An Alcott Family Christmas

This book could easily be titled Little Women: The Prequel, as it recasts young Louisa May Alcott and her family as virtual counterparts to the main characters from that classic novel. Though too poor to buy presents, the Alcott girls give up their Christmas feast, complete with goose (Bronson Alcott was famously vegetarian), to an ailing neighbor and regale their parents with a play on Christmas morning. The early American decor and occasional folk-art motifs infuse these proceedings with a vague period charm, but the representation of the Alcott household seems wholly based on fiction. Ages 4-8. (Sept.)