Customer Reviews

An Old-Fashioned Girl (Puffin Classics)

5 star:		(43)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am 18 and have read this book at least 30 times. Its simplicity and reality seem to reach into my soul and I seem to have found a "kindred spirit" in the heroine. No other fictitious character has ever moved me as has Polly, an old-fashioned girl. A country girl named Polly is visiting city friends and comes to realize that this world is quite different than which she has left. Here people are judged according to their dress and manner of speech rather than for their honesty and hardwork. Yet all who meet Polly cannot help but be enamored of her; her sweet simplicity is unlike any that they have ever seen, and soon everyone comes to realize that Polly is not someone to be laughed at and ridiculed, but someone to put upon a pedistal for failing to become willing prey to the cynicism of the times. Polly is the most understanding and genuine character I have ever read about. Her love for others and her unwillingness to lower her standards and morals for popularity are an inspiration to people of all ages and prove that nothing is wrong with being "an old fashioned girl."

I'm 15 and you can call me a little bit old fashioned in my ways. I read an old fashioned girl for the first time when i was 11 and since then ive been reading the book at least 4 times a year.My copy of an old fashioned girl is sacred to me. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to read about a girl living in totally different times but who is really similar to us nowadays even is she is a little old fashioned! This book is good for any one of any age anywhere who wants to have someone to admire and someone to look up to. Polly is indeed, the perfect girl. As to Fanny and Tom they make the book livelier and funner to read, you'll never get bored with this book in your reach!

Do you ever feel like you are tied up in our times? Worrying too much about cell phones, fashions, and the latest whatevers? This book can set you straight. It gives you a peace of mind and fills you with simple pleasures.

The stories main character, Polly, we meet at the age of 14. She has come to stay with rich friends for a while. THey do everything so differently from she. The family has two daughters. One that is two years older than Polly called Fan, who cares for fashion, balls, and beaus. The author daughter is six and she is fixed onoo having her own way about everything. THe young man in the family Tom is a trouble maker, who no matter how hard he tries can't seem to stay out of trouble very long.

Polly is a gentle, kind, loving, caring, selfless, practical, and sensible girl. SHe becomes a great service to this family, touching each of them in a special way. She moves in the same town six years later and gives piano lessons. The family needs her more than ever and she helps them all in the end. This book has heart, romance, and realness to it that we can all relate to, rich or poor, young or old. It will make you feel warm fuzzies. Read on a rainy day underneath a flanel blanket!

I'm 17 years old. When I was about 5 or 6 my mom read An Old Fashioned Girl to me for the first time. From that point on that book was like a guide book for my life. I admired Polly's simple ways, and longed to be like her. When I was younger I would pretend that I was Polly, dressing up and play acting with my dolls. As I grew older though, she became more and more of a "kindred spirit". Polly's character has really helped in molding the person I am today. I have read the book probably 10-12 times since I was 10. My paper back copy is missing pages and well loved. I recomend this wonderful book to anyone (including boys-my brothers loved Tom!). And hope that they will enjoy it as much as I have.

I'm glad to find that other reviewers of this fabulous book were as impressed as I was with the ludicrous statement that "9-12" is the proper reading age for An Old Fashioned Girl! Being quite a bit older than twelve myself, and having just read An Old Fashioned Girl for the first time, I was a bit put out by that. . .

I've loved Louisa May Alcott's books since I first read Little Women at age eight. As I delved into all of them- Jo's Boys, Little Men, Eight Cousins, Rose in Bloom, Jack in Jill, Under the Lilacs, etc., and then more recently her short story "thrillers", The Inheritance, and A Long Fatal Love Chase, I have had a nearly insatiable desire for "More, more"! Imagine my surprise when I was told that Louisa HAD written another book which didn't appear on my bookshelf! I searched high and low for An Old Fashioned Girl, and discovered that none of my local bookstores (including Border's and Barnes and Noble) carried it. Hightailing my way to Amazon, it brought me great joy to find the book and order it right away!

From the moment I began to read, I knew I should love the story. Even Polly's "goodness" drew me in, contrary to previous experiences. I generally shy away from characters who are Elsie-Dinsmorish and act like "goodey-two-shoes", but Polly Milton is sketched so well that her goodness spurs me onto greater goodness, and leaves me feeling that striving to better myself is always a good thing. I loved how Polly stood up to her morals and values and would not allow herself to be swayed by more "fashionable" people. What a wonderful example she set for me-- years later, in amazingly similar circumstances.

