“What are Louisa May Alcott’s Best Books?” We looked at all of Alcott’s authored bibliography and ranked them against one another to answer that very question!

We took all of the books written by Louisa May Alcott and looked at their Goodreads, Amazon, and LibraryThing scores, ranking them against one another to see which books came out on top. The books are ranked in our list below based on which titles have the highest overall score between all 3 review sites in comparison with all of the other books by the same author. The process isn’t super scientific and in reality, most books aren’t “better” than other books as much as they are just different. That being said, we do enjoy seeing where our favorites landed, and if you aren’t familiar with the author at all, the rankings can help you see what books might be best to start with.

The full ranking chart is also included below the countdown on the bottom of the page.

Happy Scrolling!

The Top Book’s Of Louisa May Alcott

74 ) Cupid and Chow Chow

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 65
• Amazon: 55
• LibraryThing: 53

I don’t care to disturb his happy childhood with quarrels beyond his comprehension. I shall teach him to be as good and just a man as his father, and feel quite sure that no woman will suffer wrong at his hands, returned Mrs. Ellen, smiling at Cupid’s papa, who nodded back as if they quite understood one another.

73 ) Love and Self Love

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 64
• Amazon: 55
• LibraryThing: 53

71 ) The Candy Country

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 63
• Amazon: 55
• LibraryThing: 53

71 ) Moods

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 66
• Amazon: 52
• LibraryThing: 53

70 ) Hospital Sketches and Camp and Fireside Stories

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 66
• Amazon: 51
• LibraryThing: 53

69 ) On Picket Duty, and Other Tales

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 66
• Amazon: 46
• LibraryThing: 53

68 ) Something To Do

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 55
• Amazon: 55
• LibraryThing: 53

67 ) Pauline’s Passion and Punishment

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 62
• Amazon: 49
• LibraryThing: 51

66 ) Trudel’s Siege

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 51
• Amazon: 55
• LibraryThing: 53

65 ) Ethelyn’s Mistake

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 49
• Amazon: 55
• LibraryThing: 53

64 ) Little Vampire Women

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 59
• Amazon: 46
• LibraryThing: 49

63 ) Modern Cinderella or The Little Old Shoe and Other Stories A

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 57
• Amazon: 43
• LibraryThing: 53

62 ) La Herencia

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 42
• Amazon: 55
• LibraryThing: 53

60 ) Brothers

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 47
• Amazon: 55
• LibraryThing: 47

60 ) Aunt Jo’s Scrap-Bag

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 66
• Amazon: 30
• LibraryThing: 53

59 ) Transcendental Wild Oats and Excerpts From the Fruitlands Diary

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 46
• Amazon: 53
• LibraryThing: 45

He set out to make his utopian dream come true-Bronson Alcott, his wife and four daughters, and an odd assortment of friends who knew more about philosophy than they did about farming. Would their experience at Fruitlands last through the hard New England winter? Transcendentalist commune is for readers of all ages who love Alcott, history, or just a good story told with humor and sensitivity.

57 ) Diana Persis

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 34
• Amazon: 55
• LibraryThing: 53

57 ) Poppies and Wheat

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 34
• Amazon: 55
• LibraryThing: 53

56 ) Glimpses Of Louisa

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 39
• Amazon: 55
• LibraryThing: 47

55 ) The Baron’s Gloves

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 54
• Amazon: 45
• LibraryThing: 38

54 ) Spinning-Wheel Stories

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 47
• Amazon: 36
• LibraryThing: 52

53 ) The Chase or A Long Fatal Love Chase

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 42
• Amazon: 55
• LibraryThing: 36

Rosamond Vivian, brought up on a remote island by an indifferent grandfather, swears she’d sell her soul to Satan for a year of freedom. When Philip Tempest enters her life, she is ripe for the plucking, but is soon caught up in a web of intrigue, cruelty and deceit stretching back far into the past. Remarkable for its portrayal of a sensual, spirited Victorian heroine, Louisa May Alcott’s work, too shocking to be published during her lifetime, tells a compulsive tale of love, desire and deceit. Its publication more than a century after being written marks a new page in literary history.

