Louisa May Alcott

The famous American author and poet (November 29, 1832 – March 6, 1888) was the author of the well known novel Little Women. She was born in New England and she was grew up and influenced by many famous intellectuals of the days, such as Henry David Thoreau and R. W. Emerson, who were friends of her family.

The best place to start is the Little Women series, the earliest of Louisa May Alcott's multi-book series: it opens with Little Women, or Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy (1868) and runs to 4 books across 1868–1886, ending with Jo's Boys and How They Turned Out (1886). Louisa May Alcott's other series stand alone, so they can be read in any order.

Louisa May Alcott has 108 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1849 and 2023. 12 of them belong to 3 named series — the largest being the Aunt Jo's Scrap Bag series with 6 books — and 96 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.

Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. Louisa May Alcott's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are Little Women (1868–1886, 4 books), Aunt Jo's Scrap Bag (1872–1882, 6 books) and Eight Cousins (1875–1876, 2 books).

This guide splits Louisa May Alcott's 108 books into 3 named series and 96 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: Aunt Jo's Scrap Bag (6 books, 1872–1882); Little Women (4 books, 1868–1886); Eight Cousins (2 books, 1875–1876).