Louisa May Alcott Reading Order

4 books (1969–2023)

Start with A St. Nicholas Anthology, the first of 4 books in the Anthologies series.

#	Title
1	A St. Nicholas Anthology 1969Buy 🇺🇸
2	The Wimbourne Book of Victorian Ghost Stories: Volume 2 2016Buy 🇺🇸
3	Women Who Wrote 2020Buy 🇺🇸
4	The Dover Anthology of Classic Christmas Stories 2023Buy 🇺🇸

6 books (1872–1882)

Start with Aunt Jo's Scrap-Bag, the first of 6 books in the Aunt Jo's Scrap Bag series.

#	Title
1	Aunt Jo's Scrap-Bag 1872Buy 🇺🇸
2	Shawl-Straps 1872Buy 🇺🇸
3	Cupid and Chow Chow 1873Buy 🇺🇸
4	My Girls 1877Buy 🇺🇸
5	Jimmy's Cruise in the Pinafore Etc. 1879Buy 🇺🇸
6	An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving 1882Buy 🇺🇸

6 books (1873–2010)

Start with Transcendental Wild Oats, the first of 6 books in the Chapbooks series.

#	Title
1	Transcendental Wild Oats 1873Buy 🇺🇸
2	Marjorie's Three Gifts 1899Buy 🇺🇸
3	Diana & Persis 1978Buy 🇺🇸
4	Kate's Choice 2001Buy 🇺🇸
5	Debby's Debut 2010Buy 🇺🇸
6	Love and Self Love 2010Buy 🇺🇸

37 books (1854–2019)

Start with Flower Fables, the first of 37 books in the Collections series.

#	Title
1	Flower Fables 1854Buy 🇺🇸
2	A Modern Cinderella 1860Buy 🇺🇸
3	On Picket Duty, and Other Tales 1864Buy 🇺🇸
4	A Marble Woman 1865Buy 🇺🇸
5	Behind a Mask 1867Buy 🇺🇸
6	Kitty's Class Day and Other Stories 1882Buy 🇺🇸
7	Proverb Stories 1882Buy 🇺🇸
8	Spinning-Wheel Stories 1884Buy 🇺🇸
9	A Garland for Girls 1887Buy 🇺🇸
10	A Whisper in the Dark 1889Buy 🇺🇸
11	The Louisa Alcott Reader 1908Buy 🇺🇸
12	Glimpses of Louisa 1968Buy 🇺🇸
13	Short Stories 1968Buy 🇺🇸
14	Plots and Counterplots 1976Buy 🇺🇸
15	An Intimate Anthology 1980Buy 🇺🇸
16	Selected Fiction 1980Buy 🇺🇸
17	Hidden Louisa May Alcott 1984Buy 🇺🇸
18	Works of Louisa May Alcott 1986Buy 🇺🇸
19	A Double Life 1988Buy 🇺🇸
20	Freaks of Genius: Unknown Thrillers of Louisa May Alcott(With: Daniel Shealy) 1991Buy 🇺🇸
21	Louisa May Alcott's Fairy Tales and Fantasy Stories(With: Daniel Shealy) 1992Buy 🇺🇸
22	The Lost Stories of Louisa May Alcott 1993Buy 🇺🇸
23	Louisa May Alcott Unmasked 1995Buy 🇺🇸
24	Modern Magic 1995Buy 🇺🇸
25	The Quiet Little Woman 1999Buy 🇺🇸
26	The Early Stories of Louisa May Alcott, 1852-1860 2000Buy 🇺🇸
27	The Poems of Louisa May Alcott 2000Buy 🇺🇸
28	Louisa May Alcott's Christmas Treasury 2002Buy 🇺🇸
29	The Brownie and the PrincessOther Stories 2004Buy 🇺🇸
30	Doctor Dorn's Revenge and A Strange Island 2007Buy 🇺🇸
31	The Candy Country and How They Ran Away 2008Buy 🇺🇸
32	Morning-Glories 2009Buy 🇺🇸
33	The Poetry of Louisa May Alcott 2012Buy 🇺🇸
34	Sisters 2017Buy 🇺🇸
35	A Vintage Christmas 2018Buy 🇺🇸
36	A Merry Christmas and Other Christmas Stories 2019Buy 🇺🇸
37	May Flowers 2019Buy 🇺🇸

2 books (1875–1876)

Start with Eight Cousins or The Aunt-Hill and read in order.

