Jo's Boys: A Little Women Podcast

This week, we're joined for our very first Scrap Bag episode by special guest Daniel Okrent, former public editor of the New York Times and author of the book The Guarded Gate: Bigotry, Eugenics, and the Law That Kept Two Generations of Jews, Italians, and Other European Immigrants Out of America. We dive into the complex history of anti-Italian bigotry in New England and the struggles that Laurie would have faced in the world of the Boston Brahmins. You can visit Daniel online at danielokrent.com and on Twitter at @okrent. Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan's book "More to the Story," with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Peyton Thomas.

This week, we're joined by special guest Elle Grenier, the author of the forthcoming young adult novel "Bottle Blonde." We dive into the fifth chapter of Little Women, "Being Neighborly," where Jo nurses a convalescing Laurie back to full flower-boy health. You can visit Elle online at ellegrenier.com at on Twitter at @elle_oftheball. Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan's book "More to the Story," with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Peyton Thomas.

This week, we're joined by special guest Jaime Armenta, a writer and comedian with the Pack Theater in Los Angeles. We dive into the fourth chapter of Little Women, "Burdens," where Jo uncovers the secrets of her crotchety old Aunt March's lavender marriage, Meg spills some great governess gossip, Beth remains an angel, and Amy remains a stunt queen. You can visit Jaime online at @catshitgirl. Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan's book "More to the Story," with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Peyton Thomas and transcribed by Lou Balikos. A transcript of this episode is available here.

This week, we're joined by special guest Dr. Morgan Bimm, a writer and scholar in York University's School of Gender, Feminist, and Women's Studies. We dive into the third chapter of Little Women, "The Laurence Boy," where Jo and Laurie meet one another before committing to a gender. You can visit Morgan online at morganbimm.com and on Twitter at @bimmbles. Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan's book "More to the Story," with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Peyton Thomas and transcribed by Lou Balikos. A transcript of this episode is available here. 

This week, we're joined by special guest Stephanie Redekop, a PhD candidate in English literature at the University of Toronto. We dive into the second chapter of Little Women, "A Merry Christmas," which contains a scene so controversial, so rife with gender euphoric crossdressing, that the Christian Union saw fit to ban Little Women from all Sunday School libraries. You can visit Stephanie on Twitter at @stephired. Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan's book "More to the Story," with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Peyton Thomas and transcribed by Lou Balikos.  A transcript of this episode is available here.

This week, we're joined by special guest James Frankie Thomas, who writes the YA of Yore column for the Paris Review. We dive into the first chapter of Little Women, "Playing Pilgrims," where the March sisters await a Christmas without any presents and Jo can't get over her disappointment in not being a boy. We also get into the life and times of Lu Alcott, who, in their own words, was "more than half-persuaded that I am a man's soul put by some freak of nature into a woman's body." Why, you ask? "Well, for one thing, because I have fallen in love in my life with ever so many pretty girls, and never once the least bit with any man." Who can't relate? You can visit James online at jamesfrankiethomas.com and on Twitter at @james_f_thomas. Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan's book "More to the Story," with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Peyton Thomas and transcribed by Morgan Bimm. A transcript of this episode is available here.