{"id":36266,"date":"2021-04-07T22:10:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-08T02:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=36266"},"modified":"2021-04-07T22:10:00","modified_gmt":"2021-04-08T02:10:00","slug":"review-of-meg-jo-beth-and-amy-by-rey-terciero-and-bre-indigo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=36266","title":{"rendered":"Review of Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy, by Rey Terciero and Bre Indigo"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy<\/em><\/p>\n

by Rey Terciero and Bre Indigo<\/p>\n

Little, Brown and Company, 2019. 256 pages.
\nStarred Review
\nReview written June 11, 2019, from a library book<\/p>\n

This graphic novel is a modern retelling of the children\u2019s classic Little Women<\/em>, and it\u2019s wonderfully done. It takes only the first book of the two parts of the original book \u2013 up to the point where the girls make some life-changing choices. Let\u2019s just say that the modern versions of the girls choose differently, and I like the update.<\/p>\n

This time the March family is a blended family. Meg\u2019s father married Jo\u2019s mother and then they had Beth and Amy together. Instead of the Civil War, their father is off fighting in the Middle East. And the book opens with the girls facing that they won\u2019t be able to expect presents for Christmas and they want to give their mother a surprise. Instead of going out to help the poor, they go work at a soup kitchen on Christmas and a kindly rich neighbor across the street invites them over for Christmas dinner, where they meet Laurie, his grandson who has just moved in.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve read the original novel Little Women<\/em> many, many times since I was in about sixth grade. I loved the way the scenes in this graphic novel parallel the scenes in the original book.<\/p>\n

Jo still loves to read and wants to be an author. Beth loves music \u2013 but it\u2019s a guitar that she gains from their neighbor rather than a piano. Amy still loves art \u2013 she wants to draw comics. Meg still wants to marry a rich man \u2013 but that\u2019s one of the choices that end up getting changed. We do get to enjoy familiar-but-new scenes of Meg feeling out of place at a party with girls who have much more money than their family does.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t want to give away the changes at the end. If they write a second book, matching the second half of Little Women<\/em>, it won\u2019t be able to parallel the scenes as closely. But I do appreciate the changes for these modern times.<\/p>\n

Like the original, this is a story of four sisters navigating life, each dealing with their own burdens, but ultimately facing it together.<\/p>\n

LBYR.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Find this review on Sonderbooks<\/a> at: www.sonderbooks.com\/Childrens_Fiction\/meg_jo_beth_and_amy.html<\/a><\/p>\n

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

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