In a post last year, I gave suggestions for books to check out if you’re a fan of Anne of Green Gables, and today, I’m recommending books for longtime Little Women fans. If you’re hoping for a book that has a similar feel, see if one of these fun vintage titles could be the right fit!

– If you love the realistic sibling dynamics, try What Katy Did by Susan Coolidge.

– If you’re a fan of sister stories and want another book with both child and young adult siblings, try Treasure for Debby by Amy Wentworth Stone.

– If you’re in the mood for a book that features the characters maturing from childhood to adulthood, try Pollyanna Grows Up by Eleanor Porter.

– If you’re on the hunt for another book featuring a heroine who longs to be a writer, try Jill’s Story by Jean Fiedler (hard to find, but worth looking for)! 

– If you’re looking for another cozy family story set in the 1800s, try The Belonging Place by Jean Little.

– If your favorite aspect of Little Women was the Jo & Laurie subplot but you want the characters to actually end up together, try the Betsy-Tacy high school books by Maud Hart Lovelace, beginning with Heaven to Betsy.

– If you’d like to read another feel-good novel about a New England family pulling together in hard times, try Winterbound by Margery Williams Bianco.

– If you’re still in the mood for Louisa May Alcott but want something less known, try her delightful Jack and Jill!

Bonus: if a chapter where the characters time-travel to visit the Little Women cast sounds good to you, check out The Time Garden by Edward Eager!

What books would you recommend to Little Women fans? Leave a comment below!

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

This summer, I challenged myself to read twelve vintage kidlit books for twelve weeks. (Okay, perhaps “challenged” is the wrong word. I didn’t think it was challenging at all!)

It was tremendously fun.

Each week I wrote a quick recap after I’d finished each book, and I’ve included all of my recaps here, along with some fun facts and recommendations!

Week 1/June 21, The Four Story Mistake by Elizabeth Enright:

I *so* enjoyed rereading this one. There’s something infinitely comforting about the Melendy family and their delightful adventures. 🙂 The realism and authenticity of the characters and their thoughts is one of the things I love most about Enright’s novels, and you can especially appreciate that in “The Four-Story Mistake.”

I’m an enormous fan of fascinating old houses, so that’s another element I love about this book. Oliver’s exploration of the cellar (those old books!!), the cupola, and – of course – the secret room with the painting of Clarinda; all such delicious facets to a house with a “confused architectural history,” as the back of the book phrases it.

I also particularly like the details about Mona’s radio program. This aspect of the story greatly reminds me of my favorite theatrical tidbits in Noel Streatfeild’s books – especially Sorrel’s program in “Theater Shoes.”

Week 2/June 28, Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill by Maud Hart Lovelace: 

I breezed through this one over the weekend, captivated all over again by the sweet, familiar story. There are so many humorous subtleties in this book that I don’t think I fully appreciated as a child reading it 🙂 I love the drama of their determination to collect the most votes for queen, and the delightful resolution – especially the discovery of Naifi’s royal heritage!

Structurally, this is one of Maud Hart Lovelace’s strongest books. Each element of the book is woven carefully together, and the characters are just as beautifully rendered as ever.

Week 3/July 5, Canadian Summer by Hilda van Stockum:

Loved revisiting this one, it’s an absolute gem…I first read it two years ago, and what stood out most in my mind from that read was a stunning description of a scenic vista on the Mitchells’ picnic. It is still one of my favorite scenes in the book! The writing reminds me of Elizabeth Enright mixed with L.M. Montgomery and Noel Streatfeild… A+!

I also appreciate the shifting POVs…I always like it in middle grade books when there are scenes from the parents’ perspective. It just adds an extra layer of characterization and dimension.

Week 4/July 12, Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren:

As with “Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill,” I was able to breeze through “Pippi Longstocking” in just a couple of days. I enjoyed it even more than I did when I was nine and reading it for the first time! Pippi’s outlandish tales, impressive strength, and irrepressible charm make for a simply delightful book.

It’s also interesting how Pippi’s personality and characterization are so well-done and well-drawn, but her friends Tommy and Annika remain rather flat, one-dimensional characters. I wonder if Astrid Lindgren wrote them this way to show a greater contrast.

Week 5/July 19, Trixie Belden and the Secret of the Mansion by Julie Campbell:

I really enjoyed reading this one, even more than the first time I read it. As I said in my original post, it is a perfect read for summer, and all of Trixie’s adventures are delightful. The characterizations are very well done, and I definitely prefer the original Trixie books by Julie Campbell to the later ones, which were penned by ghostwriters. I love the setting, and that’s probably due to the fact that Trixie’s home (Crabapple Farm) is based on a real place. 🙂 I always gravitate toward stories that are based on some sort of reality.

In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I went ahead and read the second volume of the series as well. The first book leads so naturally into the next!

Week 6/July 26, Return to Gone-Away by Elizabeth Enright:

Love this book! I think that on reading it a second time, I don’t find it quite as compelling as the first book because there isn’t the same sense of mystery and discovery as in book one. But that’s not to say that this book isn’t full of delightfully intriguing sections as well!

