A hopeful heart : Louisa May Alcott before Little Women / Deborah Noyes.
Record details
- ISBN: 9780525646235 :
- ISBN: 052564623X :
- Physical Description: 293 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
- Edition: First edition.
- Publisher: New York : Schwartz & Wade Books, [2020]
Content descriptions
Bibliography, etc. Note: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 275-276) and index. |
Target Audience Note: | Ages 8-12. Schwartz & Wade Books. Grades 7-9. Schwartz & Wade Books. |
Search for related items by subject
Subject: | Alcott, Louisa May, 1832-1888. Women > Biography. Women authors, American > 19th century > Biography. |
Available copies
- 1 of 1 copy available at Town of Hanover Libraries.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 1 total copy.
Holds
0 current holds with 1 total copy.
Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Status | Due Date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Howe Library | J B ALCOTT | 31254003687767 | Children's nonfiction | Available | - |
Kirkus Review
A Hopeful Heart : Louisa May Alcott Before Little Women
Kirkus Reviews
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
From birth to fame, a versatile writer's growth, education, travels, and early influences. Louisa May Alcott led a copiously well-documented life--her own journals, begun at age 8, were preceded by her father Bronson's record of his young daughters' antics that ultimately ran to 2,500 pages. Here Noyes falls victim to that weight of available detail, embedding valuable insights into Bronson's pedagogical methods (well ahead of their time), Alcott's independent spirit, and the Alcott family's connections with leading intellectual lights of the day in tedious references to neighbors, boarders, debts and payments, travel arrangements, and quotidian comings and goings. The generally penniless Alcotts changed addresses over 30 times in Alcott's first 20-some years, for example, and if the author doesn't mention each and every move, readers will still feel as if she has. She also, disappointingly, shows more interest in detailing what Alcott was paid for her potboilers than in describing what they were about and takes at best cursory notice of the themes or plotlines of her early novels The Inheritance and Moods. On the other hand, Alcott's experiences nursing dying Civil War soldiers in a Washington hospital make a vivid and heart-rending lead-up to a climactic account of the genesis of Little Women, and readers who have fallen under that novel's spell will at least come away with a clear picture of its author's maverick nature. A perceptive character study afflicted with excess and inconsequential detail. (bibliography, endnotes) (Biography. 12-15) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
BookList Review
A Hopeful Heart : Louisa May Alcott Before Little Women
Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
With renewed interest in Little Women, following Greta Gerwig's film adaptation, this biography of Louisa May Alcott will satisfy readers curious to know more about the inspiration for the writer's semi-autobiographical classic. Beginning with a morality lesson delivered to a very young Louisa, it traces Alcott's life up to the publication of her most famous work. Readers may be surprised to learn that while Alcott grew up in a close-knit family with three sisters of varying personalities, her existence was often far from charming. The detailed narrative, filled with passages from letters, journals, and other primary sources, recounts her father's never-ending educational and philosophical enterprises that often ended in failure, leaving the "Pathetic Family" (as Alcott dubbed themselves) in a constant state of poverty. Yet it also reflects the burgeoning "Jo," determined to be self-reliant through her writing. Noyes provides even more context, framing Alcott's life in her Boston and Concord, Massachusetts, settings and citing the influence of such Transcendentalist neighbors as Emerson and Thoreau. Photographs and extensive back matter provide more ways to study Alcott's legacy.Women in Focus: The 19th in 2020
Publishers Weekly Review
A Hopeful Heart : Louisa May Alcott Before Little Women
Publishers Weekly
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
This well-researched account of Louisa May Alcott's amply documented life is differentiated by Noyes's emphasis on the toxicity of Bronson Alcott's Transcendental beliefs, Abby Alcott's frustration and resourcefulness, and their family commitment to abolitionism. Direct quotes from primary sources depict the idealism-induced instability of Alcott's socially privileged but impoverished youth--friends with luminaries including Thoreau and Emerson, but "poor as rats" due to her father's unwillingness to earn a living. Buffeted by her turbulent family, Alcott stepped up to provide. Ironically, Little Women, a book she reluctantly wrote and which transmuted her flawed family into the idealized Marches, finally won Alcott "the fortune and fame she had craved." Though Noyes's adroit biography covers key details, Alcott is overshadowed by her charismatic parents, while her fictional alter ego, Jo March, remains the benchmark for insights into the author's heart. Final art not seen by PW. Ages 8--12. (Oct.)
School Library Journal Review
A Hopeful Heart : Louisa May Alcott Before Little Women
School Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Gr 7 Up--While most readers imagine Louisa May Alcott's life story to be largely identical to her autobiographical novel, Noyes's well-researched biography reveals a fascinating journey in the decades prior to the publication of Little Women. Her family moved dozens of times. They followed Alcott's eccentric father, Bronson, on his failed quests as an education reformer, philosopher, and Utopian commune founder. Her parents' involvement in intellectual circles allowed Alcott and her sisters to rub elbows with thinkers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Nathaniel Hawthorne and participate in the abolitionist movement and Underground Railroad. While Noyes offers detailed descriptions of each of the family members, the chronological narrative focuses on Alcott's independent spirit and how she later provided financial support for her family through teaching, working as an army nurse, and writing. This book will appeal to any reader familiar with Little Women; the text shares insight into the family dynamics, misadventures, and love interests that found their way into the novel. Readers with a strong background in American literature will fully appreciate the notable friendships of the Alcott family, which included prominent American writers and philosophers. VERDICT A valuable addition to biography collections, especially where author studies are in demand.--Kelly Jahng, South Park Elem. Sch., IL
The Horn Book Review
A Hopeful Heart : Louisa May Alcott Before Little Women
The Horn Book
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Before he actually had children, Bronson Alcott wondered, "Can parents limit outside influences and raise a perfect child?" Well, the answer was no. By the time second daughter Louisa was three and her older sister Anna was four, they were out of control. Louisa was a "brute" in the nursery, Mrs. Alcott was an emotional mess, and family life was a disaster. (Good to know there's hope for us all!) "Wild and ungovernable," Louisa threw food and pulled Anna's hair. As Louisa grew up, she loved racing through the park and sliding down bannisters. But being given freedom to play and dream; growing up in a house full of books; and having such Concord neighbors as Thoreau, Emerson, and Hawthorne nurtured the young, passionate girl -- ultimately readying her to take on the literary world with Little Women. Noyes expertly places Alcott within the context of a chaotic and poverty-stricken family life and a confining and conventional Concord. An idealistic father, an overburdened mother, and three lively sisters provided the models for her characters in Little Women, published when she was thirty-five. Photographs -- of Thoreau, Walden Pond, and John Brown -- and reproductions of letters, magazine covers, and even a tintype of a Civil War drummer complement the text. Back matter includes an extensive bibliography. Dean Schneider November/December 2020 p.128(c) Copyright 2020. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.