Lulu's Library, Volume 2

Alcott, Louisa May, 1832-1888Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.4

Word count: 285K words
Chapters: 29

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Lulu's Library, Volume 2 (of 3) by Louisa May AlcottAuthor: Alcott, Louisa May, 1832-1888,Language: English, Class: PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres, Release Date: May 13, 2010

Editor's review

This is the second volume of Alcott's short story collection written for children. Unlike the structure of her novels, each piece stands alone, brief in length, with themes centered on family life, sibling relationships, and the cultivation of children's character. The prose is gentle, and the narration carries a clear moralizing tone, yet it is often borne by everyday incidents and domestic detail, so it never feels stiff. As a sample of nineteenth-century American children's literature, it helps illuminate the expectations and educational function of children's reading in that era, and reveals the delicacy and warmth Alcott consistently brought to family subjects. Suitable for bedtime reading aloud or casual short-form reading: take one or two pieces at a time and notice how the stories convey value judgments in small details.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who enjoy Alcott's work and want to fill in her children's short stories
Parents and teachers seeking classic short pieces to read aloud to children
Readers studying nineteenth-century American children's literature and moral education

Not a good fit for

Novel readers expecting continuous plot and strong dramatic conflict
Modern readers averse to moralizing narration

Reading tips

Read each piece independently, one or two at a time; there is no need to rush.
For parent-child reading, briefly discuss the choices and consequences in each story after finishing it.
Note the family scenes and character relationships across the pieces, and observe the author's view of childhood by connecting them.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Can I read this without having read Little Women?

Yes. This is a standalone collection of children's short stories and does not depend on knowledge of the plot or characters of Little Women. Of course, once familiar with Alcott's style in family subjects, it is easier to appreciate her habitual approach to kinship and growth in these short pieces.

What age is this suitable for?

The original was written for nineteenth-century child readers; the stories are short and the language gentle, but the English carries period features. Children in the upper primary grades with relatively good Chinese reading ability can attempt it; younger children are better served by a parent reading aloud with appropriate explanation, and the English original is recommended for readers with some foundation.

Are the stories connected to one another?

Each piece stands essentially on its own and can be read in any order without affecting comprehension. Overall they share a thematic focus on family and children's life and a gentle moralizing tone; reading them consecutively makes the author's consistent values and narrative sensibility more clearly felt.

Comments

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About the author

Alcott, Louisa May, 1832-1888 Author

Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888) was an American writer best known for Little Women. The novel follows the four March sisters as they grow up, portraying their joys and sorrows in family life and their individual aspirations; its warm, plain style and finely drawn characters won wide readership, and it became a classic of American children's literature and family fiction. Her writing often drew on her own family experience and surrounding life. Besides Little Women, she wrote works such as Little Men, which continue her attention to the growth and education of children and young people. The collection here holds 54 of her works, including various editions and foreign-language translations of Little Women and a compilation of her life, letters, and journals, showing how widely her work has circulated. Public information is limited, so details of her life are not elaborated here.