Little Women (Penguin Classics)

This timeless children's classic is read and enjoyed by many adults as well as children. Unlike most classics considered children's works today, Little Women was intended for an audience of children. It takes place during the Civil War and the years following, and narrates the story of 4 girls as they grow up, including their friends and their family. Louisa May Alcott based this work in large part on her family, although many of the events are born totally of her imagination. Jo is based on Louisa May; Meg is based on her older sister Anna; Beth is based on her younger sister Elizabeth, or Lizzie; and Amy is based on her youngest sister May. Because the character Jo is based on the author herself, she is the most well defined character in the book and the one most children identify with. A tomboy, a writer, and quite determined, Jo is the central figure in the book and most events center around her growing up, but all of the other girls get special attention in stories particularly about them from time to time. There is a great sense of morality in the work, but it is never treated in a 'preachy' manner. Values and morals are taught and absorbed by the reader as the girls learn them through various trials, some funny, some sorrowful, some frustrating. There is likewise a very strong emphasis on God. Much of the first half of the book centers around concepts found in the Puritan work, Pilgrim's Progress, by John Bunyan. The girls are often pointed by their mother toward God and placing their trust in Him and seeking His aid in various situations. Louisa May Alcott was also a transcendentalist and her family was close friends with Emerson, Thoreau, and Hawthorne. Because of this, there is a sense of joy found in nature as well as respect. In addition, Louisa May was an avid feminist in her day, although not in the sense of feminist that many think of today. She believed that women should not be barred from admission in the workforce, or limited to work as seamstresses or governesses, nor should marriage be their only avenue of insuring a stable and secure future. She did not get married, but did raise her sister May's daughter after May died. Little Women is definitely not anti-marriage, but some of the characters dream of becoming well-known in their favorite fields; also, some of the characters speak about how the only way they can insure a positive, pleasant future is by marrying well, which is later rejected in a way that asserts that women should be able to choose marriage freely for love, not for position or money and likewise free to choose not to marry. This book is well loved by so many. It spurs many children on to become strong readers for life and the childhood copy of Little Women will become worn from much loved reading. This book will be loved by most girls, but boys will enjoy it as well. Jo's tomboyish behavior and the neighbor boy, Laurie's presence will attract the attention of boys. It makes a great choice for bedtime reading with chapters of perfect length to read one per night and short enough that if begged by the kids, you can read two. In addition to Little Women, it would also be beneficial to read a biography of Louisa May Alcott. I strongly recommend an unabridged version. Don't miss out on the well-known sequels Little Men and Jo's Boys.

Daughter loved it

Is the sighning beacon of my Life. Its truth, values, lessons, hardships, love, friendship have kept me going through my own labors. I have read it in Greek and being more than happy to read it in English. A timeless classic for every age and generation.

Five stars forever and ever. Little Women is my favorite classic. This book is a coming-of-age story about the March sisters (Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy) growing up in New England during the Civil War. Out of all the March sisters, I’ve always resonated with Jo the most, from her writing down to the potential spinster path (sometimes Amy too). My family is tight-knit like the March family and similar in that we get along and fight at times, but at the end of the day, we have so much love for each other. I highly recommend Little Women. It’s funny, heartwarming, and inspirational. I can’t say enough good things about it. READ IT.

Touching and compelling. I couldn't wait to turn the page to see what the next adventure was going to be.I'm just sorry that I waited so long to read it!

Educational have watched many versions of it

CLASSICS TIME! You heard right - I'm reviewing a reeeeeal oldie. But this IS my first time reading this book and I DID read it for a class called Studies in Children's and YA Literature, so honestly it seemed like a good thing to do. Also, I had to read this in like two days I deserve this. ANYWAYS! Let's get this show on the road! I apparently have a really inflammatory opinion about the end of this book, according to my classmates, so this should be FUN. This is usually where I put a summary of the book, but the blurb (which I stole from Amazon this time, not Goodreads) is pretty self explanatory. What's most important to me is that it talks about how there are two parts to this book. The blurb calls them I and II. I call them Part I: Where Every Chapter is a Morality Story and Part II: The Bit Where Life Gets REAL. With just Part I, this book gets maybe 2, 2 1/2 stars for morality inducing boredom. With Part II? I might never re-read it, but PLOT TWIST OF THE CENTURY, ALCOTT, BRAVO. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Part I, as I continue to say is ... cute. Each sister has one negative quality that their mother, Marmee, has to teach them how to control. It's all "Be less material, Meg" and "Be less temperamental, Jo" and "Be less spoiled, Amy" and "Be less shy, Beth." I didn't get annoyed to the point of wanting to hurl my Kindle across the room (which I've done before with morality books), but it got repetitive and boring and I really just wanted something to happen. All together, the themes were quite good and I certainly applaud Alcott for several, radical for the times decisions that she made about the girls' lives, both here and in Part II. But then came the romance between Meg and John. I cried. I cried hard. 1800S INSTA-LOVE! I cried. THAT'S A THING THAT'S A THING. I knew much of the later book would revolve around Jo, Amy and Beth's marriages, so seeing this horribleness made me worried, fast. I couldn't stand Meg and John's "romance," let alone three more. (This was my first time reading it, people who've read this before and think I had trouble with math/facts. SHH about Beth.) But THEN came Part II, and all the reality it brought with it. Suddenly, the girls weren't just learning cute little life lessons. They were learning life facts, and learning them hard. They were learning them with whiplash. All the radical ideas that Alcott had hinted at in the beginning came out in force. (I'm an English major, we analyzed this, SHH.) But the biggest part for me was THE BIGGEST SHIPPING PLOT TWIST IN ALL OF TIME. Like, I'm not a big proponent of "all writers should read the classics," but I wanted to buy millions of copies of this book and chuck them at the heads of every writer who has ever written a cliched love triangle ever. I am completely and utterly behind what happened, and it made the book really shine and stand out for me. Right at that moment, the book went from being a cute how to for kids to a real book about life and love and sadness and reality. Reality that is still reality, never mind the historical setting. At the end of the day, I certainly liked this book. This is one classic that I actually recommend for people to read if they have the urge. There really is a girl for everyone to relate to in this book, no matter their age, and I find that extremely important. I almost wish I had read this as a kid, just to see what I would understand now that I didn't understand then. Little Women is that kind of a book.

Enligt beskrivningen. Det är en present!

I was expecting just the book Little Women, especially for it being a hardcover for less than €10, but the book contains 47-chapters instead of the expected 23, so I was pleasantly surprised! I like this series (Chartwell) in general, it’s quite affordable and they are pretty good books for the amount you pay.

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Es un clásico, nunca lo habia leido. Me llegó en perfectas condiciones y la trama es ligera, agradable.

Me encanta. El tacto, la calidad, el formato en pagina, todo. Por el precio que tiene me esperaba que me llegase un libro no muy bien hecho, pero este ha superado mis expectativas. Y la historia, encantadora. Recomiendo al 100%.