Concerning Little Women as a Teaching Tool

There has been some discussion and I think very intelligent argument that Little Women was one of the most critical secular tools to teach religious thought in its day, captivating its readers by a wonderful story beautifully told to teach about the necessity of abiding by the concepts taught in the New Testament. Did anyone see this kind of teaching in this book? What did you see?

It has also been argued that the book given the girls was not the Bible but Pilgrims Progress by John Bunyon. Thoughts? Arguments to that?