Good wives
by Louisa May Alcott
Middle grade · ages 10–14 · grades 5–9 · 820L · 349 pages · 1994
Why we'd hand it over
Still the gold standard for portraying girls as complex agents of their own lives — Jo's resistance to marriage isn't punished, Meg's choice to marry isn't celebrated as the only victory, and the romantic ending doesn't erase the real tensions about work, art, and self-determination.