Make use of the article to answer the questions.

"I don't want to write a story about girls!I don't know anything about girls."Louisa May Alcott told her publisher,Mr Niles.But she was desperate for money.She seemed to be the only one in her family who could make some money.Niles had asked her to write something she knew,instead of the romantic adventure stories she had been writing."So I plod away,"Alcott wrote,"though I don't enjoy this sort of thing."It was 1867,and the horrible Civil War was over.Now Alcott could turn her energy to making money.

Alcott wrote a simple story of life in her family,their pillow fights on Saturday nights and the amateur plays they performed."Our experiences may prove interesting,though I doubt it."("Good joke."she wrote years later.)Her book described her days growing up with four sisters in a family that had no money.She sketched a loving mother who took time to be interested in each child,and she told of the death of a beloved sister.She portrayed her family and friends in her book Little Women.Finally,in July of 1868,she finished writing.With a sigh and a headache,she sent off all 102 handwritten pages of her book.

Niles thought the book was dull,and so did Alcott.But when she received her copies of the book,Alcott thought it seemed better than expected."Not a bit sensational,"she wrote,"but simple and true.We really loved most of it."Niles asked some girls to read Little Women,and they loved it.If girls liked it,Alcott was satisfied.

In three months,all the copies of Little Women had been sold out.It was already time to print more books!Niles thought she could sell three or four hundred more copies."An honest publisher and a lucky author made a dull book into a golden egg for ugly ducking,"Alcott wrote in 1885.Later,with a great sign of relief,she was able to write,"Paid off all the debts!Now I feel that I could die in peace.If my head holds out,I'll do all I hoped to do."

1. What does Louisa May Alcott do for a living?
2. What kind of stories does she usually write?
3. Who is her publisher?
4. What does he want her to write about
5. And what was that?
6. did she want to?
7. Why did she do it?
8. What did she end up writing?
9. Was it a success?
10. How do you know?
11. Did they make more?
12. How many more was she expected to sell?
13. Did she like the book at first?
14. What did Niles think of it?
15. What did the test group of girls think?
16. When did she start writing it?
17. When did she get done?
18. What month?
19. What kind of pages did she mail away?
20. How many?

Numbered answers:
1. Author
2. romantic adventure stories
3. Mr Niles.
4. something she knew
5. life in her family
6. No
7. To make money
8. Little Women
9. Yes
10. In three months,all the copies of Little Women had been sold out.
11. Yes
12. 300 to 400 more copies
13. No
14. He thought the book was dull
15. They loved it
16. 1867
17. 1868
18. July
19. handwritten
20. 102