49 ) La Pequena Mujercita, La Navidad De Tatiana, El Relato De Rosa

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 39
• Amazon: 55
• LibraryThing: 38

49 ) A Double Life

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 50
• Amazon: 38
• LibraryThing: 44

49 ) Kitty’s Class-Day

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 66
• Amazon: 13
• LibraryThing: 53

49 ) Mountain-Laurel and Maidenhair

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 66
• Amazon: 13
• LibraryThing: 53

48 ) The Mysterious Key and What It Opened

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 53
• Amazon: 38
• LibraryThing: 38

If you think Louisa May Alcott’s oeuvre is limited to feel-good fiction like Little Women, think again. This accomplished tale of mystery and suspense will leave even the most attentive readers guessing until the last page. It’s a must-read for fans of classic mysteries.…

46 ) From Jo March’s Attic

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 34
• Amazon: 55
• LibraryThing: 38

46 ) Scarlet Stockings

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 58
• Amazon: 55
• LibraryThing: 14

45 ) Little Button Rose

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 13
• Amazon: 55
• LibraryThing: 53

42 ) Under the Lilacs

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 29
• Amazon: 55
• LibraryThing: 36

Relates the adventures of Ben Brown, his performing poodle Sancho, and the two young girls who feed and care for them after the boy and dog run away from the circus.

42 ) Comic Tragedies

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 66
• Amazon: 1
• LibraryThing: 53

42 ) Shawl-Straps

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 66
• Amazon: 1
• LibraryThing: 53

41 ) Plots and Counterplots

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 33
• Amazon: 54
• LibraryThing: 30

40 ) Debby’s Debut

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 24
• Amazon: 38
• LibraryThing: 53

With an intertwining of different themes, this is a long work by Charles Dickens. Among other things the writer has also shed light on the sluggish judicial system and the insatiable lawyers. With a lot of hilarious minor characters, the major themes are linked together beautifully.

38 ) Christmas With Little Women

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 60
• Amazon: 1
• LibraryThing: 53

38 ) Flower Fables

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 66
• Amazon: 30
• LibraryThing: 18

A collection of six original fairy tales written by the acclaimed Louisa May Alcott. These stories are part of a large body of fantasy fiction the author wrote throughout her career. Each story features adventures of elves and fairy sprites in fairyland and are imbued with the lushness of Alcott’s love of the natural world.

37 ) A Modern Mephistopheles

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 51
• Amazon: 13
• LibraryThing: 46

This chilling tale of lust, deception and greed, first published anonymously in 1877, allowed Alcott the chance to exercise “the lurid style” she believed was her “natural ambition”. A novel of psychological complexity that touches on the controversial subjects of sexuality and drug use, A Modern Mephistopheles is a penetrating and powerful study of human evil and its appalling consequences.

36 ) The Inheritance

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 42
• Amazon: 22
• LibraryThing: 43

Set in an English country manor, the story follows the turbulent fortunes of Edith Adelon, an impoverished Italian orphan whose loyalty and beauty win her the patronage of wealthy friends until a jealous rival contrives to rob her of her position. In the locket around her neck, she carries a deep secret about her natural birthright.

35 ) A Christmas Dream Cd

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 61
• Amazon: 43
• LibraryThing: 2

In Rosa’s tale, it is said that every Christmas Eve, for one hour’s time beginning at the magical hour of midnight, animals are given the gift of speech. Imagining all that her equine friend, Rosa, might have to say, young Belinda is shocked to hear the sad story of Rosa’s life and her fears of what the future might hold. In A Christmas dream, and how it came true, ten-year-old Effie lives the life most children dream of –with every day filled with delicious treats and wonderful toys. One night she experiences a dream that will forever change the meaning of Christmas for her. In it, she meets a group of under privileged children and she is inspired to create a Christmas they will never forget.…

34 ) The Early Stories Of Louisa May Alcott, 1852-1860

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 55
• Amazon: 38
• LibraryThing: 10

33 ) Work a Story Of Experience

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 34
• Amazon: 13
• LibraryThing: 53

32 ) A Garland For Girls

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 26
• Amazon: 46
• LibraryThing: 21

31 ) Hospital Sketches

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 42
• Amazon: 30
• LibraryThing: 19

This is Alcott’s account of her experiences as a nurse during the Civil War in a Washington D.C. hospital. The sketches are taken “from letters hastily written in the few leisure moments of a very busy life,” and so maintain the immediacy and force of their author.

30 ) Work Louisa May Alct

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 34
• Amazon: 13
• LibraryThing: 42

Moving away from the family setting of her best-known works, Louisa May Alcott explores both her own personal conflicts as a woman, as well as those experienced by her contemporaries in the unemancipated 19th century. Social justice and women’s work are the central themes of this novel.

29 ) Modern Magic

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 25
• Amazon: 55
• LibraryThing: 8

28 ) Modern Mephistopheles and Taming a Tartar

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 16
• Amazon: 55
• LibraryThing: 14

Louisa May Alcott has always been associated with literature for young adults and children. Here is in effect a new book by the universally popular Alcott, a book that reveals an altogether different image of one of America’s best-loved authors. A Modern MephistopheleS≪/i> began as a rejected sensational novel and was revised by Alcott for anonymous publication in 1877. Its subject, style, and language mark radical deviations from those expected of Alcott. Taming a Tartar is a newly discovered Alcott thriller. Originally published as a serialization in Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Magazine, this astounding page-turner highlights Alcott’s feminists leanings.

