"Little Women". To read or not to read?

[Sgtmajormummy]

I am an avid reader aloud of books to my kids. I enjoy it and for them it's the only way to end the day. DS had a triumphant finale with The Amber Spyglass at the age of 11, but still leaves his door open to have a sneaky listen to what his sister (9) gets.
I made a choice to read her books with positive female characters, so we've had Tom's Midnight Garden and Anne of Green Gables recently, both of which she understood and enjoyed. However, with Little Women I feel I'm dripping poison into her ears!
I am outraged at the obsession with forbearance and preparing yourself to be a dutiful wife, honouring housewifely skills and modesty and eschewing worldly pleasures. Not to mention the heavy handed Papist baiting!
Not even the character of Jo (which saved the book for me in the early 70s) can raise it to being acceptable for emancipated girls growing up in the 21st century.
So, people of MN, should "Little Women" be left on the shelf, and if so, in favour of what?

Some of the Dick King Smith books might do?

I'm just concerned that, yes, we've come a long way in 150 years but we ARE in danger of going backwards for some things.

Girls are so conscious of their appearance from an early age that any non-conformity is pounced on. Is it Barbie, MTV or photoshop to blame? Sounds like the 1800s to me.

There are a great number of successful women forging careers and holding their own in what is still a man's world, but there are many who are judged as successful because of who they've married and had children by (the WAG phenomenon).

The sisterhood I still believe in (and one of the reasons I joined MN) is so often lacking and women antagonise one another in social and work situations over the few resources available to them (Queen Bees and Wendies). Not much progress then.

Now, I don't count myself as a militant feminist, but I do want my children of both sexes to avoid damaging stereotypes, and that's the gripe I had with this book.

It's certainly not compulsory to read it. Perhaps when she is older she will understand the context more?

I have to say that I read it as a child, identified far more with Jo than the others, and still somehow found myself a feminist from a young age. I also read Enid Blyton and emerged fairly unscathed. I think we tend to take what we need from our stories and disregard the rest.

I don't think reading Little Women is going to have a significant effect on your daughter's world view.

For me as a child it was refreshing to read a novel with so many female characters. And it's a very different world view - Jo is a reasonably complex character, she rejects Laurie but later regrets her decision after Beth dies. Yet she later works as a governess and finds a sort of unconventional love in the end. Their world is one of self sacrifice, duty and piety - very different to modern values.

And yy to Enid Blyton. I cringe reading it now but loved her as a child.

BitOfFun I enjoyed the Podcast. It addressed many of the things we've been going over here, but I often got: "IN SPITE of what she wrote, she had a very inspiring life." , and when the presenter asked: "Isn't it in danger of losing its (relevance/applicability/can't remember the word)...?" I saw the scroll bar reaching the end of the line and went ! Thanks anyway! Long live Radio 4!

My 8yo is reading the Time Hunters series at the moment as he loves history. I liked Little Women at his age but preferred Jack and Jill (also an Alcott book). I don't think my ds1 would enjoy it though. Dd did at that age but she also was into babysitters club books and goosebumps books (90s). She then jumped straight into more weighty books around 11 or 12. If you aren't happy with how characters are portrayed in the books perhaps it is an opportunity to open up discussion with her about it?

"Purchase" is the word he used! Befuddled brain in the mornings.

Talking about clear memories, I'm often taken by surprise at kids' razor sharp recall and wonder how much of what we say goes in deep.

A little story here: DS tells me I span a tale for him about golfballs going down the hole into a chute and out to sea, like a giant snooker table. He believed it for years and I have NO RECALL!

So yes, reading aloud does go straight to the emotional memory, and we need to realise it.

Well, we've finished it and I can see it's struck a few chords with DD.

She asked me what job I would have liked to do if I hadn't become a . I then asked her and she said "A writer." Previously it had always been a farmer. Good job she didn't say a dutiful housewife, eh?...

She was very involved in Meg's engagement and the idea of a pretty but poor girl having more chances than an ugly poor one. Interesting, since DD is not the class beauty but is one of the strongest academically. We'll come back to that, I'm sure...

So, looking at the book in a benevolent mood (sorry for the outburst on Thursday) I would say "Presence of a Responsible Adult" needed, but a thought-provoking read, even at 9 years old.

I think I've just answered my own question!

Thanks to all for views and suggestions.

Glad you finished it with her. My dd is a similar age and enjoyed it. Also What Katey did which you could crticise for similar reasons. I loved the girls and thought Jo was interesting and complex. Surely reading these books gives girls an understanding of how constricted women's lives were which they eed to know to understand the point of feminism.

I love this book with a passion and Good Wives. Please don't deny it to your daughter just because it seems dated.

I love Little Women and some of the sequels. So did dd when she read it aged 10. Yes, some of the attitudes are very dated, but that's going to be the case in all of the classics. Nonetheless, there are many excellent values in it, too, such as perseverance and compassion.

If you're not happy with the outdated attitudes, use them as a springboard for discussion.