Discovering a Classic

I recently reread Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. When I first read this book two years ago, in February 2018, I immediately added it to my list of treasured favorite novels. I couldn’t put the book down once I started it, and I found the same to be true even in rereading. There’s something so compelling about this age-old classic, something that has clearly transcended the decades and continues to delight generations of readers.

When I first read the book, it was like flinging open a newly-discovered door of possibilities. After I picked it up and devoured it whole (reading the entire 180k+ word book in a week), I rushed to read its sequels (Little Men and Jo’s Boys) and found them entertaining (but not nearly as incredible as their predecessor). I hurried to watch the 1994 film, a modern classic in its own right, directed by Gillian Armstrong and full of lush sets, gorgeous costumes, and a beautiful soundtrack. I hastened to read Invincible Louisa, the 1934 Newbery medal-winning biography of Louisa May Alcott. Since then I’ve also listened to a BBC radio adaptation (which I highly recommend)!

Going back to the beginning, I tried to read Little Women when I was nearly eleven years old, and bogged down somewhere around the time that Meg goes to “Vanity Fair.” The lengthy descriptions were too long for me to get through. I wanted to love Little Women—it was such a thick, substantial volume with lovely illustrations—but it was a bit too difficult.

Fast forward to 2018, and I decided to give it another chance.  I was curious to read the book because I had just read Edward Eager’s The Time Garden, a witty story in which the contemporary characters time-travel to the world of Alcott’s characters in 1860s Concord. (I appreciated the allusions in fuller context after I’d read Little Women.)

I also had just finished reading Jack and Jill, which I also enjoyed immensely. (Little Women was not my first introduction to Alcott’s work—a heartwarming collection of Christmas short stories, gifted to me by my grandmother in 2016, was the first book of hers I ever read, followed by An Old-Fashioned Girl.)

Books like Little Women don’t come along every day, and I am endlessly glad now that I didn’t read it until I was old enough to truly appreciate the story.

Connections to Jeanne Birdsall’s Penderwicks series

The main reason that I gave the book another try is because the finale of the five-volume Penderwicks series was releasing in May 2018. “The idea of the original four Penderwick sisters came from Little Women,” Jeanne Birdsall, the author of the series, wrote on her website[1]. I was tremendously curious to find out if Jeffrey was going to marry Skye (the Jo character) or Batty (the [possibly] Amy character—more on this later). Hoping to find clues in Little Women to the outcome of my beloved series, I began reading.

I was already fairly convinced that Jeffrey would fall in love with Batty. The careful foreshadowing in the first books in the series strongly indicated this conclusion, and seemed to echo the wrap-up of Little Women. But although I liked Jeffrey and Batty as a couple, I braced myself to dislike the Laurie/Amy pairing, since everybody did. However, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I didn’t mind that ending. Of course I would have preferred Jo to “relent and marry Laurie,” as author Maud Hart Lovelace put it so aptly[2], but because I knew the ending beforehand, I was able to appreciate the subtleties of Laurie and Amy’s relationship and their whirlwind European romance. I was less impressed by Jo’s marriage to Professor Bhaer, but I also wondered if that outcome—the Jo character marrying an older man—meant that her Penderwicks counterpart Skye would eventually marry the “older man” character of Nick Geiger. The fact that Nick showed up all of a sudden in the fourth book and staked his claim as a major character made me wonder if he would play a significant role in the series finale.

Well, I was correct about Jeffrey and Batty, but wrong about Skye and Nick. (Nick hardly appeared in The Penderwicks At Last). I recently read someone else’s theory online, suggesting that Skye’s marriage to a student from the Czech Republic was actually an even more pointed parallel to Professor Bhaer. I loved this theory, and wish that this had been explored and expanded so that we could come to know Skye’s husband as well as we know the professor. I also wish that he could have had more lines (and at least one in English).

