Little Men: Life at Plumfield With Jo's Boys

About the book

At Plumfield, Jo and Professor Bhaer try to make education part of a shared home rather than a sequence of lessons alone. Nat's arrival introduces the reader to a varied group of children whose talents, habits, and earlier experiences require different kinds of attention. Dan's difficulties sharpen the question of how far trust can extend when conventional discipline seems an inadequate response. Alcott develops the community through projects, accidents, friendships, and efforts to repair harm, giving practical activity an important place beside formal study. The adults' ideals must continually be translated into particular decisions. As a continuation of Jo's life after Little Women, the book explores how imaginative sympathy can become an educational practice, and how belonging to a household may ask a child to accept obligations as well as protection.

• Education
• Belonging
• Responsibility

Why read it

For a school story in which learning takes place through daily life, with Jo's imaginative energy redirected towards the needs of children.

English text