Graphic Classics Volume 18: Louisa May Alcott (GRAPHIC CLASSICS GN) - Softcover

In this entry in the Graphic Classics series, editor Pomplun's choices for artists and retellers skew heavily toward women, including Trina Robbins and Mary Fleener. In addition, the selections range widely across the Alcott oeuvre to include not just Little Women but also poems and short stories for more sophisticated audiences. The full-color artwork should help draw in readers who think of nineteenth-century classics as being perennially gray. An excellent addition to both school and public library collections, whether this series is already a mainstay or will be a new discovery. --Booklist

The Graphic Classics series is known for artful if concise adaptations of the great Anglo-American action/adventure writers like Poe, Doyle, Stevenson, and Twain. This appears to be the first on a woman writer, and high time, too. Alcott is best remembered for the 1868 69 Little Women, but she also wrote florid gothic tales. Somewhat sappy by modern tastes, her work gains verve through these lively, full-color renderings. Certainly in Trina Robbins's skillful version, Little Women's pretty Jo March comes through as a modern gal ahead of her time, seeking a writing career and choosing an older, scholarly man instead of the lad Laurie. Of the gothics, the standout is A Whisper in the Dark. Saucy, young heiress Sybil hovers between a father and a son, both courting her, until her desire to control her destiny and the son's desire to control his sweep them both under the control of the father, with a near tragic outcome. Here, Arnold Arre's art shines with style and coloring. VERDICT Graphic treatment modernizes Alcott well, showing off her early feminist sensibilities. This attractive anthology is recommended for teens and up. --Library Journal

Grade 7 Up—An abridged novel, poetry, and a handful of Alcott's short stories are interpreted by various adapters and illustrators. The most interesting elements of the collection introduce readers to some of Alcott's less-familiar works: melodramatic, gothic horror written primarily for adults. "The Rival Prima Donnas" tells of revenge and betrayal between an opera diva and her understudy as both vie for the romantic attentions of a fickle portrait artist. The illustrator uses a palette of gold, brown, and black with lurid touches of red roses and blood for excellent dramatic effect. In contrast, the illustrator of "Lost in the Pyramid," also known as "The Mummy's Curse," uses heavily blackened shadows to impose an eerie atmosphere and create a heightened sense of the impending doom awaiting the tomb-robbers. One luckless adventurer's decision to pocket a memento will bring a curse to his future wedding day. "The Piggy Girl" and "Buzz" were obviously written for younger readers and provide a refreshing change of pace. Little Women has been significantly abridged to 46 comic pages. Major characters and plotlines are only briefly sketched. Individuals appear one-dimensional with the delightful stories and personalities of the original work eliminated. Devotees of this classic will probably be disappointed, and those who would like an overview of Little Women might be better served by viewing a film adaptation. Like Alcott's Aunt Jo's Scrapbag, this "bundle" of "odds and ends" offers a mixed bag of "stories, old and new."—Barbara M. Moon, Suffolk Cooperative Library System, Bellport, NY
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