The first chapter is one-to-one, but the story develops into a conclusion that's fairly different but a good adaptation of Alcott's intentions. Lots of good details (the Marches are a blended family, Jo is gay, Amy likes video games and monster comics, Beth gets cancer and the girls shave their heads for her).

The language was a bit stilted. What teenager uses the word "deluded"? And why do we only refer to Mr. March as deployed to "the Middle East"? If we're avoiding naming a country for fear of the implications, I fear they're already there in his military service.

I also disagree with the characterization of Mrs. March. She was a more realistic mother figure in this, to the point that it no longer felt like Marmie at all. Absolutely do keep the exhaustion and frustrated moments, but she also needed more moments of wisdom and self-reflection. At one point, she finds out Amy was exploring some adult websites and her mother's response is to ground her. Why punish a child for being curious, especially since her curiosity means that Amy hadn't had a "talk" previously? ( )

I love Little Women, and this book managed to give me all the nostalgia feels plus the bonus of having so much of my modern, progressive sensibility. ( )

I wanted to love this, but some of the exposition was just so clunky I couldn't get past it. Would a kid really explain the history of their family in a letter to her father? Why? Wasn't he there?

On the flip side, the updating of the classic was pretty well done and I liked a lot of the choices the authors made. I read this super fast and overall enjoyed it. ( )

I've never read Little Women, but it's such a cool idea to modernize old classic novels and convert them to graphic novels so the younger generation will relate to them more! ( )

This book......oh this book...... (which I am using in the "Book Inspired By Another Literary Work" category of Extreme Book Nerd)

I adored "Little Women" growing up. I really need to do another reread of the actual novel. I also need to watch the movies over again. So I was naturally intrigued to hear that there was a graphic novel/modern retelling . IN the library world, I find that kids and teens are more inclined to pick up variations of the classics rather than the classics themselves (I don't love this, but there you have it)

So in this version of "Little Women," we have a blended family. Meg comes from her Dad, JO from Mom....and Beth and Amy are products of the new marriage. It's also a biracial family. Dad March is African American; Mom is white. I LOVED THIS ELEMENT! There was no evil step-sister vibe; no animosity. I found this take very refreshing and easily my favorite element of the book.

THen you had the elements that were updated but made sense. Dad March was in the Army and got injured that way. (Makes sense). Beth had leukemia. (Again made sense). Meg was into fashion and money....not that big of a stretch. Amy was a Gamer (okay, that one didn't make sense). And then, we completely deviated from the source material by making Jo a Lesbian. I should have seen it coming. Let's face it, every book nowadays has an LGBTQIA element. BUT for me, "Little Women" didn't have a character that even remotely felt gay in it. So why did we have to do it?

I know that Louisa May Alcott was very much of a feminist in her day and age. So she might not care about changes to her characters. But I do. And I found myself getting super duper annoyed during the last quarter of the book. It will be enjoyed by today's generation though. ( )