Little Women or The Unusual Suspects

Little Women (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)

Author: Louisa May Alcott

Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics:

New introductions commissioned from today's top writers and scholars

Biographies of the authors

Chronologies of contemporary historical, biographical, and cultural events

Footnotes and endnotes

Selective discussions of imitations, parodies, poems, books, plays, paintings, operas, statuary, and films inspired by the work

Comments by other famous authors

Study questions to challenge the reader's viewpoints and expectations

Bibliographies for further reading

Indices & Glossaries, when appropriate

All editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. Barnes & Noble Classics pulls together a constellation of influences—biographical, historical, and literary—to enrich each reader's understanding of these enduring works.

Generations of readers young and old, male and female, have fallen in love with the March sisters of Louisa May Alcott's most popular and enduring novel, Little Women. Here are talented tomboy and author-to-be Jo, tragically frail Beth, beautiful Meg, and romantic, spoiled Amy, united in their devotion to each other and their struggles to survive inNew England during the Civil War.

It is no secret that Alcott based Little Women on her own early life. While her father, the freethinking reformer and abolitionist Bronson Alcott, hobnobbed with such eminent male authors as Emerson, Thoreau, and Hawthorne, Louisa supported herself and her sisters with "woman's work," including sewing, doing laundry, and acting as a domestic servant. But she soon discovered she could make more money writing. Little Women brought her lasting fame and fortune, and far from being the "girl's book" her publisher requested, it explores such timeless themes as love and death, war and peace, the conflict between personal ambition and family responsibilities, and the clash of cultures between Europe and America.

Camille Cauti, Ph.D., is an editor and literary critic who lives in New York City. She is a specialist in the Catholic conversion trend among members of the avant-garde in London in the 1890s.

Book about: Meet You in Hell or Commodities For Dummies

The Unusual Suspects (Sisters Grimm Series #2)

Author: Michael Buckley

In book two of the series, the Sisters Grimm start school at Ferryport Landing Elementary. Daphne's lucky enough to get Snow White for a teacher-she loves little people-but poor Sabrina's stuck with Mr. Grumpner and a class of mildly psychotic sixth graders. When Mr. Grumpner is found hanging in a spider's web, it is up to the Grimms to find the Everafter who did it. If only Sabrina can get over her distrust of all fairy-tale folk. But how can she trust those who just might be responsible for the disappearance of her parents?

Carolyn Mott Ford - Children's Literature

This is book two in "The Sisters Grimm" series, which features sisters Sabrina and Daphne who solve mysteries with the help or the intrusion of Granny Relda and Elvis, their Great Dane. Their town of Ferryport Landing is populated with many Everafters. The Everafters are fairy-tale characters who escaped and use disguises along with a little magic to fit in with the humans in town. Only the sisters, descendants of the Brothers Grimm know the secrets of the Everafters and somehow the sisters are the town's sleuths who assist Sheriff Hamstead—who is actually one of the three little pigs—in coping with problems and criminal behavior. As the story unfolds, character after character, including Little Miss Muffet, Puck and Snow White, comes on the scene in a manner sure to bring laughs from kids who like a clever new story offering plenty of "Ah, ha!" moments as they recognize characters from stories of long ago. 2005, Amulet Books/Harry N. Abrams, Ages 8 to 12.

School Library Journal

Gr 4-6-In this second book in the series, Sabrina and Daphne continue their family's fairy-tale detective work in the Hudson River town of Ferryport Landing. The village has more than its share of "Everafters," a group of fairy-tale characters who escaped persecution in Europe by fleeing to America over 200 years ago. Here, the sisters start attending the local elementary school where the principal just happens to be the Pied Piper of Hamelin and Snow White is a most beloved teacher. Almost instantly, one of their teachers is found dead in his classroom, tied to the ceiling in a spider web. While investigating his murder, the girls uncover a devious plot and get closer to discovering the whereabouts of their missing parents. Free-spirited Daphne is a perfect foil for her older, grumpier sister, Sabrina, whose understandable anger over the loss of her parents is the main theme of this novel. There are as many references to frightening aspects of today's world as there are nods to folklore and sometimes both appear in the same sentence. While this mixing of sensibilities proves that fairy tales can be as dark as reality, it also occasionally trivializes truly upsetting modern problems such as nuclear weapons and child labor. The story is fast paced and the main characters are sympathetic and appealing. The abrupt ending will leave readers hungry for the next book in the series.-Kathleen Meulen, Blakely Elementary School, Bainbridge Island, WA

Kirkus Reviews

In a second outing every bit as hilarious and scary as the first, Sabrina and Daphne, the two young descendants of Wilhelm Grimm, no sooner start school in Ferryport Landing than the murders of a teacher and the custodian catapult them into a new investigation. Well-populated by figures from their many-times-great grandpa's tales, plus the likes of Geppetto, Prince Charming and Puck-all of whom are magically confined to the small Hudson River town for their own protection, but don't much like it-the tale unfolds amid encounters with bullies, monsters and large quantities of slime. It involves wild rides through the air and other threats to life and limb, and culminates in a subterranean face-off with Rumpelstiltskin, a goblin with a creepy fondness for children who has partnered with the Pied Piper for an escape attempt. Buckley halts the action a little too often to fill in the back story, and his climax is awkwardly staged-but all of his characters glow with interesting nuances, as they did in the first episode, and he closes this one on a genuinely disturbing cliffhanger. Definitely not bedtime reading. Occasional technically finished illustrations. (Fantasy. 12-14)

