Jo March, the tomboy heroine of Little Women, has grown up! She returns in this beloved sequel as a young woman with a family of her own. Jo and her husband, Professor Bhaer, open their hearts (and their home) to educate and care for a handful of rowdy yet well-meaning youngsters.Plumfield, the school where the boys learn "e;how to help themselves and be useful men,"e; has a spirited student body that includes — in addition to the Bhaers' two sons — Nat, an orphaned street musician, cold and frightened when he first appears at the Bhaers' door; business-minded Tommy; Dan, a "e;wild boy"e; eventually tamed by love and kindness; and other endearing little mischief-makers.Outside the classroom, the boys rush headlong from one prank to another — from playing matador with the family cow to nearly setting the school afire with a smoldering cigar stub. But in the end, they prove to have a positive effect on the lives of the entire Bhaer family. With tales ranging from tearful to cheerful, this heartwarming unabridged classic promises young readers an exciting and fun-filled visit to nineteenth-century America.
Louisa May Alcott, daughter of Amos Bronson Alcott, one of Emerson's circle of friends, was born in Philadelphia in 1832. Educated mainly by H. D. Thoreau and her father, Miss Alcott served as a hospital nurse during the Civil War. Her first book, Flower Fables, appeared in 1854, and her next work, Hospital Sketches (1863), consisted of her letters home from the Union Hospital during the war. She first gained a wide reputation with Little Women (1868-69), and her best subsequent work was done in the same field. Her chief publications after Little Women are the following: An Old-Fashioned Girl (1870), Little Men (1871), Aunt Jo's Scrap-Bag (1871-79), Work (1873), Silver Pitchers (1876), Rose in Bloom (1876), Jo's Boys (1886), and A Garland for Girls (1887). Good Wives is the second part of Little Women. Miss Alcott died in 1888.
