(These photos were taken April 8, 2012 in Austin, Texas.)

Louisa May Alcott is one of my favorite writers. The details of her books written in the mid-1800s, such as Little Women and Eight Cousins, take you to another era when the United States was still young. With no computers, radios, televisions, or telephones, people exchanged information by visiting each other's homes. If the residents were occupied or not present, the visitors left personalized calling cards so that their friends would know they had dropped by. In New England, it was a tradition on New Year's Day to make the rounds to the homes of your friends and family. I like reading about the clothes people wore, how they prepared their food, what they did with their free time, what they gave and received as gifts. They learned about other countries through the ships that arrived in the harbors bearing goods for sale. In some ways, there's more historical information in old novels for kids than in carefully researched history books.

There's an honest intimacy with Alcott's characters, who are each clearly set apart from the others with his or her own personality and manner of behaving and speaking. The stories are kid-friendly, but include some of the darker realities of everyday life. You put Alcott's books down feeling as though you've journeyed to another world, with people worth getting to know. Their adventures speak to the heart.