Fruitlands: Louisa May Alcott Made Perfect [Hardcover]

Gloria Whelan (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up

We are all going to be made perfect. This day we left Concord in the rain to travel by wagon the ten miles to our new home, which Father has named Fruitlands....

In 1843, with all their possessions loaded onto a single wagon, young Louisa May Alcott and her family bravely venture into the wilderness. Louisa's father is determined to realize his vision of a perfect life: one where people live in peace with each other and with nature, surviving off the land. Louisa keeps a journal in which she vows to try to uphold her father's high ideals.

But her family's journey can't erase her own dreams, doubts, frustrations, and fears. With the words "This is to be my secret diary," Louisa begins recording a very different version of events. Unfolding together, the two accounts reveal one remarkable tale of a young writer finding her voice.

Based on Louisa May Alcott's own Journals, National Book Award winner Gloria Whelan's novel breathes new life into a forgotten chapter from the youth of the beloved author of Little Women.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Louisa May Alcott fans will relish this fictionalized account of the Alcotts' stay at Fruitlands, a commune where Louisa's transcendentalist father and his friend, Mr. Lane, conducted their famous not-so-successful experiment in forming a perfect community. Whelan (Angel on the Square; Homeless Bird) structures the novel as two sets of journal entries based on Alcott's own childhood writings: "In the first diary there will be Louy, who will try to be just what Mother and Father would wish. In the second diary there will be Louisa, just as she is," a sentiment that will vindicate many an aspiring journal-keeper. The first-person narratives vividly capture Louisa's wit, feisty spirit and keen powers of observation. The entries intended to be shared with Mother and Father give an insightful overview of the commune, where naturalists gather to better themselves. They also reveal Louisa's ongoing struggle to meet the commune leaders' lofty expectations by denying herself small pleasures: "We are not to eat butter or rob hens of their eggs. I will do all that I can to curb my coarse appetites." The private pages, penned in the "leafy tent" of a willow tree, offer a more in-depth study of commune members' quirks and foibles, as well as a hilarious critique of others' success or failure in practicing what they preach. ("Mr. Lane is to teach us all how we are to improve ourselves. I watched him stride along behind the wagon, his head up, his chin out, proud of walking while others rode. He did not look like a man who thought he needed improvement"). This meticulously researched book reveals Whelan's depth of understanding and respect for Louisa May Alcott's outlook on life and relationships with others. A marvelous companion for the 19th-century author's semi-autobiographical Little Women. Ages 8-12.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-7-Readers meet 10-year-old Louisa May Alcott as she and her family leave Concord, MA, in 1843 to live at Fruitlands, a utopian community envisioned by her philosopher father. The story is told through two sets of journal entries. In one, Louy writes what her parents would want to read, knowing that they may actually look at her journal. The second is a secret diary, "and this one shall be my honest thoughts." This technique works well. Readers will understand what the community was hoping to accomplish and sense the inequity and frustrations of the austere life at Fruitlands. This same story was told in Jeannine Atkins's Becoming Little Women (Putnam, 2001) with more details about the year spent at Fruitlands, and with more character development. However, using journal entries based on Alcott's original diaries allows children to see into a strange and interesting experience that helped develop the character of one of America's most loved authors. While not as rich as Atkins's book, Fruitlands does tell the story well.
JoAnn Jonas, Chula Vista Public Library, San Diego, CA
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins; 1ST edition (October 22, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0066238153
• ISBN-13: 978-0066238159
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,201,811 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book!, January 28, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Fruitlands: Louisa May Alcott Made Perfect (Library Binding)

This book is really fun to read and quite interesting. The contrast between the two journals drives home the fact that LMA was just a little girl embarking on this experiment with her family. What a good sport she was! While based on actual events, the story is fictional. I think this is a good place to start if your not quite sure you want to read Little Women (you'll want to!). This book would be a great jumping-off point if you were looking to get someone interested in LMA and her works.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fruitlands, July 14, 2009

By 

E. Packard "blueberry" (New England) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Fruitlands: Louisa May Alcott Made Perfect (Paperback)

"Fruitlands: Louisa May Alcott Made Perfect" made me wonder if Bronson Alcott wasn't mentally ill, or criminally irresponsible. If the details in this fictional diary are true, and I think they are, then he should have been jailed for child abuse, physical and psychological. How Louisa survived emotionally and psychologically is a mystery: it must have been her mother who saved her. This book also makes Emerson looks strange, at least. He had his doubts, yet he "loaned money" to Alcott. In today's terms, was Emerson an enabler? Bronson was evidently very charming, but not the first charming criminal. If nothing else, he charmed money out of most of his friends. A real problem case. Then there is his wife, his use of her, and her agreement with too many of his unhealthy ideas: a starvation diet, for one.