But is it true that Skye equals Jo, and Batty equals Amy? Obviously Jeffrey is Laurie, having been cast in the role of the next door neighbor boy who is accepted into the family. Skye resembles Jo because of her status as the second-oldest sister in the family, her feisty temper, and the fact that she has the one tomboyish name in the quartet (Skye being a much different name than Rosalind, Jane, or Elizabeth [which is Batty’s full name]). Readers have pointed out that Jane is the writer in the family, the aspiring authoress with all the wild ideas and imagination, while Skye is prosaic to a fault. But it is Skye, not Jane, who rejects Jeffrey’s attentions and has issues with her youngest sister Batty—which mirror Jo’s rebuff of Laurie’s proposal and arguments with Amy.

So does this mean that Batty is Amy? I’m more inclined to link Batty to Beth—both are sweet, quiet pianists who love animals. Batty has little common with Amy, save being the youngest of four sisters and eventually winding up with the Jeffrey/Laurie character. (Also notice the fact that Batty and Beth share an initial.)

More credence can be given to the Batty/Beth theory if you consider the section in Little Women when Jo mistakenly thinks that Beth has fallen in love with Laurie. I was surprised by this scene when I read the book, because it’s such an interesting addition to the story. It is partly because Jo is hoping that Laurie will forget about her and focus on Beth that she leaves for New York, where she meets Professor Bhaer. Fascinatingly, you can compare this sequence of events directly to the Penderwicks series: Skye leaves her family (and Jeffrey) behind when she heads off to her California college, where she meets the intellectual foreign man whom she ends up marrying. Skye also harbors hopes that Jeffrey will end up caring for Batty instead of her.

Additional Observations

I had a major revelation during my reread of the book. A highly important order of events in Little Women were shifted for the ’94 film, influencing my own reaction to the story. In the book, Jo goes to New York, meets Professor Bhaer, and—upon her return—rejects Laurie’s proposal of marriage. In the film, the order is reversed (to the story’s detriment, in my opinion). I think the Jo’s coming-of-age character arc is much stronger in the book, leaving you with a better opinion of her marriage choice.

As much as I love the film, it still doesn’t quite capture the nuances of the story and characters that I love best. The March sisters are extraordinarily multidimensional, a fact that tends to get lost in adaptations that have to compress the story to adhere to a shorter length.

Here’s a Twitter thread that I created during my reread, with more notes that I took:

1 – There’s an interesting subplot in which Jo thinks Beth is in love with Laurie. What might have happened if this was true, and if Beth had lived and told Laurie about her feelings?

2 – In the second half of the book, the chapters about Meg feel disconnected from the rest of plot. Jo’s, Beth’s, and Amy’s stories weave seamlessly together, but Meg’s do not. I wish Meg’s subplots had been more vital to the overall plot.

3 – As soon as Professor Bhaer is introduced, it’s immediately clear that Jo will end up marrying him. What if there had been a third possible love interest thrown into the mix? Perhaps one of her editors? That might have been fascinating.

4 – Although Jo and Amy have a difficult time getting along throughout the novel, they are the sisters who are most alike. Both are highly independent and determined, and even Amy has some tomboyish aspects to her character. In personality, Beth and Meg are similar as well.

Not long ago, I read a review of Little Women in which the reviewer felt that the characters didn’t seem real to her…I was a little shocked. The Alcott sisters seem like some of the most realistic and relatable girls I’ve ever read about (and not surprisingly, since they were closely based on the author’s own family). The humor of their family life and foibles, particularly in the first half of the book, is so spot-on. For me, rereading the book was like reuniting with old friends—and I think many other readers feel the same way.

There is a new film version of the book out now—it premiered last Christmas. I have yet to see it, but I am looking forward to comparing it to the 1994 movie and to the novel itself. I have read about director Greta Gerwig’s careful attention to detail, her array of inspirations, and the unusual story structure that she chose for telling the story in a new way. I am curious to see how the new cast interprets the characters.

In my mind, films and radio dramas and audiobooks and illustrations—and yes, even sequels—are complementary aspects to the books themselves. They enhance and allow you to look at the story in a new way. But they can never take the place of the story itself. This story is one of the finest, and therefore, one of the hardest to improve upon.

