Little Men: Life at Plumfield with Jo's Boys, is a children's novel by American author Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888), which was first published in 1871 by Roberts Brothers.

Alcott's story recounts the life of Jo Bhaer and her husband as they run a school and educate the various children at Plumfield.

Nat charms the ten other boys attending the school, as well as Mr. and Mrs. Bhaer, with fiddle skills learned from his father.

Demi and Daisy, Meg's twin children, also live at Plumfield and Nat becomes close friends with them.

Dan originally decides the other boys are "molly-coddles" and leads them in experiments with boxing, drinking, smoking, profanity, and card games.

One day, everyone goes to pick berries and Nat promises to take care of little Rob, but they end up missing the wagon back home.

Later, Laurie and Amy's daughter, Bess, comes for a visit and all the boys respect her so greatly that their behavior improves from her presence.

[1] Popular school stories of Alcott's time generally involved a newcomer in a group of British boys growing in skill, often fighting a bully or competing in sports.

[4] Mrs. Bhaer professes the belief that children become miserable with too many rules and too much study, and the students learn in different ways to help others, control their temper, and exercise.

Mrs. Bhaer shares with Laurie that unlike her previous aspirations, she simply wants the boys to grow into "honest men".

Alcott translates these transcendentalist ideals for younger students, particularly drawing on her father's approaches from Fruitlands and Temple School.

[9] Violence is not allowed at Plumfield, yet multiple fights occur and Professor Bhaer shares his grandmother once taught him a lesson by cutting the tip of his tongue.

With this motivation, she quickly finished the manuscript of Little Men while visiting Rome around Christmas, and the first edition, containing 376 pages, was published by Roberts Brothers in 1871.

[1] Alcott commented she felt trapped into propriety having grown up around her father and others like Ralph Waldo Emerson.

[18] Additionally, while many say Plumfield is inspired by Temple School or Fruitlands, Alcott herself was a teacher and would have had plenty of her own knowledge and understanding of educational reform during her time.

"[20] The Springfield Daily Republican reviewed book and said "it is evident that Miss Alcott [...] has drawn many of her incidents from real experiences in her own family.

"[22] Generally, the book was found slightly lacking compared to Little Women; one newspaper said it was inferior but still "full of fun and spirit."

Another called it "full of the charming naturalness, sweet simplicity and tender sentiment so peculiarly portrayed by this author in her previous works.

[25] Other reviews commented the idealistic approach to children was well intentioned with the potential to teach parents and leaders, although unrealistic.

[30] A Variety review complimented the talent of the young actors, although it also called the 1998 film overly sentimental, saying it was "long on morality but weak on dramatic tension".