Customer Reviews

The Little Colonel

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I have found nearly every book in the "Little Colonel" series, some being first editions. I prefer the older editions, despite the numerous "racial slurs," because they are the product that the author intended to present. I have heard from various sources that the later editions have been revised, removing the colloquiallisms and unifying Lloyd's speech patterns and mannerisms with those of the other characters. I call this a shame. Obviously, no harm was meant by the author when she portrayed the African-American servants as she did, and reading Lloyd say, "...honah," rather than "honor" paints a lot more colorful picture of her character. In rating this series, I must declare it a "must read" for both boys and girls. The morals and lessons are invaluable, and would be a refreshing balm for the wounds today's youth are suffering from, even at the youngest age. I do believe if I had read the tale of "The Three Weavers," as told in "The Little Colonel At Boarding School," MY life would have been touched, sparing me much grief in later years. So, parents, grandparents, caring adults, find these literary jewels and READ them with a child. Their lives and yours will be the richer for it.

I have a complete set of the Little Colonel books that my mother accumulated for me over a period of years in the 1940's, when they were already long out of print. A classic Shirley Temple movie of the late 1930's (I think) was based on the first book, but I enjoyed the later ones even more. I am delighted to see them reissued after all these years. Lloyd Sherman and the other characters introduced in the later books (The Little Colonel's House Party and succeeding titles) were almost as real to me, when I was 8 to 12 years old, as my own friends. My favorite character was not Lloyd herself, who seemed overprivileged and a little too perfect, but Elizabeth Lloyd Lewis (Betty), the daughter of one of Lloyd's mother's girlhood friends. The stories also provide fascinating insights into post-Civil War Southern society.

My mother was born in 1896, She read all the Little Colonel books and read them to me. I read them to my children and grandchildren and now have a greatgranddaughter who will get my old old and dearly loved copies.These books teach a love of classics as well as good moral values, plus,providing interesting stories.

I bought the Little Colonel to remind me of the series I remember checking out of the public library as a child. It was a fun series and I an glad to have a reminder of this special time.

"The Little Colonel" is a seven-year-old girl named Lloyd Sherman. Her grandfather, a widower named Colonel Lloyd, who lives on a grand old estate named "Locust" near Lloydsborough in Lloyd (Pewee) Valley outside of Louisville, KY, had fought for the South in the Civil War, losing an arm, as did his son Tom who was killed in his first battle. The Colonel's daughter, Elizabeth, married Jack Sherman, and because he was a dreaded Yankee, Colonel Lloyd cut the Shermans off. However, Jack suffered some financial reverses and went West to see if he could recoup his fortune, so Elizabeth, their daughter, and Elizabeth's elderly African-American nurse Becky Porter (Mom Beck) return from their home in New York to live in a cottage just outside of "Locust" that had been left to her by her mother.
The child's nickname comes from the fact that by the age of five her mannerisms seemed to echo the military traits of her grandfather. In spite of the animosity between the Colonel and his daughter, he falls in love with his granddaughter. Then Jack Sherman returns from the West and is very sick with typhoid fever. Will he survive? And can "The Little Colonel" do anything to bring peace between her parents and her grandfather? My first acquaintance with author Annie F. Johnston's name was through her book Joel, a Boy of Galilee, republished by Lamplighter Press. It is one of the best books that I have ever read. Set in the 1890s, The Little Colonel is probably her best known book. It is the first of a series of semi-biographical children's novels based on the real life of a young girl named Hattie Cochran, and dealing with the aristocracy of old Kentucky. The series includes novels about Mary Ware, The Little Colonel's Chum, and other books of Johnston's that were later rewritten to include The Little Colonel.
The books are perhaps best known through the 1935 Twentieth Century Fox film starring Shirley Temple in the title role of The Little Colonel. Other than a couple of colloquialisms such as "Lordy" and "for the Lawd's sake," there is nothing objectionable. Some newer editions have been revised to remove what are sometimes perceived as "racial slurs" and to modernize Lloyd's speech patterns (e.g., "honah," changed to "honor"), but as usual I prefer the originals. I would agree with others that the morals and lessons in this book are invaluable.