ABOUT THIS BOOK
Award-winning author Susan Beth Pfeffer has created a new story for each of the beloved March sisters from Little Women --Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy--that captures each girl at age 10. Join the unforgettable heroines as they experience the joys and sorrows of sisterhood, family life, and a changing America.
Special Note to Teachers: These books include plenty of information to interest boys as well as girls. (Remember, Joey on the TV show Friends loved reading Little Women!)
When proper Aunt March offers to adopt one of the sisters to help ease the family money problems, tomboy Jo decides to make the ultimate sacrifice.
ABOUT THIS AUTHOR
Award-winning author Susan Beth Pfeffer, has written over sixty books for children and young adults. She began her career in 1970, with the publication of her first book, Just Morgan, which she wrote her last semester at New York University.
Ms. Pfeffer's books include middle-grade novels (The Pizza Puzzle), historical fiction (Nobody's Daughter and its companion volume Justice for Emily), and young adult novels (Family of Strangers and Twice Taken). Her young adult novel About David was awarded the South Carolina Young Adult Book Award.
Her young adult novel The Year Without Michael, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults and winner of the South Carolina Young Adult Book Award, was named by the American Library Association as one of the hundred best books for teenagers written between 1968-1993.
TEACHING IDEAS
The Portraits of Little Women collection is an exciting way to introduce young readers--both boys and girls--to the American historical period of the mid-19th century. Each story provides connections with the subject areas of language arts, history, social studies, and the arts and offers the chance to explore such themes as careers, customs and traditions, and making decisions.
Pre-Reading Activities
Have students explore America in the 1860s by discussing some of the differences between the Southern and Northern ways of life. Encourage them to keep this information in mind as they read the Portraits of Little Women, imagining the time period in which the March family lives.
Ask students to research events from the Civil War to create a time line. Here are the first and last entries to start them off:
April 12, 1861--Confederate troops attack Fort Sumter
May 26, 1865--Confederate troops surrender
For students
Did you know?
The Civil War was four years long and took place from 1861 to 1865.
Fought between the North, trying to abolish slavery, and the South, desperate to preserve slavery, it was also known as the War Between the States or the War of Secession.
More American soldiers lost their lives in the Civil War than in any other U.S. war.
Abraham Lincoln was President during the Civil War and his leadership led to the end of slavery.
Thematic Connections
Making Choices
In all four Portraits of Little Women stories, the March girls are forced to make difficult decisions. Divide the class into four groups and have each group read one of the books. Then have students from each group identify the conflicts in each story and invite discussion using the questions below.
Jo's Story
Jo decides she must be the one to live with Aunt March. Ask students to explain how Jo's decision might be considered selfish or unselfish.
Customs and Traditions
Many customs from the mid-19th century are no longer common practice. For example, when Jo visits her Aunt March she asks James, the butler, if her aunt is "receiving" (Jo's Story, p. 17); when the Marches visit New York City, Marmee helps Mrs. Webster with her daughter's trousseau (Beth's Story, p.19). Discuss what other traditions and customs are no longer in practice today.
Have students discuss some of the traditional ways children entertained themselves in the 1860s, before the advent of TV and video games. Note how the Marches create their own entertainment and compare that to how children do so today. What are some of the reasons for these changes? (Dividing the class into four groups, each reading one of the novels, also works especially well with this activity.)
Careers
When Father announces that he must go to war as a chaplain, Meg and Jo both volunteer to leave school to get jobs and help the family. Meg offers to be a mother's helper, while Jo proposes to be Aunt March's helper. What kind of jobs were available to women during the mid-19th century? Discuss with students how women's roles have since changed.
Interdisciplinary Connections
Language Arts
Jo is an avid reader of Charles Dickens's novels. Have students research his life and books. Why was he such a popular writer? Discuss other popular or influential writers of the time, such as Emily Dickinson, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Ask students to list their favorite authors and discuss what makes them so appealing.
History
Mr. March is invited to New York City to meet with several leading abolitionists. Who were some of the abolitionists? What did they stand for? What were other important issues of the time? Use the "Who Said It?" activity below to start a class discussion.
Who Said It?
Create a sheet for students to match each important American with what they might have said based on their contribution to the 19th century. Feel free to carry this activity further by having students research each American in greater depth.
"I was the sixteenth President, and I fought to end slavery." (Abraham Lincoln)
"I was a slave and I devoted my life to the abolition of slavery." (Frederick Douglass)
"I arranged rescue missions to help many slaves escape to freedom." (Harriet Tubman)
"My invention became a universal household appliance." (Isaac M. Singer)
"The story of Little Women was based on my family life. I was most similar to Jo." (Louisa May Alcott)
"I took photos of battlefield scenes and scenes of army camps." (Matthew Brady)
"I said the circus was the greatest show on earth!" (P. T. Barnum)
"My lyrics reflected the state of the country during war." (Stephen Foster)
"I always believed that women should be able to vote." (Susan B. Anthony)
"In 1868, I was elected President of the United States." (Ulysses S. Grant)
Music
Print out and distribute the following lyrics of popular war songs of the time period and ask students to follow along while you play the selections. (If you are unable to find recordings of these songs, have your own sing-along!) After listening to the music, discuss what each song means with respect to the state of the country in the 1860s. How do the lyrics reflect the mood? How do the lyrics in today's songs reflect our mood? What do students think each song means?
Battle Hymn of the Republic
Julia Ward Howe
My eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored.
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword.
His truth is marching on.
Chorus
Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah! His truth is marching on.
Oh, Susanna
Stephen Foster
I come from Alabama
with a banjo on my knee
I am goin' to Louisiana my true love for to see.
It rained all night the day I left, the weather it was dry.
The sun so hot I froze to death,
Susanna don't you cry.
Chorus
Oh, Susanna, oh don't you cry for me,
I am goin' to Louisiana with my banjo on my knee.
When Johnny Comes Marching Home
Louis Lambert
When Johnny comes marching home again, hurrah! Hurrah!
We'll give him a hearty welcome then, hurrah! Hurrah!
The men will sing and the boys will shout;
the ladies, they will all turn out.
And we'll all feel gay when Johnny comes marching home.
When old church bell will peal with joy, hurrah! Hurrah!
To welcome home our darling boy, hurrah! Hurrah!
The village lads and ladies say
with roses they will strew the way.
And we'll all feel gay when Johnny comes marching home.
VOCABULARY
Many words and expressions from Portraits of Little Women date back to the mid-19th century. Have the class make a list of words used during the Civil War era and their contemporary versions. Some examples are "spectacles" (Jo's Story, p. 18), "rounds of the commons" and "on the mend" ( Jo's Story, p. 36), and "constable" (Amy's Story, p. 8).
FURTHER READING
Bess's Log Cabin Quilt by Anne D. Love[0-440-41197-1]
Dakota Spring by D. Anne Love[0-440-41290-0]
LITTLE WOMEN by Louisa May Alcott[0-440-44768-2]