[1] Jeanne Birdsall’s Frequently Asked Questions, www.jeannebirdsall.com/faqs

[2] The Betsy-Tacy Companion by Sharla Scannell Whalen, Portalington Press 1995, pg. 97

A quick update! Because I haven’t done any writing updates lately, I thought I’d fill you in on my latest projects. First of all, I’ve been working on a new type of outlining for one of my next novels, which has been both an interesting and helpful experiment. I’ve tried to further hone my story structure, character arcs, and outlining over the past six months, and it’s fun and enlightening to test out different methods and new approaches to my novels. I also wrote a 14K-word novella in February, a sweet story set in the 1880s that I might end up expanding into a full-length novel at some point.

I only have 20,000 words left to write in my current historical novel (I’m at 45K of 65K). This particular book is delightfully fun to write – it’s the fourth in a series and by now, the characters are so firmly established in my head that it’s simply a matter of finding the most effective situations and scenes to propel their individual stories along.

About a month ago, I also experimented with a style of writing that straddles the line between prose and poetry. Using this style, I wrote a few scenes for a future book – and loved the outcome. That particular story hasn’t percolated in my brain long enough for me to write it, but I definitely feel that I will return to it someday.

I’m also currently gathering ideas for my next MG novel, sifting through plot elements and characters and concepts and settings. I’ve been testing out *a lot* of ideas lately, trying to find ones with that inspire me most. I think I’ve possibly hit upon my favorite idea in a long time!

I hope you are enjoying a beautiful spring!

Recently Read: Miss Billy series by Eleanor Porter, The Family Under the Bridge by Natalie Savage Carlson, The Penderwicks At Last by Jeanne Birdsall

Currently Reading: The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright

When a friend recommended Amanda Dykes’ new novella to me this spring, I was eager to read it, since it was set in Maine (I have always loved books set in Maine) and took place in the 1920s (one of my *very* favorite eras). And I’m happy to report that I was absolutely enchanted with Up from the Sea—so much that I quickly read Amanda’s adult novel Whose Waves These Are as soon as it released. While the two stories are quite different in some ways, they both contain the same classic style, hope-filled themes, and achingly beautiful prose.

I recently interviewed Amanda to discuss her favorite children’s books, her writing process, and other delightful topics. At the end of our conversation, she also gives a few insights into her next novel, which has me completely excited. 🙂 Enjoy!

Reading your books was such a delightful highlight to my reading life this spring, and all of the vintage elements of the stories were so much fun! What are some of the reasons you write historical fiction?
Thank you, Anna! I’m honored!  You mentioned vintage elements, and I think that hits on a big reason I write historical fiction. I’m a bit of an “old soul” myself—our living room plays host to a player piano from the 1930s, a record player, and an old church pew at the dining table, but no television (it’s in the basement family room). There’s something so life-giving to me about simpler things, whether that’s because I’m an introvert or because of the fast-paced, always-on world we live in, and I think that’s a part of the draw to historical fiction, personally.

On a broader level, I find it a humbling and deep honor to get to take part in the lives of those who came before us, to pay tribute to the way things were, and to draw lessons from those places in story, too.

What are your favorite children’s novels?
Oh, so many! Children’s books are my very favorite of all. There are the timeless classics—anything by Louisa May Alcott. I also love Five Little Peppers and How They Grew by Margaret Sidney, Daddy-Long-Legs and Dear Enemy by Jean Webster (more YA than children’s, but that was before “YA” was a thing!), The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, The Railway Children by E. Nesbit.

For more recent books, I love Mandy by Julie Edwards, the Mandie series by Lois Gladys Leppard, The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall, The Vanderbeekers of 141^st Street by Karina Yan Glaser, The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic by Jennifer Trafton, The Green Ember by S.D. Smith…and the list goes on!

I’ve read that you’ve enjoyed Jane of Lantern Hill, which is also one of my very favorites! What are some of the things you love about Jane and L.M. Montgomery’s other books?
Jane was a thoughtful soul. I think I loved her first because I remember looking at the L.M. Montgomery books on the shelf at Borders when a nearby city first got a Borders. (It was a magical place and I still mourn its absence!) There were all the Anne books, all the Emily books, and then…Jane, all by herself, standing there in her mint-green book, clutching her hat on the cover with her dark hair and I was just drawn to it. And then the story of discovering life wild and free on the island, in contrast to her prior city-life, and how she found courage, community, and hope there—it was just an enchanting tale. One I need to reread! I believe that [a] sense of community, and the idea of every soul harboring a story, is what I love about Maud’s other books, too. I got to explore that a little bit in Whose Waves These Are—the unfolding of each character’s history—and I think writers like L.M. Montgomery and Jan Karon have carved out a home for stories such as these, which don’t always follow a linear plot model, but take little detours to get to know the characters deeply.

