Monday, December 28, 2009

A Literary Treat for the Holiday Season!


PBS American Masters Features Louisa May Alcott



“I am happy, very happy tonight for my five years work is done, and whether it succeeds or not, I shall be the richer and better for it, because the labor, love, disappointment, hope and purpose, that have gone into it, are a useful experience that I shall never forget. Now if it makes a little money and opens the way for more, I shall be satisfied, and you in some measure repaid for all the sympathy help and love that have done so much for me in these hard years. I hope Success will sweeten me and make me what I long to become more than a great writer—a good daughter. And so God bless you, dear mother, and send us all a Happy New Year.”

~Louisa May Alcott in a letter to her mother accompanying a copy of her new book Moods.

Check your local PBS television schedule to find out when American Masters: Louisa May Alcott, the Woman Behind Little Women airs in your community.
More information at: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/ 



And if you live in or are visiting New England, a visit to the Alcott family home, Orchard House makes for fascinating family field trip for all ages!
For more information go to: http://www.louisamayalcott.org/ 

For more information about Louisa May Alcott, visit the Library of Congress website at: 


Louisa May Alcott's book Little Women is an extraordinary book to read to your kids aloud chapter by chapter.  Read it together before you see a movie version of the story. And after reading the book and viewing a Little W0men movie, have a conversation with your kids comparing and contrasting the story to the movie, and comparing and contrasting the experience of reading a book to  watching a movie inspired by a book. 


You can readily find copies of Little Women at your local neighborhood library, or you can read it online at:  http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/AlcLitt.html