An Old-Fashioned Girl [Paperback]

Another coming-of-age novel from the author of beloved favoriteLittle Women

Polly Milton never questions the way she is—until she goes to visit her cousins in the city. Her cousin Fanny looks too glamorous to be Polly’s age, and wouldn’t be caught dead playing in the snow. Will Polly ever learn to be like the other girls? And does she even want to? Sometimes being old-fashioned is right in style. A timeless story by the author ofLittle Women.Louisa May Alcott was born on November 29, 1832, in Germantown, Pennsylvania. When she was almost 2 years old, Louisa's family moved to Massachusetts, the state where she lived the bulk of her life. The family moved many times over the years, usually back and forth between Boston and Concord (Mass.). Some notable places Louisa lived were Fruitlands in Harvard, Massachusetts; Hillside in Concord; and Orchard House, also in Concord. Fruitlands was the site of her father's attempt at Utopian living, which she wrote about inTranscendental Wild Oats, thirty years later in 1873. Louisa's childhood at Hillside (later renamed Wayside by Nathaniel Hawthorne, when he lived there) served as the basis for the action in her most popular novel,Little Women, which she wrote as an adult living in Orchard House. Interestingly, these latter two houses were located next door to each other, with a walking path through the woods between. They are both still standing and open for tours in Concord.

Louisa May Alcott's father, Amos Bronson Alcott, was an important--though controversial--man in his times and in his community. He is perhaps best known for being a philosopher and an education reformer, but he was also a leader in the Transcendentalist movement as well as a teacher, school superintendent, and an author. He established both the Temple School, in Boston, and the Concord School of Philosophy. Although he was a loving father, he was not very responsible or practical, sl³¹