oats" is her brief and affectionate send-up of the ridiculous ideals and characters she remembers from Fruitlands, among them her father. "Fruitlands Diary," her actual diary from her childhood, offers great insight into daily life from this time period, with affectionate comments here and there added when she was an older woman.

If you've read and reread all of Louisa May Alcott's books, and loved her portrayals of brave girls trying to make their way in a harsh world, you must read this "lost" novel, "Work." It is well-written, engaging and humorous, very much in the same style as her other novels for girls, yet with more of a depth of maturity to her characters. If you've read "An Old Fashioned Girl" you will see a lot of "Polly" in the working girls portrayed in this novel. Read it and rejoice in this "new" Alcott novel!

The beautiful photograph on the front cover is only the first of many that appear throughout this delightful book. I originally purchased it as a resource for a school report on Louisa May Alcott, but soon found myself engrossed in reading every detail. The book contains information on various events and people in LMA's life, as well as her novels. In addition to a chronology of her life, it has an illustrated map of New England in the back that highlights the many places where she lived.

The heartwarming book, Little Women, has won its readers love and support. The generalized assessment shows fondness to the realistic viewpoint of the lives of Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy and descriptive details that transport the reader into the beloved fairy tale. The plot of the story centers upon the girls' lives as they grow up during the Civil War. Each of the girls is extremely distinct in their character, taste, and dreams for their future. The positive role model and personal advisor to all of the girls is Mrs. March. I feel that she advised all of her daughter in making good decisions, except for when she agreed with Jo that Laurie was not a suitable match. The change the girls undergo as they get older is completely intriguing as each has special qualities and drawbacks to their character. The realistic aspects of the tale is one of my favorite characteristics of Louisa May Alcott's writing style. The detailed descriptions sent picturesque scenes through my mind. The variety of emotions throughout the duration of the book takes the reader on an emotional roller coaster ride.

The first time I read Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, I fell in love with the story. Little Women is the story of four girls that were coming of age during the civil war. Each of the girls, all sisters, has different personality traits and characteristics that are developed throughout the book. Meg, the oldest, is the sensible sister, while Jo is hot-headed and independent. Beth is musical and Amy, the youngest, is the more material of the four. The girls grew up in a very close family and strived to support each other in their dreams. But Jo, the second-born, has a difficult time seeing all of them growing up and leaving home. She wants things to remain the same, always. Change is inevitable, however, and throughout the book, the girls' love for each other is strong, as they face different challenges and joys of growing up. They keep their strong sense of family... I thoroughly enjoyed reading Little Women. It has been awhile since I was able to sit down and read a book I so love. Louisa May Alcott's character, Meg, did not hold much interest for me... Amy, the baby of the family, was too materialistic for my taste. The character I related to the most was Jo. I do not know if it is because I am like her, or if it was her spunk that I really liked. I loved to see the blossoming love Laurie had for Jo... I think that Louisa May Alcott did a wonderful job in writing Little Women. I could relate to the book and with how the four sisters were at home with their mother and their father was off doing military things. I grew up with a father in the Navy and he was gone a lot. My mom, brother and I had to take care of things while he was gone. Life goes on even if the whole family is not together.
I fell in love with the Little Women at a young age and I hope to read this book to my children as they get older... This is a great book for teaching these things to children.

Little Women focuses on the four March girls; Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy, as they grow up from childhood to adulthood. The characters in the book try to teach each other helpful lessons about life, virtue, and morality. The novel is a real eye opener for everyone. Each of the mistakes the girls in the novel make are intended to provide some guidance for the reader. Society is explained, the harsh winters are described, and the profound work ethic of the people is described to also give the reader a strong sense of what life was like during the nineteenth century. I can strongly relate to all the character's feelings which are strongly depicted in Alcott's writing. I firmly believe all teenage girls should read the novel to hopefully be as strongly influenced as I was. The girls are constantly troubled by the necessity of being good, even when they feel the desire to be bad. There are also many issues on relationships between girls and boys. Friendship turns into love and vice versa, making a strong theme out of gender relations. The girls also struggle with the ideas of motherhood, sisterhood, pride, education, and marriage. After reading this novel, the reader will hopefully look more at their own life and his/her morales. Through the novel there is clear representation of the benefits of what good does.