Little Women

Reading Check questions are designed for in-class review on key plot points or for quick verbal or written assessments. Multiple Choice and Short Answer Quizzes create ideal summative assessments, and collectively function to convey a sense of the work’s tone and themes.

Preface-Part 1, Chapters 1-5

Reading Check

1. Who provides the girls with a Christmas dinner?

2. Where is Mr. March?

3.  Who does Jo dance with at the party?

Multiple Choice

1. What book does Marmee encourage the girls to model their lives on?

A) Ivanhoe

B) Great Expectations

C) Pilgrim’s Progress

D) The Pickwick Papers

2. Which sister worries that her nose is too flat?

A) Amy

B) Meg

C) Jo

D) Beth

3. Why does Marmee think Mr. Laurence doesn’t like the piano?

A) He has a history of disliking loud noises.

B) It hasn’t been played for a decade.

C) He instructed her not to let her children play it.

D) His son’s Italian wife played the piano.

Short-Answer Response

Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why isn’t Marmee home on Christmas morning?

2. How has the March family fallen on hard times?

3. What does Marmee encourage the girls to do when they experience burdens?

Part 1, Chapters 6-10

Reading Check

1. What does Amy do to earn Jo’s hatred?

2. What gets Amy in trouble at school?

3. What is the Pickwick Portfolio?

Multiple Choice

1. What does Marmee reveal to Jo in private?

A) that she enjoys having Mr. March gone

B) that she’s angry nearly every day

C) that she didn’t want to be a mother to girls

D) that she dislikes Hannah

2. Why do Meg and Laurie fight at Moffat’s house?

A) He thinks she should be having more fun.

B) He thinks she is behaving distastefully.

C) He thinks her dress is out of fashion.

D) He thinks she should be spending time with him instead.

3. What happens that leads Jo to forgive Amy?

A) Amy falls through the ice.

B) Amy recreates Jo’s favorite story.

C) Amy gives Jo a new journal to write in.

D) Amy has Mr. March write to Jo.

Short-Answer Response

Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why does Mr. Laurie give Beth the piano?

2. Why doesn’t Marmee approve of Mr. Davis, Amy’s schoolteacher, and his approach to educating her?

3. What does Meg learn after her time at Moffat’s house?

Part 1, Chapters 11-15

Reading Check

1. What is the experiment that Marmee tries?

2. What method do the March and Laurie households use to communicate?

3. Who is Mr. Brooke?

Multiple Choice

1. Why doesn’t Jo like Fred Vaughn?

A) He’s a cheater.

B) He’s English.

C) He gets in a physical altercation with Laurie.

D) He has feelings for her.

2. What secret does Laurie tell Jo?

A) that Amy is planning to throw a party

B) that Jo’s story has won first prize in the newspaper

C) that Meg was caught looking at Mr. Brooke

D) that Mr. Brooke has Meg’s missing glove

3. What does Jo do to help her family when Mr. March is ill?

A) She sells her writing.

B) She sells her hair.

C) She sells her nice dresses.

D) She sells her jewelry from Aunt March.

Short-Answer Response

Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What are the “castles in the air”?

2. Why doesn’t Jo like Meg and Mr. Brooke’s attraction?

3. What reason does Jo say she has for wanting be a writer?

Part 1, Chapters 16-20

Reading Check

1. Why does Marmee leave the girls alone?

2. What happens to Beth after she visits the Hummels?

3. What does Aunt March give Amy?

Multiple Choice

1. Why does Amy go to live with Aunt March for a time?

A) She hasn’t had scarlet fever.

B) Hannah can’t take care of her while Beth is ill.

C) She is angry at Jo and Meg.

D) Mr. Laurie thinks she is too rambunctious for Beth.

2. Why does Hannah want Beth’s illness kept secret?

A) She thinks it’s her fault.

B) She wants to show she can handle the household alone.

C) She thinks Marmee should stay with Mr. March.

D) She doesn’t think Beth should have been with the Hummels.

3. What does Marmee think is most important about Mr. Brooke’s attraction to Meg?

A) that he secures a good job before proposing

B) that Meg cares for him as well

C) that he behaves like a proper gentleman

D) that he gets more of an education

Short-Answer Response

Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why is Beth the one who goes to help the Hummel family?

2. What does Amy’s will reveal about her character?

3. Why does Marmee grow to like Mr. Brooke?

Part 1, Chapters 21-23

Reading Check

1. What prank does Laurie play that goes badly?

2. What is the surprise Christmas present that the March girls get?

3. Why is Jo upset about Meg’s decision to marry Mr. Brooke?

Multiple Choice

1. Why does Mr. Laurence worry about fighting with Laurie?

A) Laurie might run away like his father did.

B) Mr. Laurence doesn’t want Laurie to be angry when he leaves for college.

C) Laurie’s temper is more than Mr. Laurence can handle.

D) He promised to give Laurie a good home.

2. What does Mr. March think of his daughters on his return?

A) He’s happy to see they haven’t changed much.

B) He thinks they’re growing into fine women.

C) He wants them to be better toward their mother.

D) He can hardly recognize them.

3. Why is Aunt March against Meg and Mr. Brooke’s romance?

A) Mr. Brooke will never have money.

B) Meg is too young to marry.

C) Meg has promised to look after Aunt March.

D) They are a bad match.

