Little Women for English learners: level, words and how to read it
Louisa May Alcott’s novel about four sisters is warm, funny and very readable. It is also long: our edition includes both parts, almost 200,000 words. Here is how difficult it is and how to read it in English without getting lost.
- Author
- Louisa May Alcott
- Published
- 1868
- Level
- B2
- Words
- 191,236
- Chapters
- 47
- Reading time
- ≈ 21 h
Read Little Women in Booklex
In the app’s free library. Tap a word to see what it means.
What the book is about
Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy March live with their mother, Marmee, in a small New England town while their father serves as a chaplain in the American Civil War. They are poor, and each has her own dream and her own fault: Meg wants pretty things, Jo wants to be a writer and hates being ladylike, shy Beth loves music, and Amy wants to be elegant.
With the rich boy next door, Laurie, they put on plays, run a secret club, quarrel and make up. The second part follows them into adult life: work, marriage, loss, and Jo’s long road to becoming a writer.
Themes
- Sisters. Four very different girls who fight, support each other and grow up together.
- Becoming yourself. Jo, especially, refuses the role women were expected to play.
- Money and happiness. Being poor but loving is shown as better than being rich and empty.
- Growing up and loss. The second half is more serious and very moving.
How hard is Little Women to read in English?
Most of this book is made of everyday English. The 2,000 most common words cover 84.9% of it, so a learner who knows only those meets about 15 new words in every hundred. At 5,000 known words that drops to around 9, and at 10,000 to about 5.
Reading without help feels easy at about 98% familiar words (see our guide), which puts this book at B2–C1 by vocabulary. You do not need to know every word in advance, though: with tap-to-translate it works from B2. On our list it sits between The Picture of Dorian Gray, which is a little easier, and The Great Gatsby, which is a little harder.
What is hard: the length, 19th-century polite vocabulary (trifles, soberly, merriment) and many references to The Pilgrim’s Progress, a religious book the girls know well. What helps: lots of everyday dialogue, a clear plot that follows family life and chapters that each tell a small episode.
Our take: B2 with tap-to-translate (B2–C1 by vocabulary). Easier than its reputation, because so much is everyday dialogue. The length is the real challenge, so treat it as a long-term reading project.
Words to know before you start
Below are words that come up again and again in Little Women but are rare in modern English. Knowing them before you start saves a lot of tapping in the first chapters.
| Word | Meaning | Times in the book |
|---|---|---|
| tenderly | gently and lovingly | 26 |
| motherly | kind and caring, like a mother | 22 |
| gratefully | in a thankful way | 17 |
| trifles | small unimportant things | 17 |
| soberly | seriously, calmly | 15 |
| peeped | looked quickly and secretly | 13 |
| merriment | fun and laughter | 12 |
| bashful | shy | 12 |
| quenched | put out (a fire); satisfied (thirst) | 11 |
| pinafore | an apron dress worn over clothes | 10 |
How to read it in the original
- Read part one first. The first 23 chapters form a complete story; decide afterwards whether to continue.
- Do not worry about “Pilgrim’s Progress”. The girls compare their lives to it; you only need the general idea of a journey to be better.
- Notice old polite words. Adverbs like soberly, gratefully, tenderly describe how people speak; they are worth saving.
- Read one chapter a day. About 4,000 words, 25 minutes: part one in about three weeks.
The first line
“Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents,” grumbled Jo, lying on the rug.
Louisa May Alcott, Little Womenwon’t bewill not bephrase in context
Tap a highlighted word
A famous opening in dialogue: before we know anything else, we hear Jo complaining. The first chapter introduces all four sisters through what they say about Christmas.
Frequently asked questions
Is Little Women hard to read in English?
Moderately: about B2–C1 by vocabulary, B2 with tap-to-translate. The language is warm and full of everyday dialogue, but the book is long and uses some 19th-century words. Reading the first part alone is a good start.
What English level do I need for Little Women?
From B2, if you translate unknown words with a tap. Reading without any help needs about B2–C1. If it feels too hard, start with The Picture of Dorian Gray, which is a little easier.
