7 things you can learn from reading Little Women + Reading Guide

Have you ever read Little Women? If you haven’t then you definitely should! I recently read it and it is amazing. In fact today I’ll be sharing 7 things to take away from Little Women, and a Reading tips Guide that will give tips on keeping you interested, and engaged, plus how to fully enjoy the book!

-7 things you can learn from reading Little Women-

1. Family.

If you’ve read Little Women then you know that family is a big thing for them. The sisters are best friends. Throughout the book the Marches go through a ton of trials, and in the end are still together, as a family loving life. And, no they aren’t the “model family” the Marches had their problems, trials, fights, laughs, and happy days, just like everyone does!

 

 

2. Giving is a greater joy than receiving.

Believe it or not this book begins with the girls complaining! They’re complaining that they aren’t rich, won’t have a good Christmas, and can never have anything nice or pretty. Then minutes later they are planning what to get their mother (I’m going to start calling her Marmee) for Christmas, and making a surprise plan of giving their Christmas breakfast to their even poorer neighbors. Despite their poverty, the Marches are very generous and (try) to be kind to everyone they meet.

3. Respect.

Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy all respected and adored their parents. They confided in them, trusted them, helped them, respected them and loved them. When they had questions they asked, troubles, hurts, happiness, any and all of those things they told their parents. And that is probably why they had such a good relationship with their parents all their lives.

4. Friends. 

Jo and Laurie were just good friends all their lives. I think this is important, because many people think you can’t be “just friends” with kids of opposite genders, which is not true. A lot of people wonder why Laurie and Jo never married, and it’s simply because their friendship was more like siblings then a married couple.

5. Play.

One thing I really appreciate with this book is that the girls still played as teens. Jo wrote plays, that all the girls performed/helped out with. They would have friends and schoolmates over to watch the plays and/or help with tea parties afterward! Despite their being poor they really found many ways of entertainment!

6. Individuality.

As I stated above, these girls weren’t lazy, they didn’t just sit and sew embroidery all day, in fact they did almost the complete opposite of that! Meg would sit and work at her dresses while Jo wrote the afternoon away. Beth would play with her dolls while Amy sketched pictures of flowers. And of course Jo had her temper, Meg complained, Amy whined and pouted, and Beth was sweet. XD

7. Life.

I think this book really portrayed a good and happy life. Of course it is fiction, but there is something to take away from it for everybody. Louisa (the author) based the girls off of her own sisters, taking the role of Jo for herself. She did such an amazing job with the characters it’s almost like you want to take a time travel and meet them yourself! Whether you are a reader, writer, artist, business person, parent, teen, whatever you are, you should read this book!

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-Reading Guide-

While reading Little Women I sometimes found it difficult to stay interested/ motivated and found myself wandering while reading. I’ve compiled a few tips to (hopefully) help you during your reading journey, and make it a more enjoyable experience.

• If you’re feeling tired or not in the mood, don’t read. Seriously, even if you need to catch up, you won’t do yourself any good.
• If you are distracted and miss a character then go back and find where that character came in, so that you clearly understand who he/she is.
• When you started to get distracted stop and take a break.
• I find that classic’s take a bit more interpreting then other books — especially if you are reading the full version. Take your time with this book, and don’t just set it down after the first chapter.
•  Sometimes a notebook is nice for writing your favorite quotes and sayings. It might be fun to re-visit them sometime!

There you have it! 5 tips for reading Little Women. I sort of regret not doing that last one, but there is always a next time! (there is also always the internet)

Age range:

For the first part I would say 10+ for the original 8+ for the abridged. This might make a good read-aloud for the whole family if you skipped over a few small parts.

For the second part I would definitely say 12+.

And that concludes the reading guide! I hope it was somewhat helpful, and you enjoyed it! 🙂

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I hope you enjoyed this post and will read Little Women! Have a wonderful weekend! 🙂