This charming, old-fashioned children's story begins by mirroring the nursery rhyme Jack and Jill. Fast friends, Jack and Jill find their lives interrupted by a terrible sledding accident which leaves both of them invalids. As they recover and heal, they and their friends learn important lessons about responsibility, giving and friendship. The book is slightly moralistic, in the way that Little Women is; the young people earnestly want to become "good" and to help their friends become "good". Although this style is not in fashion now, it still makes for a sweet, hope-filled story. While Jack and Jill might not rate as one of the best Alcott novels, it is not worth dismissing out of hand for that reason. As usual, she crafted a thought provoking and enlightened book that teaches as it entertains and comforts. Jack and Jill should be an immensely satisfying read for pre-teenagers. The sure Alcott hand with character keeps even the most obvious moral lessons from feeling overly preachy. While the book is ideally suited for younger readers, grown-ups will be interested in the larger issues raised here. Alcott firmly asserts the need for individual growth, gender equality, and personal responsibility. Historical discussions about temperance and higher education for women should additionally make this book a good read for history fans.
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About the Author
Louisa May Alcott (1832 –1888) was an American novelist. She is best known for the novel Little Women and its sequels Little Men and Jo's Boys. Little Women was set in the Alcott family home, Orchard House in Concord, Massachusetts, and published in 1868. This novel is loosely based on her childhood experiences with her three sisters. Alcott's literary success arrived with the publication by the Roberts Brothers of the first part of Little Women: or Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy, a semi-autobiographical account of her childhood with her sisters in Concord, Massachusetts. Part two, or Part Second, also known as Good Wives, followed the March sisters into adulthood and their respective marriages. Little Men detailed Jo's life at the Plumfield School that she founded with her husband Professor Bhaer at the conclusion of Part Two of Little Women. Jo's Boys completed the "March Family Saga". In Little Women, Alcott based her heroine "Jo" on herself. But whereas Jo marries at the end of the story, Alcott remained single throughout her life. In her later life, Alcott became an advocate for women's suffrage and was the first woman to register to vote in Concord, Massachusetts, in a school board election. Alcott, along with Elizabeth Stoddard, Rebecca Harding Davis, Anne Moncure Crane, and others, were part of a group of female authors during the Gilded Age who addressed women’s issues in a modern and candid manner. Alcott, who continued to write until her death, suffered chronic health problems in her later years. Alcott died of a stroke in Boston, on March 6, 1888, at age 55, two days after visiting her father's deathbed. Her last words were "Is it not meningitis?"
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