SOURCE: "'Unlovely, Unreal Creatures': Resistance and Relationship in Louisa May Alcott's 'Fancy's Friend'," in The Lion and the Unicorn, Vol. 18, No. 2, December, 1994, pp. 154-70.

In the following essay, Estes and Lant emphasize the ambiguity and complexity of Alcott's portrayal of "a young girl's entry into the world of Adulthood" in "Fancy's Friend."

Joy Marsella concludes her work on the children's stories of Louisa May Alcott (The Promise of Destiny) with a discussion of Alcott's "Fancy's Friend" and its placement as the final story in the six-volume Aunt Jo's Scrap-Bag series. Marsella argues that the story epitomizes and clarifies Alcott's approach to her children's fiction; Alcott recognized, says Marsella, "the practical nature of her work" and was fully aware of her responsibility to her young readers to contribute "to the education of the child": "Alcott conceded that although fantasy gave pleasure to children, ultimately it had to be replaced...