Title: An Old Fashioned Girl
Author: Louisa M. Alcott
Date Started: August 30, 2014
Other Works by Author:
Little Women
Little Men
Jo’s Boys
Eight Cousins
Rose in Bloom
The Mysterious Key
Jack and Jill
Under the Lilacs
Genres: Fiction, History, Romance
My Rating: 4
Summary:
Polly Milton is a poor little country girl who is very happy with her life and loves her family. When she goes to the city to visit her friend Fanny Shaw she discovers that not all families are like hers; and many things she considers normal are considered by Fan and her friends countrified and old fashioned. Unconsciously Polly begins to influence the Shaw family for good and becomes a great favorite with them.
There are two sections to the book, the first when Polly is 14 and tells of her struggles as a sweet little girl in amongst all the ‘young ladies’ of her own age. And Tom, Fanny’s brother is used to thinking girls a bother so he plagues her. There’s also little Maud, the youngest of the Shaw children, she’s spoiled and very unlike Polly’s little sister.
Then there’s six years afterward, Polly returns to the city to teach music. She is still a great favorite of the Shaw family and continues her unconscious influence over them.
My Thoughts:
This is an old favorite, for me one of those books I love reading over and over. Polly is so sweet yet not perfect, Tom is the scapegrace hero that is easy to fall in love with and the ending sends a thrill through me every time I read it.
Fun Fact:
There is a reference to the book Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell.
~ “How does the new book come on,” asked Polly sucking her orange in public with a composure which would have scandalized the good ladies of Cranford.
My Favorite Quotes:
~ “A real gentleman is as polite to a little girl as to a woman.”
~ “Young men often laugh at the sensible girls whom they secretly respect, and affect to admire the silly ones whom they secretly despise, because earnestness, intelligence, and womanly dignity are not the fashion.”
~ “But, Polly, a principle that can’t bear being laughed at, frowned on, and cold-shouldered, isn’t worthy of the name.”
Where can you get this book: Amazon, Librivox
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