While it may seem old fashioned by today’s Young Adult literary standards, Little Women (4.5/5 stars, currently priced at 99 cents for the Little Women / Good Wives, Little Men and Jo’s Boys illustrated anthology) has stood the test of time. Generation after generation of girls and young women have been drawn into its pages.
At first glance a tween might not think she could relate to any of these characters or their challenges at all, but she’ll be surprised to find this is not the case. In general, this is a story of four sisters growing up together, struggling to make ends meet, and finding their places in the world during Civil War times.
There’s Meg, the eldest sister, aged 16 at the start of the book. She’s the beauty and the stand-in parent when the girls’ real parents are away, and that’s a role plenty of girls from two-earner families can understand.
Next comes 15 year old tomboy Jo, who loves to read and write and isn’t afraid to voice her strong opinions. Very unconventional and strong-willed, Jo is a favorite character for many fans of the book.
The third eldest is Beth: the shy, musically-inclined 13 year old sister who is also ever the peacemaker.
Finally comes Amy, at 12 the youngest, and the artist of the family. She’s a little spoiled, and a little vain; sort of a diva, in today’s language.
Readers will find glimpses of themselves in at least one of the sisters, and older teens may be surprised to find they can relate to the feelings of all four when looking back over their own social stages in life.
Famously, even Joey Tribbiani on the TV sitcom Friends found himself unable to put the book down once he’d started it:
There are many editions of Little Women available in Kindle format, but here’s the Amazon description for the edition we’re recommending:
This carefully crafted ebook: “Little Women (includes Good Wives) + Little Men + Jo’s Boys (3 Unabridged Classics with over 200 original illustrations)” is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents. This ebook contains 3 unabridged classic books with over 200 original illustrations by Frank T. Merrill and Reginald B. Birch in one ebook.