27 ) Jo’s Boys

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 22
• Amazon: 30
• LibraryThing: 32

Best known for the novels Little Women and Little Men, Louisa May Alcott brought the story of her feisty protagonist Jo and the adventures and misadventures of the March family to an entertaining, surprising, and bittersweet conclusion in Jo’s Boys. Beginning ten years after Little Men, Jo’s Boys revisits Plumfield, the New England school still presided over by Jo and her husband, Professor Bhaer. Jo remains at the center of the tale, surrounded by her boys—including rebellious Dan, sailor Emil, and promising musician Nat—as they experience shipwreck and storm, disappointment and even murder. Popular for over a century, Alcott’s series still holds universal appeal with its powerful and affectionate depiction of family—the haven where the prodigal can always return, adversity is shared, and our dreams of being cherished, despite our flaws, come true. In this edition of Jo’s Boys, readers once again experience a treasured classic by one of America’s best-loved writers.

26 ) Short Stories

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 39
• Amazon: 22
• LibraryThing: 21

Poignant collection of 5 stories — based in part on the author’s experiences as a nurse during the Civil War

25 ) Behind a Mask the Unknown Thrillers Of Louisa May Alcott

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 26
• Amazon: 22
• LibraryThing: 31

Six years before she wrote Little Women, Louisa May Alcott, in financial straits, entered “Pauline’s Passion and Punishment,” a novelette, in a newspaper contest. Not only did it win the $100 prize, but, published anonymously,

24 ) Little Men

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 19
• Amazon: 30
• LibraryThing: 28

The beloved sequel to Little Women, this classic continues the story of Jo March, who goes on to get married and inherit an estate with which she creates an experimental school for boys.

23 ) Les Quatre Filles Du Docteur March

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 8
• Amazon: 55
• LibraryThing: 12

In picturesque nineteenth-century New England, tomboyish Jo, beautiful Meg, fragile Beth, and romantic Amy come of age while their father is off to war.

22 ) An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 32
• Amazon: 36
• LibraryThing: 5

A sweet and humorous Thanksgiving tale from the beloved author of Little Women. When the Bassett parents are called away in the midst of busy preparations for Thanksgiving dinner, the children are left in the care of their eldest siblings. The spirited young Tilly and Eph, along with their merry band of siblings, decide to forge ahead with a Thanksgiving feast, despite their limited culinary skills.

21 ) The Lost Stories Of Louisa May Alcott

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 18
• Amazon: 1
• LibraryThing: 50

From the author of anonymous and pseudonymous tales comes a collection on nine newly discovered stories uncovered by tireless literary detective work.

18 ) Jack and Jill

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 21
• Amazon: 13
• LibraryThing: 34

Two inseparable friends, Jack and Jill’s bond is tested by a serious sledding accident. But with the encouragement of friends and family, they resolve not to let the misfortune ruin the holiday season.

18 ) A Whisper In the Dark

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 30
• Amazon: 13
• LibraryThing: 25

18 ) A Marble Woman

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 31
• Amazon: 10
• LibraryThing: 27

17 ) May Flowers

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 28
• Amazon: 38
• LibraryThing: 1

Being Boston girls, of course they got up a club for mental improvement, and, as they were all descendants of the Pilgrim Fathers, they called it the Mayflower Club. A very good name, and the six young girls who were members of it made a very pretty posy when they met together, once a week, to sew, and read well-chosen books.…

16 ) The Brownie and The Princess Other Stories

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 20
• Amazon: 10
• LibraryThing: 35

A poor farmer’s daughter changes the life of a spoiled princess . . .A fearless young girl saves her town from British soldiers . . .Two elderly sisters come up with a plan to help a sickly child . . .A country girl shows her city cousin that simple can be best . . .From the author of the beloved classic little women come ten short stories to delight and charm. Throughout her life, Louisa May Alcott published many stories in children’s magazines, and now ten of the best of these tales have been collected here. Filled with characters who have all the warmth, liveliness, and appeal of Jo March and her sisters, these stories will open up a whole new world for Alcott fans, and remain every bit as captivating as when they were first written, over a century ago.

14 ) The Best Of Louisa May Alcott

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 1
• Amazon: 30
• LibraryThing: 32

“A splendid edition–the first contemporary collection of Louisa May Alcott’s novels and stories; one that includes the art of the great nineteenth-century illustrator Frank T. Merrill.” —Madelon Bedell, author of The Alcotts: Biography of a Family Louisa May Alcott was a writer who liked to be in intimate touch with the reader. There is a confidential immediacy to her style, often punctuated with sly stabs of satire and irony. One of the principal charms of her writing is her great warmth for her characters, and theirs for one another. Nowhere is this better displayed than in the classics Little Women and Little Men, which are here in their entirety.

