Richard March was not a young man, but he went into the army. That Christmas, his wife and their four daughters were alone.
“Christmas won’t be Christmas this year,” said Jo. “We haven’t got any money, and so we can’t give anything to anyone.”
“It’s sad when you’re poor,” said Meg, the oldest girl. She looked down at her old dress.
“Some girls have plenty of pretty things, and other girls have nothing at all. It isn’t fair,” said young Amy.
“We’ve got father and mother and each other,” said Beth quietly.
The light of the fire shone on the four young faces, and they looked brighter. But Jo said sadly, “We haven’t got father. And we won’t have him for a long time.”
She didn’t say ‘perhaps never’. But each silently added it. They thought of their father far away in the war.

Otto-Classics Graded Readers Series are outstanding classics written by famous writers. The language and vocabulary in the books are controlled and simplified by specialist ELT authors and compilers according to Common European Framework so that they can be easily understood by new learners of English. 
Depending on the eight levels from A1 to B2+, the longer stories are divided into a number of chapters and every chapter has its own activities. Some of the activities in the books are meant to be done in pairs. You may work with a partner to solve problems and design projects that reflect not only your own thinking but also new ideas you and your mates will discover by working in groups.