Being a "city girl" myself, I could often emphathize more with Fanny than with Polly, yet I also WANTED to be like Polly. To make the world a better and brighter place just by living and loving in it-- what an aspiration!

The story is charming, bringing one through a range of emotions. I laughed, cried, and became so intensely involved with the characters that I snuck away to a back room during a party on New Year's Eve 2000, just so that I could finish the last few pages (I KNEW Tom was about to propose!)!

As someone who is a sucker for a good romance, I was not disappointed by the love story of this book. Tom was both bad enough and good enough to make me fall head over heels in love with him, too! I know from past effort that it's hard to create a man who appeals to both the wicked side of girls, as well as the side that screams for a "Knight in Shining Armor".

But she did it! Louisa May Alcott did it again- a fabulous book to read at any age, over and over again!

I have owned all her works and this is my favorite. Even though it was written in the 1800's, it still has sound judgements. Riches can come and go, but how you live your life and how you influence others with your care, love and concern mean the most. Polly has her own struggles with life's lessons but with help from older women and remembering what her parents, especially her mother, taught her, she struggles through.
The beginning of the book finds her a young teenage friend of Fan Shaw who had come down to the country the year before visiting some friends of the family. There is Fan, 2yrs older, Tom who is Polly's age, Maude the little sister of about 6, Mrs. Shaw an invailid and Mr. Shaw a man of wealth, plus Madame who is Mr. Shaw's Mother. At the end, Polly and her friends are all adults except Maud who is a teenager. Fan learns a lot from Polly and Polly learns from all who come into her life. It is a Must read in my opinion for any girl or woman.

We just read this aloud in our family. It had been several years since I last read it, and it was good to make acquaintance with it again. I had forgotten a lot of things, but at the same time I hadn't. I guess mostly I had forgotten about Mr Sydney and his role in the story. I remember when I was younger I thought the last chapter was way too sappy but reading it this time I didn't find it so bad.

Basically it's just a story about Polly, a poor-ish country girl, who goes to the city to visit Fanny, a rich girl. Fanny has a sister and brother, Maud and Tom, and her family is generally unhappy. Polly is a very sweet girl and brings sunshine to light the miseries of rich life. Later she returns to the city and becomes a music teacher and falls in love with a guy whose name I shall not reveal... Anyway. It's a good story with a load of good common sense and practical advice that should be more taken today. It's not at all outdated... it's the people in our modern world who are outdated...

Read this book and then read other LM Alcott books. She really does know how to write with such feeling.

I first met An Old Fashioned Girl when browsing my Grandmother's dusty book shelf when I was in 4rth Grade.

It was an old blue hardback, and throughout my childhood, I read it again and again. I think I loved it because Polly, the heroine, made a difference in the Shaw family; in a most inspiring way, she remained unswayed from her values in spite of the hardships she had to face. And it had a wonderfully happy ending, which I loved.

When I grew up, I became a 4th grade teacher, and I read this book to all my classes. They always loved it, were always eager for the next installment.

I gave An Old Fashioned Girl to my own daughter when she was in 3rd grade. True to form, it became one of her favorites too, along with about 50 others, of course!

Everyone knows and loves Little Women, but I think this book remains an undiscovered gem.

This is a touching book that shows girls simple lives are the best kind of lives. A girl named Polly visits her cousins' at the city. Polly is modest and simple looking girl, compared to Fanny who flirts with all boys and receives flowers from them,and Polly, detests and is ashamed of flirting. Polly isa kind-hearted girl who is always trying to help others including Tom who tries to madden her every second, but Polly manages to find a weak spot in his heart. As Louisa May Alcott always has a twist at the end of the book, this one is no exception. You will be touched to the core of your heart when you read this book , it makes iron into water and steel into liquid. Hope you enjoy it! Cheers! : )

This is one of my favorite Louisa May Alcott titles. I've loved it since the first time I read it. The characters seem so realistic and some of the situations they get into are rather interesting. I even liked how good Polly was (usually I can't stand "good" characters, they seem too perfect to be real) I also loved the surprise at the end. It was my favorite part of the story. However, I would not reccommend this to anyone who prefers the exciting fiction and romances of today's authors. It's more of a good wholesome novel to read on a rainy day.