14 ) Good Wives

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 15
• Amazon: 22
• LibraryThing: 26

When “Little Women” came to its last chapter Meg was engaged and the other three March girls, Beth, Jo and Amy, were at the threshold of young-womanhood. “Good Wives” opens three years later, with Meg and her family happily preparing for her marriage to John Brooke.

13 ) Classic Starts

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 6
• Amazon: 49
• LibraryThing: 6

12 ) Rose In Bloom

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 10
• Amazon: 20
• LibraryThing: 24

Six years before she wrote Little Women, and in financial straits, Louisa May Alcott entered “Pauline’s Passion and Punishment, ” a novelette, in a newspaper contest. Not only did it win the $100 prize, but, published anonymously, it marked the first of the series of “blood & thunder tales” that would provide her livelihood for years. For as she said, “They are easy to ‘compoze’ & are better paid than moral…works.” The gruesome, passionate stories reveal a darker side of Alcott. Published anonymously or under the pseudonym of A. M. Barnard, they appeared in weeklies over a century ago. In their mastery of suspense and psychological drama, and in their embodiment of a startlingly intense – if oblique – feminism, they attest to the multifaceted genius of their creator. “Pauline’s Passion and Punishment” features a woman who is scorned by her lover and left with her fury and her desire for revenge. The male hero of “The Mysterious Key” must unearth secrets hidden away in a family tomb if he is to realize true love.

11 ) Children’s Classic Compendium

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 3
• Amazon: 22
• LibraryThing: 28

10 ) Eight Cousins, Or, the Aunt-Hill

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 11
• Amazon: 20
• LibraryThing: 20

After the death of her father, orphan Rose Campbell has no choice but to go and live at the ‘Aunt Hill’ with her six aunts and seven boy cousins. For someone who was used to a girl’s boarding school, it all seems pretty overwhelming, especially since her guardian Uncle Alec makes her eat healthy things like oatmeal, and even tries to get her to give up her pretty dresses for more drab, sensible clothes. Will Rose ever get used to her Uncle’s strange ideas and all her noisy relatives? Will there come a day when she can’t imagine living anywhere else?

9 ) An Old Fashioned Girl

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 8
• Amazon: 22
• LibraryThing: 13

Polly Milton never questions the way she is until she visits her cousins in the city. Her cousin Fanny looks too glamorous to be Polly’s age, and wouldn’t be caught dead playing in the snow. Will Polly ever learn to be like the other girls? And does she even want to? Sometimes being old-fashioned is right in style.

8 ) Alternative Alcott

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 14
• Amazon: 12
• LibraryThing: 14

7 ) Little Woman

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 11
• Amazon: 22
• LibraryThing: 4

6 ) The Works Of Louisa May Alcott

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 1
• Amazon: 22
• LibraryThing: 11

5 ) The Novels Of Louisa May Alcott

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 7
• Amazon: 1
• LibraryThing: 23

Little women: Chronicles the joys and sorrows of the four March sisters as they grow into young ladies in nineteenth-century New England.Good wives: Continues the joys and sorrows of the March sisters as they marry and leave home.Little men: Adventures of Jo March and her husband Professor Bhaer in their school for boys.…

4 ) Louisa May Alcott

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 16
• Amazon: 1
• LibraryThing: 9

In this intimate anthology of letters, poems, stories, and other personal and literary writing by Louisa May Alcott, an often surprising portrait emerges of this pioneering writer.

3 ) The Sketches Of Louisa May Alcott

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 22
• Amazon: 1
• LibraryThing: 2

A delightful collection of sketches by Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888), the author best known as the creator of such novels as LITTLE WOMEN, AN OLD-FASHIONED GIRL, LITTLE MEN, and EIGHT COUSINS. She won critical acclaim with HOSPITAL SKETCHES, an engaging and deeply moving account of her service as an army nurse during the Civil War.

1 ) The Journals Of Louisa May Alcott

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 4
• Amazon: 9
• LibraryThing: 7

“From her eleventh year to the month of her death at age fifty-five, Louisa May Alcott kept copious journals. She never intended for them to be published, but the insights they provide into her remarkable life are invaluable.” “Alcott grew up in a genteel but impoverished household, surrounded by the literary and philosophical elite of nineteenth-century New England, induding Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Like her fictional alter ego, Jo March, she was a free spirit who longed for independence, yet she dutifully supported her parents and three sisters with her literary efforts.

1 ) The Hidden Louisa May Alcott

Review Website Ranks:

• Goodreads: 5
• Amazon: 1
• LibraryThing: 14

Louisa May Alcott’s Best Books

Louisa May Alcott Review Website Bibliography Rankings