The storyline of this one – fixing up the abandoned house – is a favorite of mine, as is the humor and the oral tradition of the Gone-Away stories. Portia’s mother’s ecstatic reaction to finding the antique furniture is also a lovely moment!

Week 7/August 2, Dancing Shoes by Noel Streatfeild:

I just read this book last year, and it still felt completely rereadable and engaging. The characters, the fascinating dynamics, the slow blossoming of Rachel’s confidence, and the theater/dance tidbits are among my very favorite aspects of this book, and in all of Streatfeild’s work.

Reading this has simply made me want to read all the others. Party Shoes! White Boots! The Gemma books! Apple Bough! The Painted Garden! I could go on. (Note: I just read The Painted Garden this week [September 13] and it was quite as good as I’d remembered! Perhaps even better.)

Week 8/August 9, Happy Little Family by Rebecca Caudill:

This is *such* a delightful story. It’s so sweet and simple, and full of the most realistic nuances. I enjoyed it so much that I ended up reading the next book in the series as well 🙂

My favorite chapter in this book is definitely the one where they search for arrowheads and try to win a particularly special arrowhead!

Week 9/August 16, The Borrowers by Mary Norton:

I so enjoyed discovering this book for the very first time! It was a lovely fast-paced read, full of humor and adventure and fun dialogue. A definite five-star book! I was hoping to find a few more favorite vintage kid’s books this summer, and I’m glad I added this to my list.

My favorite elements, I think, were the mysteriousness of Mrs. May’s story, the different families of Borrowers who lived in various nooks and crannies in the old Victorian house, and the ambiguous ending. I also appreciated the fact that the book was British, which I never knew before!

Week 10/August 23, Henry and the Paper Route by Beverly Cleary:

Beverly Cleary’s stories never disappoint, and this one was a joy to read. With her usual simplicity and humor, she once again captures childhood with vivid accuracy. Henry’s various plans and schemes to garner a paper route were so much fun. And of course, Ramona is memorable in any role!

I should really read the other Henry books I haven’t read yet, and reread the ones I have!

Week 11/August 30, Baby Island by Carol Ryrie Brink:

What a sweet story! I am so glad I added this to the reading challenge. Carol Ryrie Brink has such a masterful storytelling style, and her characters and plots are always a treat.

I also loved that the plot of this book mirrored the story that Chrys and Cordy write in Brink’s “Two Are Better Than One.” Since that book is somewhat autobiographical, it makes it even more fun!

Week 12/September 6, The Time Garden by Edward Eager:

This book is just so very, very funny, and I love the glimpses into history. In this one, the four children spend a summer at an old house in Boston that dates from the 1700s. One of the aspects I like best about this book is when their time (or “thyme”) travel takes them to eras in the old house’s past (Revolutionary-era, Civil War…)

A splendid conclusion to my #SummerofVintageKidLit!

If you read along with me this summer, I hope you enjoyed all of the books as much as I did! What better way to spend a summer than revisiting (or discovering) such pleasurable classic children’s novels?

I’m excited to begin week twelve of my #SummerofVintageKidLit! If you haven’t yet heard about my summer reading challenge, you can take a look at my recent blog post that has all the details.

Last week we read Baby Island, and you can read my quick recap in the comments of this post 🙂

This week, we’re reading Edward Eager’s “The Time Garden.” I am such a fan of Edward Eager’s wildly witty stories. He wrote a seven-book series beginning with “Half Magic,” and this is the fourth volume of that series. I’ve been looking forward to revisiting this one – the chapter featuring the Little Women characters is particularly hilarious!

Here’s a summary about this book from Goodreads:

From the moment Roger, Ann, Eliza, and Jack discover the fragrant bank of wild thyme in old Mrs. Whiton’s garden, magic begins. The thyme garden opens the way to olden time, future time, and common time. Though Eliza says time doesn’t grow – it flies – the Nutterjack, the odd creature who presides over the garden, says anything can happen when you have all the time in the world. The four children are plunged into exhilarating, always unpredictable adventures – meeting the Revolutionary Minutemen, Queen Elizabeth I, and even their own parents when they were children.

Happy Reading! Feel free to discuss this book by leaving a comment below, or tweet about it using the hashtag #SummerofVintageKidLit! Or join my Facebook group to be alerted of all the latest posts.

I hope you will join me for a fun reading challenge! For twelve weeks this summer, I’m reading one vintage children’s book a week from this list. For this list, I’ve chosen classic kid lit published in the 1930s-50s that evokes a fun summery feel! I’ve also selected a mixture of books that I’ve read before and that are new to me; the books on this list are also relatively easy to find. If you’d like to read along, I’ll be commenting regularly on this post with updates on my reading challenge and thoughts on the books, so feel free to read and comment as well! I’d love to start an engaging conversation about all the books 🙂

So, my summer of vintage kid lit kicks off on the twenty-first of June! On that day, I will begin reading (actually, re-reading!) Elizabeth Enright’s The Four-Story Mistake. This one is so much fun, and I think it’s a great start to the challenge.

I’ll also be posting updates on Twitter with my #SummerofVintageKidLit hashtag, so if you’re on Twitter, feel free to use the hashtag so we can talk more about these books!

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.