Little Men by Louisa May Alcott

 Welcome to a school in which loving care, kindness and personal development are regarded as just as important as academic learning! Jo and her husband Professor Bhaer regard all of the boys in their care as just as important as their own child. The boys here have pillow fights, slide down bannisters, and generally enjoy themselves. However, studying is made so pleasant that they regard it as 'fun'. I write 'the boys' because this remains a boy's school until the girls demand their rights...

I loved this as a child, but it didn't appeal to me as much now, and I skimmed the last part of it. It's more of a collection of stories than a book. However, the characters are an interesting collection. There's Dan, the firebrand who teaches the boys to drink and play poker, Nat, the homeless boy who has a talent for the fiddle and rebellious Nan, who wants to learn just as much as the boys. Sweet domesticated Daisy and Demi, Meg's twins, are also very likeable. I probably wanted to read more about the three March sisters, though!

There is an extremely sad part of the book when someone important dies. I found this beautifully-written, and very poignant. LMA, like L.M. Montgomery is brilliant at writing both wonderfully happy scenes, and very miserable ones! 

This review is very late. I wrote it for Tarissa's Louis May Alcott Reading Challenge, and meant to post it in June.