11 h 28 minAudiobook6 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 11 h 28 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens when the children you nurture grow up to choose lives of their own?
In Louisa May Alcott’s Jo’s Boys, the small school of Little Men has become Plumfield College. Jo Bhaer is a busy mother, teacher and famous author who longs for quiet to write. With Professor Bhaer, she guides a new generation toward adulthood, while the children she once taught face hard choices about work, love and the people they hope to become.
Nan Harding means to become a doctor, whatever others think. Nat Blake hopes to study music abroad, while restless Dan Kean returns to Plumfield longing to belong. Around them, young women and men study side by side. Their ambitions give this warm family story its searching questions: what makes a good life, and who gets to choose it?
What you’ll discover
- Jo beyond Little Women Meet Jo as fame, motherhood and teaching compete with her wish to write.
- Nan chooses her path Follow a determined young woman who refuses to surrender her dream of becoming a doctor.
- Talent needs more than hope Share Nat’s musical ambitions as he learns that a gift also calls for steadiness.
- A home for Dan Encounter a restless young man whose fierce nature meets a deep longing to belong.
- Family beyond blood ties Discover a household where forgiveness and care shape the difficult work of growing up.
Who will love it
For readers who love the March family and want to see how they grew up, and anyone who enjoys gentle family stories about work, love, forgiveness and choosing a calling.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Plumfield grows from a school into a college
- Jo is famous and finds fame a burden
- Nan wants to be a doctor and will not be moved
- Nat chases music and Tom stumbles toward success
- Dan comes home, restless and hard to tame
- The younger generation brings art and drama
- Work, vocation and a woman's place
- Family, forgiveness and growing up
- How Alcott tells it: voice, structure and tone
Who’s who
- Jo BhaerOnce Jo March, now a busy mother, teacher and famous author who wants quiet to write and a happy future for her pupils.
- Professor BhaerJo's kind husband, who runs Plumfield College and believes in teaching character as well as lessons.
- Nan HardingA brisk, determined young woman who is set on becoming a doctor and will not be talked out of it.
- Tom BangsA cheerful, clumsy medical student, once a prankster, who is fond of Nan and means well.
- Nat BlakeA gifted young violinist from a poor start, who hopes to study music abroad but must learn steadiness.
- Dan KeanA fierce, restless young man who returns to Plumfield after years of wandering and longs to belong.
- Josie BrookeMeg's fiery youngest daughter, who dreams of becoming an actress and stages her own dramas.
- Bess LaurenceAmy and Laurie's calm, graceful daughter, who is drawn to sculpture and inherits her mother's artistic gift.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet, computer or Kindle, with the type as large as you like.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 11 h 28 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 6 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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25 languages, side by side
Read and hear I ragazzi di Jo in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
I ragazzi di Jo
by Louisa May Alcott · 1886
At Plumfield College, Jo's former pupils choose careers and loves, testing what it means to live a good life.
Medium level10–20 hours to read25 languages
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In short
Ten years after Little Men, what becomes of Jo and her unruly pupils? Louisa May Alcott answers in Jo's Boys, published in 1886 and the third book about the March family and Plumfield.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Plumfield grows from a school into a college
The old house where Jo and Professor Bhaer once taught a handful of boys now sits below the college on the hill. Laurie, Jo's rich and generous friend, has paid for much of its growth.
It is still run like a family. Father Bhaer teaches the whole person, so students learn kindness, honesty and self control along with Latin and mathematics. Women are admitted, which was a bold idea in the 1880s, yet the book treats it as plain common sense.
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What is Jo's Boys about?
It follows the Bhaer family ten years after Little Men, when Plumfield has become a college. Jo's former pupils, now young adults, choose careers and loves while Jo copes with fame and the cost of her success.
Do I need to read Little Women and Little Men first?
It helps, because the book follows people introduced earlier. But Alcott reintroduces the main characters clearly, so a reader can follow the story without the earlier books, though some warmth comes from knowing the family.
Who are Jo's boys?
They are the pupils and family members raised at Plumfield, including Nat, Dan, Tom, Demi and Jo's own sons Rob and Ted. The title also covers the girls, such as Nan, Daisy, Josie and Bess.
The author
Louisa May Alcott
1832–1888 · American novelist
Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888) was an American novelist born in Germantown, Pennsylvania. She lived mainly in Massachusetts, including Boston and Concord. She wrote Little Women, published in two parts in 1868 and 1869, An Old-Fashioned Girl in 1870, Little Men in 1871, and Work: A Story of Experience in 1873.
More by Louisa May Alcott
All 14 booksMore like this
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