In March Step

In my 2010 novel, The Sky Is Falling, I tagged a pair of characters as “a Jo” and “a Beth.” If you’re a fan of Little Women, you’ll get the reference. You might also assume that I had read the beloved American classic. I hadn’t. I consulted Wikipedia’s plot summary.

If this isn’t professional misconduct, it’s at least embarrassing. After all, I’m also a writer for children. When I confessed (or “fessed,” as the March girls would say) all this to a friend, she shrieked that she’d read Louisa May Alcott’s book ten times! In fact, it was the reason she became a writer. I countered with a declaration of loyalty to Anne. Why did I have to read Little Women when I’d read L. M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables ten times? No go. I’d been shamed into finally meeting the March family.

As even I knew, Little Women is about sisters. The first volume revolves around their childhood outside of Boston, their...