After Twilight, Reading Little Women On The Road

My daughter, and her Tween friends, had no interest in reading Louisa May Alcott’s  Little Women, the treasured novel of my youth.

I thought, mistakenly, that the Book Babes, our Mother Daughter Book Club, would be eager to read Little Women, as it was at the center of a book that we all adored, Heather Vogel Frederick’s  The Mother Daughter Book Club.  Anticipating a pleasant road trip to the Louisa May Alcott home, the real setting for this fictional account, I expected that the girls would delight in reading the book first.

“Too long” and “Too boring” whined the same girls who soon after devoured all four mammoth Twilight books, and whose squeals at the movie premiere recalled the Beatle’s glory days.

I wheedled and cajoled to at least get my daughter to read the book.  I even tried to read it aloud, but at 650 dense pages, with little time for read aloud, we didn’t get too far.

Nearly a year passed, before the perfect opportunity to cram this book, no, sorry, to lovingly share this literary gem as an audiobook presented itself in the form of a twenty hour road trip to Florida.

It took nearly the entire trip to hear this very long book.  At one point, several hours into the book, my son asked, “Aren’t they women, yet?”

Little by little, I noticed that both kids, despite claiming to ignore the book, were clearly following the story.  Barbara Caruso does a beautiful job of breathing life into the characters, and the kids were not immune to this engaging account.  By the end of the book, they were fully involved in questioning Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March’s choices.

Discussing Little Women

Since our road trip took place the day after watching the Twilight movie, which was after reading the entire book series, Bella Swan, Twilight’s heroine, kept popping into our discussion.

• Little Women begins with the sisters celebrating a very simple Christmas, as their father is serving in the Civil War, and the family has fallen on hard times.  Even so, the March family gives up everything they have to a family that has less than they do.  Do you admire this altruism?  Would you give up all your holiday gifts to help someone in need?  Does Bella do anything that is as noble?
• How are the sisters in Little Women, living in the 19th century, the same or different to the girls you know, or to Bella?
• Each of the sisters had a different “Castle in the Air,” or daydream.  Describe their ambitions, and discuss whether they achieved their dreams.    How are the Little Women’s dreams similar or different to Bella’s?  Would you want the same things?
• Each of the sisters had a “major character flaw: Meg, vanity; Jo, a hot temper; Beth, shyness; and Amy, selfishness.”  How did they overcome these flaws as girls, and again as women?  Does Bella have a character flaw, and does she try to overcome it?  Do you think you have a flaw, and how are you working to overcome it?
• Why do you think the book was titled “little women?” How would you like to be labeled a “little woman?”  How do you think Bella would respond to being a called a “little woman?”
• Should Jo have married Laurie, or should Laurie have done something different to win Jo’s love?  Do you think all the sisters and Bella chose the right husbands for themselves? Why or why not?

Mixing History and Service

Next on our itinerary, a road trip to visit Orchard House, home of Louisa May Alcott, in nearby Concord, MA!  The holidays are a perfect time to visit as the home displays the “festive simplicity” of the Alcott family, and this year we can look forward to a Holiday Program that:

…honors the service and sacrifice of our nation’s military personnel and their families, drawing upon not only the beloved classic, Little Women (the first half of which is set during the Civil War), but also Hospital Sketches, Louisa May Alcott’s highly acclaimed work detailing her real-life Civil War nursing experiences.

This year, December through February, we can even bring donations for US troops as Orchard House takes up a special collection.

Tween Take On Little Women

While my children initially weren’t thrilled to listen to the Little Women audiobook, they found it very entertaining.  It definitely made our road trip fly by!

Audiobook To Avoid:

At the same time that I downloaded Little Women from itunes, I also purchased the A Little Princess as narrated by Rebecca Burns.  This was the worst reading of a story that I have ever heard.  Ms. Burns’ monotone rendition nearly put me to sleep, not a good thing while driving.  A Little Princess is one of my all-time favorite children’s books, so I’ll have to find another version to share in the car.

Related Articles:

Reading On The Road – Ideas for selecting and discussing an audiobook; book discussion questions for Animal Farm.

Confessions of a Twilight Mom – My, admittedly biased, review of the Twilight series.

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