Little Women itself needs no reviews; this review only discusses the annotated version edited by Daniel Shealy.

Shealy does a good job of discussing Alcott's life and the circumstances in which Little Women was written; where his annotation falls short is in its explication of the book itself. He keeps explaining things that are obvious from the context and missing things that are unclear to a modern reader. Some examples from early in the book:

- Army shoes: what are they and why would you give them to your mother? Shealy doesn't tell us.
- In the play the March girls act on Christmas Day, there's a discussion of their props that mentions butter boats transformed into antique lamps. He explains that a butter boat is a dish made to hold butter (duh!) by not why it resembles a lamp or that the lamp in question is probably an oil lamp (I've always assumed it was one like Aladdin's lamp), something a modern young reader might not realize.
- Similarly, Jo has a slashed doublet that the March girls use as a costume; Shealy explains that a doublet was a tight-fitting coat worn by men, but not that "slashed" means that there are cuts in the outer fabric to show contrasting inner fabric for ornamentation, not that it's torn up.

I first read LW at age 8 or 9; even then I could figure a lot out from context. I'd like to see an annotated version that explains the things you *can't* guess at.
Little Women itself needs no reviews; this review only discusses the annotated version edited by Daniel Shealy. Shealy does a good job of discussing Alcott's life and the circumstances in which Little Women was written; where his annotation falls short is in its explication of the book itself. He keeps explaining things that are obvious from the context and missing things that are unclear to a modern reader. Some examples from early in the book:

- Army shoes: what are they and why would you give them to your mother? Shealy doesn't tell us. - In the play the March girls act on Christmas Day, there's a discussion of their props that mentions butter boats transformed into antique lamps. He explains that a butter boat is a dish made to hold butter (duh! ) by not why it resembles a lamp or that the lamp in question is probably an oil lamp (I've always assumed it was one like Aladdin's lamp), something a modern young reader might not realize. - Similarly, Jo has a slashed doublet that the March girls use as a costume; Shealy explains that a doublet was a tight-fitting coat worn by men, but not that "slashed" means that there are cuts in the outer fabric to show contrasting inner fabric for ornamentation, not that it's torn up. I first read LW at age 8 or 9; even then I could figure a lot out from context. I'd like to see an annotated version that explains the things you *can't* guess at.