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Do you assign "Little Women" to your boys?


buddhabelly
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My son has NOT been reading lately, so I want him to read something worthwhile but not TOO "educational." I am thinking of "Little Women."

 

Will he like it? Should we wrap it in brown paper so that his friends don't tease him? Here's the angle I'm using: "It will give you something to talk about with the girls." (He adores girls.) "Girls LOVE this book, trust me."

 

Would love to hear from anyone whose ds has read this one.

 

Edited to add: he's 11, and a good reader. I thought his age was in my signature, but I guess not.

 

Thanks!

Edited by buddhabelly
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I read it to my boys about two years ago, and ds11 has read it himself recently. It never crossed his mind that it was a girl book. He even read The Secret Garden and The Little Princess to tie in with his History Last year. I think we just haven't passed those perceptions on to him yet. Try it out, he may not even flinch. You can have him read it before bed. Ds gets to stay up a little later than his brothers to read. I think this alone will get him to read any book.:D

 

Danielle

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I second Little Men as a fun Alcott read. Eight Cousins has fun bits as well, but it's rather cloying for my tastes. I do think plenty of boys will enjoy Little Women, so I would try it if he likes the other Alcott books. Just tell him to hang in there, and he'll get to the bits with Daisy and Demi as little ones, etc.

 

Also, let him watch the Friends episode where Joey reads it; hilarious!

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I wouldn't assign this to my boys--I would get much rolling of the eyes! Way to much drama--they also would not really "get" Jo's dilema either.

 

IMHO Little Men would be a much nicer choice as someone above said.

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My 13yo son just finished reading Little Men. He enjoyed it quite well. I went to the library and got a more manly cover as mine was very juvenile and dorky looking. Yes, he judges books by their covers. :001_smile: I was glad I did though because I discovered that my dorky covered one was missing 5 chapters and nowhere anywhere did the book say abridged or edited by. I was a bit disgusted.

 

Oh, he has not read Little Women, btw. I wasn't going to ask him too.

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I took my son to see it last year (he was 12) at our local playhouse. He enjoyed the humor in it very much. We also saw "Anne of Green Gables" in another place. He enjoyed it also. One of the theatres was at a local college, one was a community theatre.

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Little Women is pretty estrogen-heavy IMHO. I wouldn't assign it to my DS. We've got a copy available to him if he ever decides to read it on his own, though.

 

There's a good thread on classics for boys on the "Accelerated Learner" forum.

 

Thanks for the link. He has read all of those (except for Call of the Wild, which I really think is deathly boring but maybe we'll try again). Except for "To Kill a Mockingbird" -- too soon? He's only 11. I think he'll be okay with it. We have heard a lot about it and I think he's sufficiently curious. We covered the Civil Rights movement in excruciating detail....I was all huffy about how much SOTW skipped and I sort of went overboard. :001_smile:

 

He LOVED 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Another classic that I forgot about is "Watership Down." I think we'll start with that -- he doesn't seem to object to animal protagonists as much as I did when I was young.

 

Julie

Edited by buddhabelly
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My husband wrote an essay on what it's like for some men to read Little Women: "Men and Little Women: Notes of a Resisting (Male) Reader.†in Little Women and the Feminist Imagination. Edited by Janice M. Alberghene and Beverly Lyon Clark. New York: Garland, 1999. He continues to receive feedback from that essay. You might find it interesting to read when thinking about how to talk about Little Women with contemporary boys

 

While quickly re-reading his essay, I noted again that Theodore Roosevelt loved Alcott's books.

 

In the essay, my husband says that he doesn't teach Tom Sawyer as much as Little Women, but since writing it, he has been teaching Tom Sawyer more often. Personally, I would have an 11-year-old boy read as much Mark Twain as he could possibly stand. This year is the 175th anniversary of the author's birth and there are lots of celebrations around the country, many of which focus on Tom Sawyer (http://www.twain2010.org/)

 

I was an avid reader and I loved Little Women, but I don't think I read it until I was at least 13 or 14. By that time, I could comprehend what it was about. On the other hand, I encountered (by listening to it being read aloud and reading it myself) To Kill a Mockingbird when I was 11 and loved it.

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My son has NOT been reading lately, so I want him to read something worthwhile but not TOO "educational." I am thinking of "Little Women."

 

Will he like it? Should we wrap it in brown paper so that his friends don't tease him? Here's the angle I'm using: "It will give you something to talk about with the girls." (He adores girls.) "Girls LOVE this book, trust me."

 

Would love to hear from anyone whose ds has read this one.

 

Edited to add: he's 11, and a good reader. I thought his age was in my signature, but I guess not.

 

Thanks!

 

I've read Little Women, Little Men and Jo's Boys. I think that Little Men will resonate most with my sons. And I like that Jo's school is a lot like the ideal school that I would want to run.

 

I'm thinking that it might be nice to show them the Winona Ryder Little Women movie to give them the back story on who all the adults are.

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I agree that I'd assign Little Men instead--and then if he likes it he can read Little Women & Jo's Boys.

 

I've read all 3 to my son and daughter, along with my favorite, An Old-Fashioned Girl. Love those books, and my kids enjoyed them too! Eight Cousins would be good too.

 

Merry :-)

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My 9yo (almost 10) ds has read both Anne of Green Gables and Little Women and loved them both. He picked them out from the library, because he wanted a change from dragons and such stuff.

 

Next on his list to read is Pollyanna.

 

Umm, I wonder if he would like Jane Austen or the Brontes?

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I will either read it to or have them read it, mostly because I have my mum's hardcover book from 1954 (her 9th b-day present) and it is part of their history. I will also read or have them read Heidi because I have my hardcover from my 9th b-day. It is a pet peeve of mine that girls are expected to read books with male issues and male protagonists and fully understand all the nuances of them, but the reciprocal is not expected from boys. My DH read it when he was about 9 because his older sisters recommended it. He liked it.

