Little Men: Life at Plumfield with Jo's Boys

📖 The Scoop

Little Men, or Life at Plumfield with Jo's Boys, is a children's novel by American author Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888), which was first published in 1871 by Roberts Brothers. The book reprises characters from her 1868-69 two-volume novel Little Women and acts as a sequel, or as the second book in an unofficial Little Women trilogy. The trilogy ends with Alcott's 1886 novel Jo's Boys, and How They Turned Out: A Sequel to Little Men. Alcott's story recounts the life of Josephine or called Jo Bhaer, her husband, and the various children at Plumfield Estate School. Alcott's classic novel has been adapted to a 1934 film, a 1940 film, a 1998 film, a television series, and a Japanese animated television series.

Summary
The story begins with the arrival of Nat Blake, a shy young orphan who is gifted at playing the violin and telling fibs. Nat narrates the story and introduces each character which features several cameo appearances from characters from the original Little Women novel. There are ten boys attending the school already. Then, Nat comes to Plumfield, followed by his friend Dan. After that, Nan arrives and becomes a companion for Daisy, the only girl. Jo's sons, Rob and Teddy, are younger than the others. Rob, Teddy, Daisy, and Nan are not counted among the pupils.

Plumfield is not run by conventional means. All the children have their own gardens and their own pets and are encouraged to experiment with running businesses. Pillow fights are permitted on Saturdays, subject to a time limit. Children are treated as individuals, with a strong emphasis on gently molding their characters.

Daisy Brooke, Meg's daughter, attends Plumfield with her twin brother Demi, but she is somewhat isolated with no other girls her age, until Nan's arrival. Nan is even more of a willful tomboy than Jo was as a teenager, while Daisy is mainly interested in dolls and her own mini kitchen. Daisy's mini kitchen includes a cast iron child-sized oven which was purchased by Jo's brother-in-law, Uncle Teddy, husband of her youngest sister Amy March. Near the end of the novel, Daisy's father, John, dies quietly one night.

The other newcomer to Plumfield, Dan, is introduced by Nat. Dan originally decides the other boys are "molly-coddles" and leads them in experiments with boxing, fighting, drinking, smoking, profanity, and card games, which results in him being temporarily removed from the school. Dan eventually returns to Plumfield with an injured foot and redeems himself by standing up for Nat when Nat is falsely accused of theft by the other boys. He later becomes a curator of the school's natural history museum.

Personal relationships are central to the school, and diversity is celebrated. Daisy is deeply attached to her twin brother, to shy Nat, and to tomboy Nan. Nan and Tommy are also close and intend to marry when they grow up. Dan, already friends with Nat is unexpectedly drawn to the pious Demi and the toddler Teddy. While Franz, Emil, Daisy, and John are all related to the Bhaers, they are not treated with favoritism and are encouraged to overcome their faults just the same as the other pupils.

Genre: Fiction / Family Life / General (fancy, right?)