Jo's Boys

By (author) Alcott, Louisa May; By (author) Alcott, Louisa May
Short description/annotation
Ten years after the school at Plumfield was founded, Jo''s boys - including wanderer Dan, sailor Emil and musician Nat - are grown up and discovering more about the world. But life after childhood can be confusing and frightening, and it is Jo and the warm-hearted March family who can comfort and guide the boys when they need it the most...
Description

Ten years after the school at Plumfield was founded, Jo''s boys - including wanderer Dan, sailor Emil and musician Nat - are grown up and discovering more about the world. But life after childhood can be confusing and frightening, and it is Jo and the warm-hearted March family who can comfort and guide the boys when they need it the most...

The book includes a behind-the-scenes journey, including an author profile, a guide to who''s who, activities and more..

Also in Puffin Classics: Little Women, Good Wives and Little Men.

Biographical note

Louisa May Alcott (1832-88) was brought up in Pennsylvania, USA. She turned to writing in order to supplement the family income and had many short stories published in magazines and newspapers. Then, in 1862, during the height of the American Civil War, Louisa went to Georgetown to work as a nurse, but she contracted typhoid. Out of her experiences she wrote Hospital Sketches (1864) which won wide acclaim, followed by an adult novel, Moods.

She was reluctant to write a children''s book but then realized that in herself and her three sisters she had the perfect models. The result was Little Women (1868) which became the earliest American children''s novel to become a classic.

Excerpt
Chapter One


Ten Years Later

IF ANYONE had told me what wonderful changes were to take place here in ten years, I wouldn''t have believed it," said Mrs Jo to Mrs Meg, as they sat on the piazza at Plumfield one summer day, looking about them with faces full of pride and pleasure.

"This is the sort of magic that money and kind hearts can work. I am sure Mr Laurence could have no nobler monument than the college he so generously endowed; and a home like this will keep Aunt March''s memory green as long as it lasts," answered Mrs Meg, always glad to praise the absent.

"We used to believe in fairies, you remember, and plan what we''d ask for if we could have three wishes. Doesn''t it seem as if mine had been really granted at last? Money, fame, and plenty of the work I love," said Mrs Jo, carelessly rumpling up her hair as she clasped her hands over her head just as she used to do when a girl.

"I have had mine, and Amy is enjoying hers to her heart''s content. If dear Marmee, John, and Beth were here, it would be quite perfect," added Meg, with a tender quiver in her voice; for Marmee''s place was empty now.

Jo put her hand on her sister''s, and both sat silent for a little while, surveying the pleasant scene before them with mingled sad and happy thoughts.

It certainly did look as if magic had been at work, for quiet Plumfield was transformed into a busy little world. The house seemed more hospitable than ever, refreshed now with new paint, added wings, well-kept lawn and garden, and a prosperous air it had not worn when riotous boys swarmed everywhere and it was rather difficult for the Bhaers to make both ends meet. On the hill, where kites used to be flown, stood the fine college which Mr Laurence''s munificent legacy had built. Busy students were going to and fro along the paths once trodden by childish feet, and many young men and women were enjoying all the advantages that wealth, wisdom, and benevolence could give them.

Just inside the gates of Plumfield a pretty brown cottage, very like the Dovecote, nestled among the trees,