Order of Book Series
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Little Women Books in Order

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott contains 4 books, published between 1868 and 1886. The first book is Little Women, or Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy (1868) and the newest is Jo's Boys and How They Turned Out (1886). Publication order is the reading order below.

Books
4
Published
1868–1886
Pages on record
1,280 in 3 of 4 books
Reading time
21–32 hours

Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 1,280 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 3 of 4 titles with a page count on record.

See all 4 books in order Printable Little Women checklist

Four March sisters, Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy, carry Little Women, Alcott's sequence about growing up in a household shaped by the Civil War. Little Women (1868) opens the story and Good Wives (1869) continues it. Little Men (1871) moves to Plumfield, the school Jo keeps, and Jo's Boys (1886) closes the run. Four books make up the series, at a median of 464 pages.

How many Little Women books are there?

Little Women has 4 books, released between 1868 and 1886.

Little Women Books in Publication Order

The table lists all 4 Little Women books in the order they were published, with the release year, the page count where one is on record, and how many independent book listings confirm each title. Catalogue data as of September 2026.

  1. Cover of Little Women, or Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy by Louisa May Alcott, book 1 of the Little Women series (1868)
  2. Cover of Jo's Boys and How They Turned Out by Louisa May Alcott, book 4 of the Little Women series (1886)
  1. 1
    Little Women, or Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy1868 · 480 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1868480
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  2. 2
    Good Wives1869 · 464 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1869464
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  3. 3
    Little Men: Life at Plumfield with Jo's Boys1871 · confirmed 2/4
    1871–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  4. 4
    Jo's Boys and How They Turned Out1886 · 336 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1886336
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK

Is there a chronological order for Little Women?

No separate chronological order is on record for Little Women, because none of the book listings this catalogue draws on publishes one; the publication order above is the only order given.

Do you have to read Little Women books in order?

You should read the Little Women books in publication order, the order of the numbered table above. The catalogue does not record whether each Little Women book also stands alone.

Where to start with Little Women

Start with Little Women, or Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy (1868), the earliest published title.

What is the newest Little Women book?

Jo's Boys and How They Turned Out (1886) is the newest Little Women book released so far.

Is there a new Little Women book coming?

No next Little Women book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.

Little Women at a glance

No recent titles
The newest Little Women title on record dates from 1886, 140 years ago. No later title is catalogued.
Release pace
Little Women books have appeared about one every 6 years on average.
Length
1,280 pages across the 3 of 4 books with a recorded length, a median of 464 pages each.
Busiest decade
Most Little Women books, 2 of 4, were published in the 1860s.

What the Little Women books are about

3 of the 4 Little Women books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: jeunes filles is tagged on 2 of 3. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.

More books by Louisa May Alcott

The author page linked below lists every book in publication order.