Can you give us some behind-the-scenes insights into your writing and research process?
Sure! Perhaps the best way to answer that is to give you a glimpse at what I’ve worked on this morning. First, responding to comments on some social media posts relating to my summer release (Whose Waves These Are).

Second, I spent some time brain-dumping some thoughts on the novel I will be writing this winter. It is always on the back burner, simmering away with ideas and slowly forming into a story, but I can’t yet dive into writing it, so I keep a running document called “master idea list” to gather thoughts that would otherwise be lost to the mess of my mind and memory. This idea list, which I keep for each separate novel, can grow to be upwards of 10,000 words by the time the novel is all said and done. This is also a time I am doing little snatches of research for the upcoming novel, including books, articles, documentaries, and random internet searches to see if a given idea will even work with how things happened historically.

And last, the project I’m actively working on is the novel between those two, which I have written and am currently editing. I have a multi-page document of feedback from my editor (who is wonderful!), and am chipping away at some of the bigger story issues right now. I took a break to answer your questions, which gives the story part of my brain (pretty sure that’s the technical term for it) some time to mull over things while I get to chat with you!

What’s the best book you’ve read this year?
Oh, it’s so hard to choose one! One that stands out in my mind, though, is Jolina Petersheim’s How the Light Gets In. She braved some trailblazing waters with her plot in that one, all while delving deep into heart matters in a beautiful way. So worth a read!!

I am so excited for your next novel to come out in 2020! Is there anything you can tell us about it? 
Thank you for your excitement! This dual timeline novel has been in the works for about four years, either percolating or making the rounds to publishing houses in search of a home in its proposal form. It was first born after a different novel (as yet unpublished) struck a chord with an editor, but it was in a genre they were not acquiring. She asked if I might have any other ideas, and after a brainstorm with my wonderful agent Wendy Lawton, we settled on developing this one. It has lived in hibernation in my heart for a few years while Whose Waves These Are was written and published, and it has been sheer joy (though also a bit of a wrestling match with the plot!) to pull it out and finally write it.

I can’t say too much about it yet, since it’s still in the editing stages and things can still change, but I will tell you that it has to do with ships, and stars, and five main characters who have stolen my heart. Their names are Lucy, Dash (the contemporary timeline main characters), Frederick, Elias, and Juliette (the historical timeline characters).

A few people have asked if this novel is related to Whose Waves These Are, and I’m happy to say that though it is a standalone, with a different cast of characters and a different setting (England! Be still, my heart!), I did sneak one side character in to this book who played a role in Waves as well. I hope readers will find his presence (yep! It’s a “he!” Let the guessing begin!) a fun surprise.

Many thanks to Amanda for participating in this interview!
Photo of Amanda Dykes by Michael Pettrey

Related posts:
My reading list from May, in which I chat a little more about Whose Waves These Are, L.M. Montgomery, Jane of Lantern Hill, and Jean Webster!

My interview with Karina Yan Glaser, author of The Vanderbeekers of 141^st Street

Check out some of Amanda’s books (her 2015 short story Tin Can Serenade is also a lovely read!)

One of the reasons I love classic middle grade/YA (and one of the reasons I write in this genre) is that these books are ideal for summer. I’ve collected a list of books that are particularly suited to summertime; a perfect complement to blooming flowers, breezy days, long walks in the woods, and (perhaps best of all!) ice cream and raspberries. 🙂

Miracles on Maple Hill by Virginia Sorenson
This story of a young girl’s year on an awe-inspiring Pennsylvania farm won the Newbery Medal in 1957, and it’s full of rich descriptive language and the beauty of nature—a must-read for anyone who loves maple syrup, meadows full of flowers, and—of course!—miracles.

