Beginning ~ with a new arrival

"Please, sir, is this Plumfield?" asked a ragged boy of the man who opened the great gate at which the omnibus left him.

Little Men, or Life at Plumfield with Jo's Boys ~ by Louisa May Alcott, 1871, fiction

This sequel to Little Women covers six months in the life of the students at Plumfield, a school run by German Professor Friedrich Bhaer and his wife, Jo Bhaer (née March).  The idea of the school was suggested at the very end of Little Women when Jo inherited Plumfield Estate after Aunt March died.  The story begins with the arrival of Nat Blake, a shy young orphan who is gifted at playing the violin and telling fibs.

The whole series ends with Jo's Boys, and How They Turned Out (1886), which I plan to re-read next.  Little Men, thus far, seems to be presenting Alcott's philosophy about education and how children learn best.  Her father, an educational reformer, stressed the need for school to be as homelike as possible.

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