Consider this my own personal library. This page will be under construction for quite some time as the books by and on Louisa May Alcott are many! But as I read them, or come across them, I will list them here with links to where you can purchase them. Enjoy them, as I will.
* means I’ve read it ** means I’m reading it
For children
Biographies
Becoming Little Women: Louisa May at Fruitlands* by Jeannine Atkins (4-1/2 stars)
Beyond Little Women A Story about Louisa May Alcott* by Susan Biver Aller; illustrated by Qi Z. Wang (3 stars)
Fruitlands Louisa May Alcott Made Perfect* by Gloria Whelan (5 stars)
Invincible Louisa by Cornelia Meigs**
Little Women Next Door by Sheila Solomon Klass* (5 stars)
Louisa May & Mr. Thoreau’s Flute* by Julie Dunlap and Marybeth Lorbiecki; illustrated by Mary Azarian (5 stars)
Louisa May’s Battle: How the Civil War led to Little Women* by Kathleen Krull; illustrated by Carlyn Beccia (5 stars)
Louisa The Life of Louisa May Alcott* by Yona Zeldis McDonough; illustrated by Bethanne Anderson (4 stars)
The Story of Louisa May Alcott* by Joan Howard (5 stars)
Picture Books
An Alcott Family Christmas* by Alexandra Wallner (fictional account) (3 stars)
Louisa May Alcott Her Girlhood Diary* edited by Cary Ryan with illustrations by Mark Graham (3 stars)
Louisa May and Mr. Thoreau’s Flute* by Marybeth Lorbiecki and Julie Dunlap; illustrations by Mary Azarian (5 stars)
Young Adult
The Mother-Daughter Book Club* by Heather Vogel Frederick (5 stars)
Biographies for adults (listed in alphabetical order)
Alcott in Her Own Time**by Daniel Shealy
Eden’s Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father ** by John Matteson
The Journals of Louisa May Alcott ** Joel Myerson (Editor), Daniel Shealy (Editor), Madeleine B. Stern (Editor)
Little Women Abroad by Daniel Shealy
Little Women Letters from the House of Alcott* by Jessie Bonstelle and Marian De Forest (anecdotal) (4 stars)
Louisa May Alcott* by Katharine Anthony (4 stars)
Louisa May Alcott and Little Women* by Gloria Delamar (5 stars)
Louisa M. Alcott, Her Life, Letters and Journals**, edited by Ednah Cheney
Louisa May Alcott: A Biography* by Madeleine B. Stern (5 stars) (the definitive biography for me)
Louisa May: A Modern Biography* by Martha Saxton (4 stars)
Louisa May Alcott A Personal Biography* by Susan Cheever (3 stars)
Louisa May Alcott The Woman Behind Little Women (hardcover)* by Harriet Reisen(4-1/2 stars)
Louisa May Alcott The Woman Behind Little Women (paperback)* by Harriet Reisen (4-1/2 stars)
Louisa May Alcott The Woman Behind Little Women (DVD)*directed by Nancy Porter, written by Harriet Reisen (5 stars)
Marmee & Louisa: The Untold Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Mother* by Eve LaPlante (4 stars)
My Heart is Boundless: Writings of Abigail May Alcott, Louisa’s Mother* by Eve LaPlante (4 stars)
Recollections of Louisa M. Alcott** by Maria S. Porter
The Alcotts as I Knew Them* by Clara Gowing (anecdotal) (3 stars)
The Alcotts in Harvard* by Annie Clark(1 star)
The Selected Letters of Louisa May Alcott**Joel Myerson (Editor), Daniel Shealy (Editor), Madeleine B. Stern (Editor)
The Journals of Louisa May Alcott** Daniel Shealy (Editor), Joel Myerson (Editor),
Books on or by other members of the Alcott Family
A. Bronson Alcott: His Life and Philosophy by F.B. Sanborn and William T. Harris
Alcott Memoirs* by Frederick Llewellyn Hovey Willis, Henri Bazin, Edith Lenore Linn (5 stars)
The Alcotts: Biography of a Family* by Madelon Bedell (5 stars)
The Alcotts As I Knew Them* by Clara Gowing (4 stars)
Bronson Alcott’s Fruitlands* by Clara Endicott Sears (4 stars)
Fruitlands: The Alcott Family and Their Search for Utopia* by Richard Francis (5 stars)
Little Woman in Blue: A Novel of May Alcott* by Jeannine Atkins (5 stars)
