Little Men

Louisa May Alcott was born on 29 November 1832 in Pennsylvania. Her father was friends with Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry Thoreau. Alcott started selling stories in order to help provide financial support for her family. Her first book was Flower Fables (1854). She worked as a nurse during the American Civil War and in 1863 she published Hospital Sketches, which was based on her experiences. Little Women was published in 1868 and was based on her life growing up with her three sisters. She followed it with three sequels, Good Wives (1869), Little Men (1871) and Jo's Boys (1886) and she also wrote other books for both children and adults. Louisa May Alcott was an abolitionist and a campaigner for women's rights. She died on 6 March 1888.

Six generations of readers have found in the story of the March family universal truths about girls, families and growing up
The best boys - in the literary sense - that we have ever come across
Louisa May Alcott is the only author who remains both popular and literary today ... Little Women was widely read, but its sequel Little Men even more so, perhaps because it was checked out by boys, too
The novelist of children ... the Thackeray, the Trollope, of the nursery and the schoolroom
'It takes so little to make a child happy, that it is a pity in a world full of sunshine and pleasant things, that there should be any wistful faces, empty hands, or lonely little hearts.'


Jo March - now Mrs Bhaer - is married, and the couple have set up Plumfield, a boarding school for orphans. With twelve boys to care for, as well as their own two sons, the Bhaers rarely have a minute to themselves, but though they are busy, they are happy and fulfilled, guiding their young charges with wisdom and compassion. With so many lively children, though, it takes the support of the whole March family to prevent the boys' mischievous scrapes from leading to full-scale disasters.