Beatrice Gormley

Author of "Little Women"

Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy - generation after generation, young readers open Little Women for the first time and meet these girls, so much like Louisa and her sisters. "We really lived it," said Louisa after writing Little Women, "and if it succeeds that will be the reason of it."
But the life Louisa "really lived" was even more dramatic than the stories that made her famous. As a child, she survived real poverty, hunger, and cold, and as a young woman, she almost died while nursing soldiers in a Civil War hospital. And through it all Louisa wrote, wrote, wrote, supporting her whole family as well as delighting her readers.

The author does an especially good job connecting Louisa's most popular children's books, Little Women and Little Men, to her own life experiences, opinions and concerns.
Children's Literature - Gisela Jernigan

My nine year old daughter virtually consumed this biography. This is the third book she has read in this series, and she has asked for more. I have read them along with her - they are appropriate for 8-10 year olds, interesting, accessible, but never condescending or preachy. Based on my knowledge of the subjects, they are only marginally fictionalized. In a world of pop singers and barely literate actresses, it is a pleasure to be able to provide real heroes and heroines that modern kids will enjoy and be inspired by.
A parent from Teaneck, NJ