Little Women and Me

October 3, 2011
An English assignment to find something to change in a well-loved novel becomes a catalyst for a trip into a fictional world. When insecure high school freshman Emily March isn’t obsessively trying to turn herself into someone boys will like better than her sisters, she enjoys reading. She knows exactly what she would change about her beloved Little Women: Beth would not die, and Jo, not Amy, would marry Laurie, the boy next door. Her idealizations of the March girls change, however, when she gets sucked into their world, becoming—once again—the middle March sister and competing with her sisters (especially her idol Jo) for a boy’s attention. As Emily adjusts to the lack of modern conveniences (“How I missed Facebook!”), she tries to discern her purpose for entering the novel. Baratz-Logsted (The Education of Bet) fully embraces the corniness of her fish-out-of-water premise (“Talk about being sucked into a book”; “alk about getting lost in a good book”), but those upset over the fates of certain characters in the original will find reason to rejoice in this retelling. Ages 12–up.

October 1, 2011
This latest venture in literary repurposing—19th-century classic to teen chicklit—features an overlooked middle sister whose freshman English assignment propels her into Alcott's novel, where, as sister to Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy, she's overlooked again. Emily assumes she's been sent to change something about the March sisters' story—perhaps she'll save Beth?—yet at first the Marches barely register her presence. Life with the fictional Marches echoes Emily's real one. There, she'd tried and failed to attract a boy with a crush on her older sister. With her knowledge of Laurie's interest in Jo, Emily moves in to nab him first, only to scare him away. Plenty of teen heroines feel invisible, but Emily's indignant reaction and optimistic determination to be noticed set her apart. The story works best when delivering Emily's contemporary-teen take on the classic's more dated elements (Marmee's lectures, the family's preachy good intentions, Victorian gender relations), which haven't worn well. Contradictions abound though. How someone as vivid and feisty as Emily can be ignored in either world is unclear. The fantasy device feels awkward, and themes and plot elements don't quite coalesce. Set churlish quibbles aside, though, and what remains is a consistently entertaining read that delivers a genuinely original heroine and frequently hilarious satire. (Fantasy. 12 & up)

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October 1, 2011

Gr 7-9-High school freshman Emily March is sick of being constantly passed over as the middle sister. It was bad enough when it was just her family, but now that her crush is fawning over her sisters, it's too much. When she is assigned to pick a book and write about the one thing she would change in it, she chooses Little Women and she is literally sucked into the story. For the duration of the tale, she is part of the March family as the fifth and, of course, middle sister. Certainly fans of Alcott's work will enjoy the familiar scenes from a modern point of view, not to mention the adventures of an additional sister and the great twist at the end, and they're likely to want to go back and reread the original. Many readers will also applaud Emily's desperate attempts to save Beth from her fate and change Jo's and Laurie's marriage choices. However, for those who have not read the classic, this book gives away far too much and yet doesn't make kids realize how much they're missing. Still, there are definitely lessons to take away from Baratz-Logsted's message about finding your own voice. Overall, this is a well-done companion book for fans of the novel.-Kerry Roeder, Corlears School, New York City

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.