Invincible Louisa: The Story of the Author of Little Women

by Cornelia Meigs

Book Overview

Newbery Medal-winning biography tracing the fascinating life of Louisa May Alcott from her happy childhood in Pennsylvania and Boston to her success as a writer of such classics as Little Women.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0316565946
• ISBN13: 9780316565943
• Release Date: October 1995
• Publisher: Little Brown and Company
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.2" x 8.0"
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

Still a Classic 33 Years Later!

The mark of a superb biography, as is this 1934 Newbery Awardwinner, is that it details the momentous events of the times, along with the tale of the heroine, Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888). The author immerses us in gorgeous poetic language, and plenty of important vocabulary words for the young adult reader. Within these 246 pages we find the origins of the famous characters of Alcott's "Little Women" and "Little Men," a necessity in a biography, and retrace Alcott's steps through her birth in the Germantown area of Philadelphia, through her family's poverty-stricken years in Boston. Alcott realizes her ne'er do-well brilliant father, Bronson, is a dreamer and not a realist; yet his prophetic ideas on education later took hold. The mid-1800s were a pivotal time in American history, the era of the Abolitionists, the Underground Railway, The Civil War and of Idealist Philosophies such as the Shaker religion and the Transcendental Movement with contemporaries such as Emily Dickinson, Thoreau and Emerson. The Alcott Family breaks bread with the latter great men, and indeed, her early mentor Emerson tells Louisa, "Your father might have talked with Plato." She is much like her father. Impulsively, she travels at age 30 to Washington, DC, to become a nurse to the wounded Northerners in the Civil War. Hopelessness & disorganization is rife in the make-shift hospital, reminiscent of today's stalled attempts to rebuild New Orleans: "One soldier, with such a bad heart that he should never have been taken into the army... was given heavy trays to carry... When [such injustices] were practiced in her ward, Louisa had a simple remedy. She herself lifted and carried and got down on her knees to scrub the floor." Alcott's tenacity, devotion to family, love of learning and of writing, make her an ideal heroine for today's Little Women. Recommended for curious readers from age 10 to 100.

An Excellent Book

I absolutley loved Invincible Louisa. The book is full of character, and almost each person is described fully. Corneila Meigs seemes to have a special understanding of the Alcotts. I liked how Invincible Louisa had so much description. It is one of my favorite books, and I reccomend it to people who like Little Women.

A true reflection of Ms. Alcott

This is a great biography of Louisa May Alcott, in the fact that it is written in a style similar to her own (Which, as anyone who's ever read her work can tell you, is no small feat!) The reason I give it four stars is that at times, it seems to focus a little too much on things that didn't really seem important to the telling of HER life. Overall, though, a wonderful read!

A Wonderful Story That's True!

This is an incredible book, and the most incredible thing about it is that it is true. In this book, you can see how Louisa May Alcott's 'Little Woman' is based on the true story of Louisa and her sisters. If you liked 'Little Woman,' you'll like this book.