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I recently told ds that he had better thank me for going through the work of creating a HS program for him because I had the power to save him from having to read JA.:lol:

 

*snort*:lol::lol:

 

When my ds was younger, we chose to watch the movie instead. We opted to watch the Winona Ryder/Christian Bale* version. Reading the book is still a possibility, but he truly enjoyed the movie.

 

*of course my overall movie philosophy is if there if a choice between movies, always pick the one with Christian Bale in it. :D

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I watched The Jane Austen Book Club and I have to say that the guy in the book club was great. Any man who can discuss JA will be a woman magnet.

 

 

:iagree: lol

 

My son is still way too little for me to think about L.M. or Austen - but I think I'd have him read Little Women. Probably not at 11, though. In my imagination, I think a girl would "get" the book at that age, but I'm not sure an 11yo boy would "get" it, if that makes sense. Add a couple years maturity, and I think boys could read it from Laurie's point of view (wouldn't that be awesome - a Little Women told from Laurie's point of view?!?!? And perhaps a Little Men told from the Professor's?)

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My son loves girls :001_smile: and, whether he has noticed it or not, most of his best friends are girls. So I think it will be something we should read together. (He has already downloaded "Watership Down" and is loving it.)

 

He didn't really get Tom Sawyer at all. Unless you are the kind of boy depicted in the book, it doesn't really resonate, you know? My son would always rather be indoors with a soft bed and the next meal all planned. He didn't understand Tom's motivation at all!

 

He liked "Hatchet," though. It was possibly his worst nightmare (especially the mosquitos or biting flies or whatever they were), but he enjoyed the book.

 

Julie

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Aw c'mon, Mom...Little Women? Can't they read Johnny Tremain, Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn, the Hardy Boys, The Call of the Wild, or any of the great historical fiction books about Vikings, famous Inventors, Explorers like Lewis & Clark, books about Sea Captians, etc? Little Women spends so much dialog on girls stuff....yuck! LOL

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  • 2 weeks later...

I am frankly surprised that you have had so many negative repsonses! :confused: Why would we assign classics with male protagonists to girls without apology, but not do the same for classics with female protagonists to boys? Both my boys shall be reading (later) Little Women and Jane Austen's novels, without apology or excuse.

 

Getting off my soapbox now ... :leaving:

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Frankly I would never ask a boy aged 11 to read that. Its soppy and moralistic and except in historical context its a pretty poor example of literature.

 

I read it to my older ds when he was around 5, along with 5 Little Peppers and that sort of thing. My now 13 yo would laugh in your face if you suggested it.

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"I am frankly surprised that you have had so many negative repsonses! :confused: Why would we assign classics with male protagonists to girls without apology, but not do the same for classics with female protagonists to boys? Both my boys shall be reading (later) Little Women and Jane Austen's novels, without apology or excuse."

 

I agree withyou 100%. My sons and daughters all read the same "good literature" - if it is a classic, we read it. I never even thought in terms of "boys" vs. "girls" literature. Hmmmmm...

 

Myra

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What on earth is "can't miss" about this work?

 

Don't get me wrong, I was an Alcott fiend as a girl. I have a huge collected works on my shelf now.

 

Not til I read Jack and Jill to my ds when he was little did I realise how tripe-y and prosaic her books were. They are practically protestant progressive tracts.

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What on earth is "can't miss" about this work?

 

Don't get me wrong, I was an Alcott fiend as a girl. I have a huge collected works on my shelf now.

 

Not til I read Jack and Jill to my ds when he was little did I realise how tripe-y and prosaic her books were. They are practically protestant progressive tracts.

 

Well, not everyone has to like a given book. It's generally considered a great story and good literature, but if you don't like it, you don't have to assign it. Personally, I'd rather gnaw off my own foot than read Mark Twain, but that's just me! :lol:

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What on earth is "can't miss" about this work?

 

Because one cannot live a complete life without cringing as Amy skates out onto the ice, sighing as Laurie tells Jo he will be back, or choking back tears at the Beth scene.

 

It's a scientifically proven fact.

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Each of my kids has used a different assortment of literature, and I love being able to help them customize their tentative reading lists for each year, but none of them fall into the easy stereotypes I feel that I'm seeing in some posts here.

 

 

 

Sometimes it isn't stereotype so much as recognition that a certain book isn't going to be that child's cup of tea (or not at that point in time).

 

Our current read alouds are Black Ships Before Troy, The Mad Scientists' Club and Swallows and Amazons. The most recently finished book was Understood Betsy, which all of my sons clamoured for more of.

 

But despite their enjoyment of Black Ships, I'm not going to assign Troy (Adele Geras) because I know that it wouldn't connect with them where they are right now as readers and as individuals. Maybe as older teens. Maybe never.

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"I am frankly surprised that you have had so many negative repsonses! :confused: Why would we assign classics with male protagonists to girls without apology, but not do the same for classics with female protagonists to boys? Both my boys shall be reading (later) Little Women and Jane Austen's novels, without apology or excuse."

 

I agree withyou 100%. My sons and daughters all read the same "good literature" - if it is a classic, we read it. I never even thought in terms of "boys" vs. "girls" literature. Hmmmmm...

 

Myra

 

:iagree: I want ds to be as close as possible to being as comfortable in a girl's mind than in a boy's mind. Reading helps us stretch ourselves to different perspectives, and understanding some of the female mind, especially in wholesome terms, is Wholeheartedly encouraged. I need him to discern good character in a woman, and reading Little House, Jane Eyre and Jane Austin's works certainly help in the process.

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