In this modern supernatural middle grade retelling of the beloved classic Little Women, the March sisters have a monstrous secret Meg will do anything to protect—especially with another beast lurking in the woods threatening to expose them.

Meg March and her three sisters are monsters. No, really. Meg has teeth that are a little too sharp. Jo gets furry under the full moon. Beth goes night flying on wings that are impossible to hide under her sweaters. And Amy? Well, don’t let her near a body of water or she’ll start sprouting her mermaid’s tail.

Meg is sure their foster mom, Marmee, wouldn’t like any of this if she knew. And Jo’s best friend Laurie, the nice boy next door, would run screaming. To make matters worse, Meg’s small town outside of Salem is on edge. A vicious beast has been spotted in the forest, and Farmer Bhaer believes it’s responsible for his missing chickens. Meg is sure to be blamed if anyone realizes she’s a monster in disguise. And the closer it gets to Halloween, the surer the town is that something evil is hiding in the forest.

Meg doesn’t always remember what she gets up to at night, and sometimes, she wakes alone in a mossy part of the forest and has to find her way back. With John Brooke determined to find out just what Meg is hiding and locals working to uncover the monsters in their midst, Meg must find the culprit herself—or risk losing the little home she’s found with her sisters.

In this fantasy, modern re-telling of Little Women the March girls are orphans who live with the foster mother Marmee. Since they have been in so many foster homes previously Meg does everything to be the one taking care of her younger sisters so that foster parents are not inconvenienced.  This would be stressful enough for a normal girl but the March sisters are anything but normal - Meg shows long claws and sharp teeth when upset, Jo sprouts full body hair at times, Amy grows a mermaid tail when near salt-water and Beth has wings.  Now Meg is waking up in the morning, sometimes at home, sometimes in the woods, unable to remember what she may have done - and now there is a report of a monster in the woods, attacking animals. Meg is doing her best to protect her sisters while fearing she is the monster in the woods.

I actually enjoyed this version much more so than the original Little Women.  We have all the familiar characters - Marmee, the girls, Mr Laurence, Laurie, John Brook, albeit in slightly different aspect. The setting is the town of Salem, a town where magic hovers just under the covers.  While this is a basic found family story younger readers will identify with Meg’s struggles to protect her sisters and figure out who to trust. Recommended ~~ Stephanie L Bannon