Marmee, the Mother of Little Women*by Sandford Meddick Salyer (5 stars)
May Alcott A Memoir* by Caroline Ticknor (3 stars)
My Heart is Boundless: Writings of Abigail May Alcott, Louisa’s Mother* by Eve LaPlante (4 stars)
Studying Art Abroad: and How to Do It Cheaply** by May Alcott Nieriker
The Letters of A. Bronson Alcott edited by Richard Herrnstadt
Transcendental Wife* by Cynthia H. Barton (5 stars)
Books by Louisa May Alcott (listing these as I read them)
For children
An Old-Fashioned Girl * (4 stars)
Aunt Jo’s Scrap-Bag**(links available to all six volumes online)
Christmas Tales and Stories (edited by Laura Ciolkowski and assembled by Barnes & Noble) * (5 stars)
Eight Cousins* (3 stars)
Little Men*(3 stars)
Little Women (original 1868-1869 version)* (5 stars)
Little Women free audio book from Librivox.org* (5 stars for dramatic reading version)
Rose in Bloom* (4.5 stars)
For adults
A Modern Mephistopheles**
Alternative Alcott** edited by Elaine Showalter
Behind a Mask: The Unknown Thrillers of Louisa May Alcott**edited by Madeline Stern
Hospital Sketches* (4 stars)
The Inheritance* (1 star)
Little Women: An Annotated Edition, Daniel Shealy, editor* (5 stars)
Little Women (Norton Critical Edition)* edited by Gregory Eiselein and Anne K. Phillips (5 stars)
The Long Fatal Love Chase* (5 stars)
Love and Self-Love* (3 stars)
Louisa May Alcott’s Civil War** (contains Hospital Sketches and My Contraband)
Moods * (3 stars)
My Contraband* (5 stars)
Pauline’s Passion and Punishment* (3 stars)
The Portable Louisa May Alcott** edited by Elizabeth Keyser
Transcendental Wild Oats* (3 stars)
Work: A Story of Experience* (4 stars)
Commentaries
The Afterlife of “Little Women” by Beverly Lyon Clark* (4.5 stars)
Twain, Alcott, and the Birth of the Adolescent Reform Novel** by Roberta Trites
Sacramental Shopping: Louisa May Alcott, Edith Wharton, and the Spirit of Modern Consumerism** by Sarah Way Sherman
Victorian Domesticity: Families in the Life and Art of Louisa May Alcott* by Charles Strickland (5 stars)
Miscelleanous Books
American Bloomsbury* by Susan Cheever (4 stars)
(overview of Transcendentalist authors in Concord)
The Lives of Margaret Fuller** by John Matteson
Louisa May Alcott An Intimate Anthology** The New York Public Library Collector’s Edition
Nonquitt A Summer Album, 1872-1985* edited by Anne M. Lyell (5 stars) (rated for its rare photos and anecdotes of Louisa in the 1880’s)
Norman Rockwell Illustrator* by Arthur Guptill (4 stars) (rated for its collection of photos from the series Rockwell illustrated in 1938. Unfortunately most of the plates are black and white)
Old Books, Rare Friends: Two Literary Sleuths and Their Shared Passion** by Madeline B. Stern and Leona Rostenberg
Pilgrimage** by Annie Leibovitz, with introduction by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Historical/Fan Fiction
Little Women and Me* by Lauren Baratz-Logsted (1 star)
March* by Geraldine Brooks (4-1/2 stars)
Miss Alcott’s E-mail: Yours for Reforms of All Kinds**by Kit Bakke (did not finish – it didn’t retain my interest)
Mr. Emerson’s Wife* by Amy Belding Brown(5 stars)
The Glory Cloak* by Patricia O’Brien (5 stars)
The Little Women Letters* by Gabrielle Donnelly (4-1/2 stars)
The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott* by Kelly O’Connor McNees (4 stars)
Books on Friends of Louisa May Alcott
Walden (Norton Critical Edition) by Henry David Thoreau, William Rossi, editor
Walden free audio book from Librivox.org
Louisa May Alcott is My Passion 
Hey Susan. I like the little ‘book’ space fillers here and used one on my blog at the following post –
http://jillianisreading.wordpress.com/2010/10/30/as-i-ebb%e2%80%99d-with-the-ocean-of-life/
I wasn’t sure if that was ethical, since I don’t know if you created the icon. Please let me know if it’s an issue, and I’ll remove it.
