RAR Mama Book Club-Little

PREMIUM MAMA BOOK CLUB GUIDE

SPRING 2020

This novel, published in 1871, continues the story of Jo March from Little Women. Jo and her husband now run the Plumﬁeld Estate School, a perfectly inspiring place for children to grow and learn.

Though this is a sequel, you can read it and join in our discussions even if you haven’t yet read Little Women.

Suggested Reading Plan:

Feel free to make this reading plan work for your own schedule. Just do what you can, and don’t get worried if you fall behind or get off track.

Each Monday, a new thread will be posted in the forum to discuss that week’s reading. Find all of the conversations right here.

Week of March 2: Read and discuss chapters 1-3

Week of March 9: Read and discuss chapters 4-6

Week of March 16: Read and discuss chapters 7-9

Week of March 23: Read and discuss chapters 10-12

Week of March 30: Read and discuss chapters 13-15

Week of April 6: Read and discuss chapters 16-18

Week of April 13: Read and discuss chapters 19-21

Week of April 20: An Evening with Jan Turnquist

An Evening with Jan Turnquist

Join us for a live video stream with the Executive Director of Louisa May Alcott’s Orchard House, and Co-Executive Producer of the Emmy-Award winning documentary, Orchard House: Home of Little Women.

� Final date/time coming soon! Details will be posted here.

Remember that literature is not intended to provide answers, but rather to raise questions. The author is inviting us into a conversation about ideas we may not have considered before, or perhaps have not considered in quite this way.

If you can’t or don’t like to write directly in your book, you may ﬁnd it helpful to use post-its or a notebook to jot down questions, thoughts, and ideas that come up as you’re reading.

There’s no wrong way to do this. Experiment with different ways to dig into and enjoy your reading!

Here are a few questions to prompt you: What jumps out at you as you read? Mark it. You don’t need to know why it caught your attention—the ﬁrst step is just to note that it did!

Which elements of education at Plumﬁeld appeal to you? If any words/phrases pop up frequently, circle them (or jot them in a notebook). Sometimes a theme or central idea will emerge through this kind of repetition.

In what ways is Jo still relatable as a mother in the 21st century? If you have read or watched Little Women, consider: how are these books similar? How are they different?

Meet Louisa May Alcott

Louisa was born in 1832, and like the family she wrote about in Little Women, had 3 sisters. Her parents were forward-thinking for their time, and encouraged their daughters to pursue their interests and seek a robust education for themselves.

Louisa loved to make up stories, and even though it was widely believed to be dangerous to a woman’s health to engage in the brainwork of writing, her father, Bronson Alcott, built her a desk for her bedroom. That desk is where she penned Little Women.

She was an abolitionist and served as a nurse in the Civil War, and published more than 30 books and collections of short stories and poetry before her death in 1888.

More resources:

� Podcast: RAR #146: The Astonishing Impact of Louisa May Alcott

� Documentary: Orchard House: Home of Little Women (30 min)

� Picture Book Biography: Louisa: The Life of Louisa May Alcott, written by Yona Zeldis McDonough, illustrated by Bethanne Anderson