Her first book, Flower Fables, published in 1854, is a small collection of fairy tales. Hospital Sketches (1863) told the story of Alcott's experiences of a nurse during the Civil War. The Civil War had a huge impact on her, for there, thirty year old Alcott had the rest of her life decided for her when she caught typhoid fever and was treated with mercury. Her first novel, Moods (1864), was about an unsuccessful marriage. Two of the characters represented Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. These two had an enormous impact on Alcott's life, educating her and being there for her. The novel, Little Women (1868), recounted Alcott's life growing up, with each character representing someone important in her life. A short story, An Old-Fashioned Girl (1870), is about a young girl who does not fully fit in with everyone around her. She is made fun of, but in spite of all the teasing, she pushed through and makes the best of it. Three years after Little Women was published, Alcott published a sequel to the story. Little Men is about the boys at the school that Jo runs with her husband. However, Little Men did not receive as much praise as Little Women. Alcott's fourth novel, Work (1873), is about "the efforts of a poor girl to support herself by working as a seamstress, domestic servant, and a companion" (ABC-CLIO). This story seems to be about Alcott …show more content…
Little Women is the first book in series and received reviews that gave it a four out of five rating. The other two books both received reviews that gave them a three point eight out of five. According to Critical Reception, some critics say that Little Women is "an ideologically purified and strained realism". However, according to The March Family Stories, "Little Women was an overnight success, not just with girls but with the reading public in general". Both critics have their own opinion on Little Women, one negative, one positive. Overall, critics thought Alcott to be "a writer of charming stories for children which show them both in happy situations and in problematic ones" (The March Family Stories). Though all of Alcott's works received fairly positive praise, Little Women and the books that followed received the most due to readers' appreciation to the connections that Alcott