Short-Answer Response

Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What’s so embarrassing about the letter Laurie writes to Meg?

2. Why doesn’t Laurie reveal to his grandfather why he was in trouble at the March house?

3. What makes Meg so adamant about marrying Mr. Brooke?

Part 2, Chapters 24-28

Reading Check

1. What is the family preparing for as Part 2 begins?

2. What happens at Amy’s party?

3. How does Jo win $100?

Multiple Choice

1. How does Aunt March go back on her word?

A) She gets Meg and Mr. Brooke a wedding present.

B) She leaves her inheritance to the girls after all.

C) She refuses to attend the wedding.

D) She grows fond of Mr. Brooke.

2. What is Amy’s ambition in life?

A) to be a writer

B) to be a fine young lady

C) to be a good wife

D) to be a teacher

3. What leads to John and Meg’s fight?

A) a silk coat

B) a botched batch of jelly

C) his salary

D) her poor cooking skills

Short-Answer Response

Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How has Amy changed in the three years between Part 1 and Part 2?

2. Why does John get so upset with Meg about dinner not being ready?

3. What is significant about the lobster pin that Laurie gives to Amy?

Part 2, Chapters 29-33

Reading Check

1. Which sister does Aunt March like best?

2. Who intends to propose to Amy in Europe?

3. Who is Professor Bhaer?

Multiple Choice

1. What does Laurie do to cheer up Amy during the fair?

A) He has his friends buy all of her flowers.

B) He dances with her all night.

C) He brings her cake.

D) He sends her secret notes.

2. According to Aunt March, why does Amy get to go to Paris, not Jo?

A) because Jo desires to be a writer

B) because Jo lacks the motivation to live a productive life

C) because Jo has made disparaging remarks toward Europe

D) because Jo is independent and has blunt manners

3. What endears Mr. Bhaer to Jo?

A) seeing him mending his own socks

B) the way he eats soup

C) that he speaks German in his sleep

D) his lack of pretension about his place in life

Short-Answer Response

Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why are Jo and Amy at odds when they make house calls?

2. Why is Amy willing to marry Fred?

3. Why does Jo decide to leave home for a time?

Part 2, Chapters 34-38

Reading Check

1. Who is Jo’s “friend” that she goes to Mr. Dashwood for?

2. What does Laurie confess to Jo?

3. Why does Beth say it’s fitting that she hasn’t had ambitions like her sisters?

Multiple Choice

1. What is in the newspaper that Mr. Bhaer finds so objectionable?

A) the text of a sermon

B) a story similar to the ones Jo writes

C) illustrations that aren’t suitable for children

D) news of his homeland

2. Why do Jo and Beth go to the beach?

A) Jo hopes it will help Beth recover.

B) They need a break from the city after Laurie leaves.

C) They cannot afford to go to Europe with Amy.

D) They want to reminisce about their childhood visits there.

3. What does Amy think of Laurie when she meets up with him in Nice?

A) She quickly falls back into their brother-sister dynamic.

B) She begins to see him as a romantic interest.

C) She wishes he wasn’t there so she could be someone new.

D) She thinks he is still a little kid, while she has grown up.

Short-Answer Response

Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why do Mr. Laurence and Laurie decide to go to Europe?

2. Why does Jo reject Laurie?

3. Why does John Brooke go to Mr. Scott’s house every night?

Part 2, Chapters 39-43

Reading Check

1. Why does Amy turn down Fred Vaughn’s proposal?

2. What is Laurie’s news on returning to the March home?

3. Who arrives as a surprise guest at the March house?

Multiple Choice

1. Why is Amy critical of Laurie?

A) She thinks he will never be a musician.

B) She thinks he is being lazy and neglecting Mr. Laurie.

C) She thinks he is toying with her emotions.

D) She thinks he has a gambling problem.

2. What does Beth make Jo promise her?

A) that she will write a great novel

B) that she will marry well

C) that she will take care of Mr. and Mrs. March

D) that she will learn to overcome her independent spirit

3. What do Marmee and Mr. March encourage Jo to do after Beth is gone?

A) find a husband

B) return to her writing

C) leave home and go back to New York

D) join Amy in Europe

Short-Answer Response

Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What happens when Laurie tries to compose a musical piece about Jo?

2. Why does Jo give up her writing for a time?

3. What do Amy and Laurie both realize about their artistic ambitions?

Part 2, Chapters 44-47

Reading Check

1. What brought Professor Bhaer back to Jo?

2. What is Jo’s happy ending?

3. Why does the whole family gather at the end of the novel?

Multiple Choice

1. What does Amy worry about with regard to Jo’s potential marriage?

A) that Jo will never be truly happy

B) that Beth’s death will unavoidably hang over the reception

C) that it will upstage her own wedding

D) that Laurie will feel jealousy

2. Who does Aunt March give her estate to?

A) Meg

B) Jo

C) Beth

D) Amy

3. Why does Jo cry when she shops with Professor Bhaer?

A) because he has agreed to take a teaching job elsewhere

B) because he does not show feelings toward her

C) because she misses Beth

D) because she knows she cannot marry him

Short-Answer Response

Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why is Jo so happy with Demi when she is looking after him with Professor Bhaer?

2. Why does Jo want to fill her school with poor boys without any mothers?

3. Why does Mr. Laurence find so many students for Jo’s school?