Release Date: September 7th, 2021

Genre(s): Young Adult, Retellings, Historical Fiction

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Pages: 304

Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to BookishFirst for providing me with a finished copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Synopsis

So Many Beginnings is a remix of the classic novel Little Women that follows a Black family in America during the Civil War Era. it takes place in the Freedmen’s Colony of Roanoke Island, a home for the newly emancipated, and where the March family settles and calls their home.

Review

I have previously read and loved Little Women, so when I saw this remix coming out I knew I had to read it. But what I found while reading So Many Beginnings is that this story works so well whether you’ve read the book (or watched the film) or not. If you’re familiar with the story, you’ll find a very interesting twist on the story with additional themes that add many more layers to the original. But if you’re not familiar with the story, you’ll still be able to understand the original characters and their story in this new setting.

The original Little Women is very much a character-driven novel, so it was lovely to see their development and growth in such detail throughout So Many Beginnings. If you’re familiar with the original, you’ll find that the March sisters have many of the same qualities that we’ve loved them for before. But in this remix, we get to see their personalities and talents in a new way. One of my favorite examples is Jo March, who uses her writing talent to help preserve her home and share the stories of the Black community.

I found the time period that So Many Beginnings was set to be very significant as well. While this book is set in the same timeframe as Little Women, being written from the perspective of a recently emancipated Black family in America makes this story very different. And I find that this setting and perspective is one that’s been glazed over in history textbooks (or at least in mine) – the life of newly emancipated people in the civil war era. How did these people fare in the North vs. the South? Where did they settle, and how? What challenges did they face in their communities, as well as the prejudice that they continued to face? While So Many Beginnings is a historical fiction retelling, many of these questions are answered as part of the extensive research the author completed on Black communities in this time period, thus opening the doors to conversations about our history and the stories less frequently told.

Another point of conversation I noticed while reading So Many Beginnings was the different types of prejudice that they faced. Although their colony was considered a safe option for them, the continued prejudice and biases they faced prevented advancement for things like their health, their community, and even things like their perceived education. Bringing these issues to light demonstrates how long-lasting biases still impact us to this day; in many parts of the story where these situations occur, I could instantly make connections to modern-day examples.

So in sum, I found So Many Beginnings to be much more than a retelling. While this book presents Little Women in a new setting, it also provides perspectives very worthy of conversation. I recommend this book whether you’ve read the original or not, and highly recommend it for schools and book clubs too.

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