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Though she also wrote adult novels, Louisa May Alcott is known primarily for her eight novels for children in the Little Women series. Her children's novels are characterized by their glorification of family life, by their wholesomeness and high spirits, and by their lack of preachiness, which was evident in most other children's novels of her time. Though she did not set out to be a children's writer, it is in this field that her greatest achievement was made. Her most popular characters are more than mouthpieces and moral exemplars for the author; they are well-rounded individuals and independent thinkers. In her novels Alcott criticized many of the current philosophies of education and notions of fashionable behavior. Throughout her works the ideas of religious faith, sensible eating, learning, and play are dominant themes investigated in a variety of reallife situations. Though her works for children have recently received adverse criticism as compared to her more complex and sometimes sensational adult works, for their time they set a new high standard for excellence in full characterization, both of the attractive and unattractive qualities of children, for the warmth with which she portrayed American family life, for her simple but precise style, and for her New England local color.
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