The Time Garden by Edward Eager
Edward Eager’s magical adventure books are always a delight, and The Time Garden is one of his best. A Revolutionary War-era mansion by the sea, an encounter with the March sisters from Little Women, and a slew of witty mishaps are just a few of the facets of this tall tale.

The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall
Often compared to the stories of Enright and Streatfeild, the Penderwick family’s original novel (there are five books in this series) will enchant readers who long for stories reminiscent of old favorites. (Birdsall says that she was inspired by The Secret Garden and E. Nesbit’s The Enchanted Castle when creating Arundel.)

Gone-Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright
When two cousins discover a ramshackle resort town while exploring in the woods, they spend the summer learning the secrets of this forgotten place and the eccentric individuals who still live there. The sequel, Return to Gone-Away, is even more delightful, in my opinion!

The Magic Summer by Noel Streatfeild
Mystery and mayhem abound when four siblings from the city are sent to live with their great-aunt in the Irish countryside. (I love the poetry quoted in this book—it’s a fun touch!)

Jill’s Story by Jean Fiedler
This 1965 book is greatly unknown—I had to add it to the Goodreads database myself! But if you can find a copy of Jill’s Story, you’re in for a treat—it chronicles an unforgettable summer at Cape Cod for Jill Robertson, an aspiring young writer.

Hitty: Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field
A well-spoken and well-traveled doll, Hitty is carved from mountain-ash wood around the 1820s, and her sweet memoir describes the first hundred years of her adventurous existence, from life on a whaling ship to the streets of New York and her first ride in an automobile. (Published in 1929, it was the ninth winner of Newbery Medal!)

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
I’ve reread this book probably every summer since I was ten years old, and it still feels wonderfully fresh. I love the new editions of the Montgomery books from Tundra, illustrated by Elly McKay—so breathtaking!

Carney’s House Party by Maud Hart Lovelace
All of the Betsy-Tacy books are splendid for this season, but I chose Carney’s House Party for this list, because it’s set during the summer of 1911, when Carney Sibley returns home from Vassar to host a house party for her friends in picturesque Deep Valley.

A handful of the five-star novels I read this spring, in no particular order:

The Penderwicks At Last (Jeanne Birdsall)

I have never anticipated a book’s release more than this one. Since early 2015, I’ve longed to find out what would transpire with the beloved Penderwick sisters in one of my favorite series…needless to say, I was *very* pleased with the outcome. No spoilers, but I will say that there are two weddings and one potential engagement, which was a highly satisfying denouement!

Then There Were Five (Elizabeth Enright)

One of the great classic middle grade authors, the endlessly talented Elizabeth Enright (1906-1968) was a master storyteller and has written some of my all-time favorite novels (Gone-Away Lake, The Sea is All Around). This is definitely the best of the fabulous Melendy Quartet series—a celebration of summer, adventure, and family. Without a doubt, Enright is the best writer of description I’ve ever read.

Jane of Lantern Hill (L.M. Montgomery)

This is quite possibly my favorite novel ever. There are so many elements that I love—an awe-inspiring setting (what’s better than Prince Edward Island?), a cast of delightfully quirky characters, a practical but imaginative heroine, and one of the best endings ever written. I only wish there had been a sequel! (According to this article, Montgomery started writing a Jane sequel but never finished it.)

The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street (Karina Yan Glaser)

When this middle grade novel was released in late 2017, reviewers likened it to The Penderwicks or books by Elizabeth Enright or Eleanor Estes. I knew I had to read it—after all, how often do current novels even begin to compare to those classics? The thing that impressed me most about this sweet family story was the coziness of the environment and the timeless prose (in that respect, it had a lovely old-fashioned feel). I’ll definitely reread this one in the future!

The Secret School (Avi)

I’ve reread this one numerous times, because it’s always been high on my list of very reread-able books—probably because are several layers of depth to the story, despite its short length (it’s less than 25,000 words)! There’s a sweet simplicity to the tale that reminds me of Sarah, Plain and Tall or Charlotte’s Web, and it’s a fantastic coming-of-age story about a 14-year-old aspiring teacher.