Table of Contents:

Change up or Julie Boxed Set

Change-Up: Mystery at the World Series

Author: John Feinstein

Playing in the World Series is every ballplayer’s dream, but no one is more surprised to actually be here than Norbert Doyle–a late call-up for an underdog team.
Doyle pitched in the minor leagues for years before making it to the bigs. He went to school in the off-season to earn his degree. He raised two kids on his own after the tragic death of his wife. And now he’s slated to start game two of the World Series. His feel-good story is a media gold mine. And teen reporters Stevie Thomas and Susan Carol Anderson have scored the first in-depth interview with him.
At first they’re as charmed by Doyle as everyone else–it’s hard not to root for this guy. But the more Stevie and Susan Carol learn about him, the more conflicting stories they hear. And so Stevie becomes an investigative reporter by day while covering the World Series by night, trying to piece together the truth of one athlete’s life. But along the way he has to wonder–who will be hurt if the truth is known, and who will benefit, and what does it have to do with baseball? There are a million secrets in any locker room. Which ones need to be told?

VOYA

Teens Stevie Thomas and Susan Carol Anderson are back on the newspaper sports beat, this time at the World Series. Veteran reporters, they have access to athletes and locker rooms to get the stories fans want to read, and it seems that Stevie has hit it big when he interviews Norbert Doyle, a pitcher for the Washington Nationals. Doyle has never made it big in baseball, but he is about to. Doyle gets to start the first game of the Series and becomes the biggest feel-good story in baseball. As Stevie digs for more material for his story, he finds out there is more to Doyle than he first thought. While covering the Series, Stevie tries to also uncover the truth of Doyle's past, and then must decide if it is something the world really needs to know. Readers will appreciate the sports details and real-life characters Feinstein includes throughout the novel. He provides enough background of the sport so even non-baseball fans can appreciate the action. It is not the drama of the World Series or baseball as much as the mystery of Doyle's past that moves the book forward, as Stevie and Susan Carol interact with Doyle's teenage twins and visit his former hometown to get at the truth. Yet readers never forget that Stevie and Susan Carol are newspaper reporters as they grapple with deadlines, sources, ethics, and the power of the press. This book is an enjoyable trifecta of sports, mystery and journalism for young readers. Reviewer: Nancy Pierce

School Library Journal

Gr 6–9—In previous books, teenage sportswriters Stevie Thomas and Susan Carol Anderson exposed a scheme to throw a game in the NCAA basketball tournament, unraveled a kidnapping plot at the U.S. Tennis Open, and uncovered a steroid scandal at the Super Bowl. Now they are assigned to cover the World Series, where the underdog Washington Nationals are meeting the Boston Red Sox. While checking out the Cinderella story of the 38-year-old Nationals' rookie pitcher, Norbert Doyle, the friends discover a shadowy incident in the man's past. Although Doyle, his children, and especially his agent attempt to deceive, manipulate, and intimidate them, in the end the two reporters base their decision about running the story on the good it would do versus the harm it would cause. As in the other books in the series, Feinstein brings his insider's knowledge of sports to bear, with good effect. The inclusion of real-life sports and media figures along with fictional characters is likely to appeal to knowledgeable fans. For libraries in which the other books have proven popular.—Richard Luzer, Fair Haven Union High School, VT

Kirkus Reviews

Fourteen-year-old sports columnists Stevie Thomas and Susan Carol Anderson begin freshman year with a close-up look at a dramatic wild-card National League Championship final and then at the World Series between Boston and Washington, D.C. When a player who's come up from the minors in a late-season trade pitches a near no-hitter in game two, the mystery and personal tragedy in his past become the story Stevie pursues. Feinstein trots out an array of familiar personalities and offers a look at the way that the players, Major League Baseball and the media interact. He winks editorially about everything and everyone from Tony Kornheiser to the deficiencies in the new Nationals stadium. But the dogged running to earth of the pitcher's story is the real focus, far more than the game of baseball, which is seen only in glimpses. While Stevie and Susan Carol's unlimited freedom stretches credulity more than a bit and nuanced relationships and glimpses of dugout grit are in short supply, fans of the series will enjoy another inside scoop. (Mystery. 12-14)

Book review: Go Dog Go or Goodnight Moon Runaway Bunny

Julie Boxed Set (American Girl Collection Series: Julie)

Author: Megan McDonald

The perfect way to learn about Julie Albright is with a complete set of her six books in an attractive slipcase. Set includes "Meet Julie"; "Julie Tells her Story"; "Happy New Year, Julie"; "Julie and the Eagles"; "Julie's Journey"; and "Changes for Julie".