Fans of the March sisters will have no shortage of presents this Christmas. Louisa May Alcott’s coming-of-age classic Little Women is getting the red carpet treatment, in time for the December 25 premiere of writer and director Greta Gerwig’s film adaptation. Abrams has announced the release of the original novel with film stills and an official movie companion book—the covers of which are revealed here—along with a Little Women wall calendar, due out on November 5.
Andrew Smith, senior v-p and publisher of Abrams Children’s Books, said in a statement, “Little Women promises to be the event movie of the holiday season and we’re thrilled to be working with the filmmakers and the team at Sony Pictures on a creative publishing program that extends and enhances the experience of the film.”
The forthcoming film stars Timothée Chalamet (Laurie), Laura Dern (Marmee), Bob Odenkirk (Mr. March), Florence Pugh (Amy), Saoirse Ronan (Jo), Eliza Scanlen (Beth), Meryl Streep (Aunt March), and Emma Watson (Meg). Little Women has been adapted numerous times for the screen, including in 1933 and 1994, with such actors as Katharine Hepburn and Winona Ryder taking on the role of writerly heroine Jo March.
Little Women: The Original Classic Novel Featuring Photos from the Film! contains images from the new movie, while Little Women: The Official Movie Companion by Gina McIntyre offers a guide to the making of the film, with more than 150 photographs showcasing costumes and locations. The deluxe hardcover edition also features quotes from Gerwig and the cast, vintage recipes, and more.
Last year marked the 150th anniversary of Alcott’s Civil War-era novel, and 2019 has brought several reworkings of her book for young readers. Among them, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy: A Graphic Novel: A Modern Retelling of Little Women by Rey Terciero, illustrated by Bre Indigo (Little, Brown, Feb.), reimagines the March sisters as a blended family living in Brooklyn. And More to the Story by Hena Khan, which follows a Muslim, Pakistani-American family in contemporary Atlanta, is due from Salaam Reads in September. On the adult nonfiction front, Sisters: On Life, Death and Little Women by Kate Bolick, Carmen Maria Machado, Jane Smiley, and Jenny Zhang (Library of America, Aug. 27) presents four authors’ personal reflections on the lifelong influence of Alcott’s storytelling. This month also brought the paperback release of Anne Boyd Rioux’s Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy: The Story of Little Women and Why It Still Matters (Norton), which delves into the creation of the novel, and its legacy.