(Feel free to delete this comment once you’ve read it, if need be. I just wanted to check in with you on the icon.)
– Jillian 🙂
Cool, go for it. 🙂
Okay, thanks! 🙂
Hello,
Just discovered this site. I cannot wait to devour it!!! But I just looked at the clock and it is already “tomorrow” (wee hours of a.m.) : )
Looking forward to this and already compiling questions to ask.
Sincerely,
Susan Hoskins
Welcome! Eager to hear your questions.
You might want to add the Middle Grades series Sisters Club to your list. They’re a modern take on Little Women with three sisters who are very close yet often fight as they go through growing pains.
That sounds like an interesting series, I’ll have to check it out. Thanks.
Check this out – Library of Congress
A bibliography of the works of Louisa May Alcott / Catalog Record Only
91 p. : ill. ; 28 cm.
Contributor:
Van Nest, Albert J.
Site:
Main Catalog
Original Format:
Book
Date:
2001
Susan, I am doing research on Louisa May Alcott in Washington DC (which is near my home.) I enjoyed your website very much, thank you for all the info you provide. I have to disagree with you about Eight Cousins. I think it is better than 3 stars! Especially taken together with its sequel, Rose in Bloom. Both are prescient in encouraging young women to be themselves rather than society’s idea of what women should be. Please reconsider! Best wishes, Sally Unger
I feel bad that I couldn’t give it more. Believe it or not, I had to make myself finish it. I think the problem is twofold: I didn’t read Eight Cousins as a child and I know too much about the author and the fact that writing children’s literature was perfunctory for her. She was not artistically invested but wanted the money to take care of her family. I’m not your typical Louisa fan. Most people love her writing first and then find out more about her. I was the opposite: I learned about Louisa first and have been fascinated with her all my life. I was so busy learning about her that I didn’t read her works! Yes, I know, sounds crazy, major disconnect here (after all she is SO much in her works). As a result (and this is going to sound sacrilege!) I don’t appreciate her juvenile works as much as I should. It even took me a few chapters before I understood the power of Little Women! Now, of course, I love it, one of my favorite books, but I didn’t read it until I started this blog nearly 4 years ago. Go figure! But, for example, when I read Little Men, I kept spotting all her familiar life events in the book and it just seemed kind of formulaic to me. I guess, sadly, I am jaded. I actually am finding Jo’s Boys to be more my speed. And I very much enjoy her adult works (though I haven’t gotten into the potboilers yet except
What I’m trying to say is that my reviews are just what I think but it doesn’t necessarily reflect what the majority of readers think. I often get letters from readers who cite Eight Cousins as one of their favorites in Louisa’s canon.
I probably should put a disclaimer on that page to let people know that what I think doesn’t mean everybody else thinks it.
I feel like a traitor! 🙂 But I figured I should be honest.
When someone writes an article he/she keeps the thought of a user in his/her brain that how a user can understand it.
Therefore that’s why this piece of writing is
outstdanding. Thanks!
Thanks.
I have a copy of Old Concord: Her Highways and Byways. Would you like this book for your library?
Thank you for your kind offer but I have run out of room for more books in the house and actually have to start thinning out my library. But thanks for thinking of me!