#	Title
1	Eight Cousins or The Aunt-Hill 1875Buy 🇺🇸
2	Rose in Bloom 1876Buy 🇺🇸

4 books (1868–1886)

Start with Little Women, or Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy, the first of 4 books in the Little Women series.

#	Title
1	Little Women, or Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy 1868Buy 🇺🇸
2	Good Wives 1869Buy 🇺🇸
3	Little Men: Life at Plumfield with Jo's Boys 1871Buy 🇺🇸
4	Jo's Boys and How They Turned Out 1886Buy 🇺🇸

11 books (1863–2008)

Start with Civil War Hospital Sketches, the first of 11 books in the Non-Fiction series.

#	Title
1	Civil War Hospital Sketches 1863Buy 🇺🇸
2	Hospital Sketches 1863Buy 🇺🇸
3	Behind a Mask, or a Woman's Power 1866Buy 🇺🇸
4	Louisa May Alcott: Her Life, Letters and Journals 1889Buy 🇺🇸
5	The Selected Letters of Louisa May Alcott 1987Buy 🇺🇸
6	The Journals of Louisa May Alcott(With: Daniel Shealy) 1989Buy 🇺🇸
7	The Girlhood Diary of Louisa May Alcott, 1843-1846 1993Buy 🇺🇸
8	Louisa May Alcott On Race, Sex, And Slavery 1997Buy 🇺🇸
9	The Sketches of Louisa May Alcott 2001Buy 🇺🇸
10	Louisa May Alcott's Civil War 2006Buy 🇺🇸
11	Little Women Abroad: The Alcott Sisters' Letters from Europe, 1870-1871(With: Daniel Shealy,May Alcott Nieriker) 2008Buy 🇺🇸

29 books (1862–2019)

Start with Pauline's Passion and Punishment, the first of 29 books in the Short Stories/Novellas series.

#	Title
1	Pauline's Passion and Punishment 1862Buy 🇺🇸
2	The Abbot's Ghost, Or Maurice Treheme's Temptation 1867Buy 🇺🇸
3	Perilous Play, And, Lost in a Pyramid or the Mummy's Curse 1869Buy 🇺🇸
4	A Country Christmas 1882Buy 🇺🇸
5	Mountain-Laurel and Maidenhair 1887Buy 🇺🇸
6	Poppies and Wheat 1900Buy 🇺🇸
7	Trudel's Siege 1976Buy 🇺🇸
8	Scarlet Stockings 2004Buy 🇺🇸
9	The Baron's Gloves 2005Buy 🇺🇸
10	Silver Pitchers and Independence 2007Buy 🇺🇸
11	Little Button Rose 2008Buy 🇺🇸
12	The Mysterious Key and What It Opened 2010Buy 🇺🇸
13	The Cross on the Old Church Tower 2013Buy 🇺🇸
14	The Death of John 2013Buy 🇺🇸
15	The King of Clubs and the Queen of Hearts 2013Buy 🇺🇸
16	On Picket Duty 2014Buy 🇺🇸
17	Doctor Dorn's Revenge 2015Buy 🇺🇸
18	Effie's Christmas Dream 2015Buy 🇺🇸
19	The Dolls' Journey 2015Buy 🇺🇸
20	Comic Tragedies 2016Buy 🇺🇸
21	How They Ran Away 2016Buy 🇺🇸
22	Lilybell and Thistledown 2016Buy 🇺🇸
23	Sophie's Secret 2016Buy 🇺🇸
24	The Blind Lark 2016Buy 🇺🇸
25	The Brownie and the Princess 2017Buy 🇺🇸
26	Kitty's Class Day 2018Buy 🇺🇸
27	Pansies and Water-Lilies 2018Buy 🇺🇸
28	Lost in a Pyramid 2019Buy 🇺🇸
29	The Mysterious Key 2019Buy 🇺🇸

9 books (1849–1995)

Start with The Inheritance, the first of 9 books in the Standalone Novels series.

#	Title
1	The Inheritance 1849Buy 🇺🇸
2	Moods 1864Buy 🇺🇸
3	An Old-Fashioned Girl 1869Buy 🇺🇸
4	Work 1873Buy 🇺🇸
5	A Modern Mephistopheles 1877Buy 🇺🇸
6	Under the Lilacs 1878Buy 🇺🇸
7	Jack & Jill 1880Buy 🇺🇸
8	Lulu's Library 1886Buy 🇺🇸
9	A Long Fatal Love Chase 1995Buy 🇺🇸