Jo's Boys is the follow-up to Little Men, which is a follow-up to the beloved classic Little Women.

In Little Women and Little Men, Louisa May Alcott introduced readers to the characters that eventually appear in Jo's Boys, in particular to Jo March and her husband Professor Bhaer. This warmly parental couple start a small boarding school called Plumfield, primarily for boys whom readers get to know first in Little Men; Jo's Boys (Little Women #3) was mostly written to tell the most curious readers what happens to the already familiar characters, particularly to the students "when they grow up."

While some "sequels" or "series" have stand-alone power, Jo's Boys does not. Readers absolutely must first read Little Men to have even the slimmest chance of persevering through the mostly dull first hundred and thirty or so pages. Still, once the sluggish parts are mostly done, readers are treated to occasional chapters in which Alcott once again displays her considerable literary gift.

This is the weakest of all the Louisa May Alcott books that I have read, but readers devoted to the previous two books may only find a sense of completion by reading to the very last page.