Little Men

Name: Little Men
Author: Louisa May Alcott

Kleine mannen

Original author

Louisa May Alcott

Adapted by

Line by Line Publishing,

Read Little Men by Louisa May Alcott in Dutch and English, a parallel text graded reader with audio. Available in CEFR levels A2, B1, B2, and C2.

About this book

Little Men opens on a ragged boy at a door. Nat Blake arrives at Plumfield sick and friendless, a street-musician who has lost his father and his violin, carrying a letter that asks the Bhaers to take him in. They feed him, warm him, mend his cough, and when he lifts a fiddle to his chin the whole rowdy house falls silent. "My child, you have got a father and a mother now, and this is home," Mrs. Bhaer tells him. He is tucked into bed just in time for the school's Saturday-night pillow fight.

At this countryside school, love is the whole curriculum. Mrs. Jo is the merry headmistress who reforms troubled children simply by loving them and letting them see it. Her husband, the stout, kind professor, teaches truth and self-control through patience rather than fear. Around them gathers a houseful of children: gentle, bookish Demi and his rosy twin Daisy, the baby Teddy, and later the wild, sullen Dan, whose hidden goodness only the smallest among them seems to sense.

The days fill with gardens each boy tends and a willow-tree hideaway over a brook. There is a museum room strung with birds' eggs and a swinging stuffed parrot, and a dollhouse kitchen with a real fire and a singing kettle, staged by Aunt Jo to catch a sunbeam for the children. There are lies confessed and forgiven, a runaway and a return, a stolen dollar and a loyal friend who stands watch.

Under kind hands, green shoots spring up out of unpromising soil, "in the warmth of love and care, the best climate for young hearts and souls all the world over." The door is open. Come in and sit by the fire.

Available editions

Short, concrete sentences for early learners.

4,480 sentences

Longer sentences and a wider vocabulary.

4,480 sentences

Complex sentences and a fuller vocabulary, close to everyday native reading.

4,480 sentences

Original English — The most complex prose — long, intricate sentences, and advanced vocabulary.

4,480 sentences

Read a sample

Hoofdstuk 1. Nat

Chapter 1. Nat

Een bus zette een jongen in haveloze kleren af bij een groot hek.

A bus left a ragged boy at a big gate.

Een man deed het hek voor hem open.

A man opened the gate for him.

‘Pardon, meneer, is dit Plumfield?’ vroeg de jongen aan de man.

“Please, sir, is this Plumfield?” the boy asked the man.

‘Ja.’

“Yes.”

‘Wie heeft je gestuurd?’

“Who sent you?”

History

Written by Louisa May Alcott in English
Adapted by Line by Line Publishing in 2026

Also available in

Learn English from Dutch