From Our Editors
No matter how fast-paced modern life gets, there will
always be a special place in the hearts of girls for the March
sisters. As popular now as they were when Little Women
first came into being in 1869, Jo, Meg, Amy and Beth continue to
coax smiles of joy and tears of empathy from their fans. A title in
the Scholastic Classics series, Louisa May Alcott's
beloved tome has a heartfelt quality in its attention to family,
duty, faith and love that spans generations. With as much relevance
in the new millennium as it had during the novelist's heyday,
Little Women is a joyful first reading
experience.
From the Jacket
Love. Tragedy. Sisters
Growing up in New England during the Civil War, the March
sisters share everything - their joys and troubles, their loves and
secrets. But the four girls couldn''t be more different. Meg, the
oldest, is the sensible writer. Jo is funny and mischievous. Beth
is the shy, dreamy one, and Amy is pretty and artistic.
From dances to despairs, through weddings and funerals, the
March girls stand as sisters.
This is one family you will never forget.
For each classics Edition published, Scholastic will make a
donation to a literary or children''s charity.
About the Author
Louisa May Alcott, generally considered to be a writer of sentimental fiction for children, has received renewed critical attention from scholars examining her adult fiction and previously uncredited gothic thrillers. These works reveal a darker, more complex side of this author. Alcott was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania, in 1832. Two years later with her family she moved to Boston and in 1840 to Concord, which was to remain her family home for the rest of her life. Her father, Bronson Alcott, was a transcendentalist and friend of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. Alcott early realized that her father could not be counted on as sole support of his family, and so she sacrificed much of her own pleasure to earn money by sewing, teaching, and churning out potboilers. Her reputation was established with Hospital Sketches (1863), which was an account of her work as a volunteer nurse in Washington, D.C. Alcott's first works were written for children, including her best-known Little Women (1868--69) and Little Men: Life at Plumfield with Jo's Boys (1871). Moods (1864), a "passionate conflict," was written for adults. Alcott's writing eventually became the family's main source of income. Throughout her life, Alcott continued to produce highly popular and idealistic literature for children. An Old-Fashioned Girl (1870), Eight Cousins (1875), Rose in Bloom (1876), Under the Lilacs (1878), and Jack and Jill (1881) enjoyed wide popularity. At the same time, her adult fiction, such as the autobiographical novel Work: A Story of Experience (1873) and A Modern Mephistopheles (1877), a story based on the Faust legend, shows her deeper concern with such social issues as education, prison reform, and women's suffrage. She realistically depicts the problems of adolescents and working women, the difficulties of relationships between men and women, and the values of the single woman's life.
Mass Market Paperbound
576 Pages, 4.18 x 6.8 x 1.5 in
January 15, 2000
SCHOLASTIC INC
English
0439101360
9780439101363