Other editions of book A Little Princess: By Frances Hodgson Burnett - Illustrated

Written by british-born author Frances Hodgson Burnett and first published in 1905, A Little Princess tells the story of young Sara Crewe, privileged daughter of a wealthy diamond merchant. All the other girls at Miss Minchin’s school treat Sara as if she truly were a princess. But when Captain Crewe’s fortune is sadly lost, Sara’s luck changes. Suddenly, she is treated no better than a scullery maid. Her own fierce determination to maintain her dignity and remain a princess inside has intrigued and delighted listeners for more than a hundred years, even inspiring a sequel, Wishing for Tomorrow by Hilary McKay.

Young Sara Crewe grew up in a well-to-do household, but she suddenly finds herself impoverished when her father, Captain Crewe, dies penniless in India. Sara is forced to abandon her life of privilege for a life of bare existence at Miss Minchin's boarding school. To survive those hard times, she imagines herself to be a princess as she awaits her rescue from a mysterious benefactor.

This is another beautifully crafted and nurturing Burnett tale about a young girl growing up, learning humility and compassion...the hard way. Sara Crewes young life is filled with wealth and pampering. But when her father dies in India and his wealth is lost, like a hot-house plant cast into the snow her life is reduced to shear survival. Turned into a beggar, her courage and strong-will are all she inherited from her father. This proves to be of greater value than riches as she finds the strength of character needed to help herself and two pitiful compatriots out of the depths of poverty.

Sara Crewe is a gifted and well-mannered child, and Captain Crewe, her father, is an extraordinarily wealthy man. So Miss Minchin, headmistress of Sara's new boarding school in London, is pleased to treat Sara as her star pupil-a pampered little princess. But one dreadful day, Sara's father dies, and her world suddenly collapses around her. All of her lovely things are taken from her, and she is forbidden to associate with her friends. Miss Minchin can now show her greedy and mean-spirited nature to its fullest. The little princess is reduced to a shabby drudge. But Sara does not break, and with the help of a monkey, an Indian lascar, and the strange, ailing gentleman next door, she not only survives her sufferings but helps those around her.

Sara has a unusual look of maturity about her, for a seven-year-old child. She has seen a great deal of the world. She has felt the blazing sun in Bombay, India, and has crossed the ocean -- and now is somewhere that seems utterly strange to her . . . a foggy and damp city named London. Her new place in life seems to offer few attractions: Miss Minchin's Select Seminary. Yet Sara takes her place in the seminary's classrooms, and soon finds herself building unconventional friendships -- with girls whom the other students seem not to notice at all. Then comes news from her father -- that he will become partner in diamond mines in India!

Sara Crewe is a gifted and well-mannered child, and Captain Crewe, her father, is an extraordinary wealthy man. So Miss Minchin, headmistress of Sara's new boarding school in London, is pleased to treat Sara as her star pupil-a pampered little princess. But one dreadful day, Sara's father dies, and her world suddenly collapses around her. All of her lovely things are taken from her, and she is forbidden to associate with her friends. Miss Minchin can now show her greedy and mean-spirited nature to its fullest. The little princess is reduced to a shabby drudge. But Sara does not break, and with the help of a monkey, an Indian lascar, and the strange, ailing gentleman next door, she not only survives her sufferings but helps those around her.

Once on a dark winter's day, when the yellow fog hung so thick and heavy in the streets of London that the lamps were lighted and the shop windows blazed with gas as they do at night, an odd-looking little girl sat in a cab with her father and was driven rather slowly through the big thoroughfares. She sat with her feet tucked under her, and leaned against her father, who held her in his arm, as she stared out of the window at the passing people with a queer old-fashioned thoughtfulness in her big eyes. She was such a little girl that one did not expect to see such a look on her small face. It would have been an old look for a child of twelve, and Sara Crewe was only seven. The fact was, however, that she was always dreaming and thinking odd things and could not herself remember any time when she had not been thinking things about grown-up people and the world they belonged to. She felt as if she had lived a long, long time. At this moment she was remembering the voyage she had just made from Bombay with her father, Captain Crewe. She was thinking of the big ship, of the Lascars passing silently to and fro on it, of the children playing about on the hot deck, and of some young officers' wives who used to try to make her talk to them and laugh at the things she said. Principally, she was thinking of what a queer thing it was that at one time one was in India in the blazing sun, and then in the middle of the ocean, and then driving in a strange vehicle through strange streets where the day was as dark as the night. She found this so puzzling that she moved closer to her father. "Papa," she said in a low, mysterious little voice which was almost a whisper, "papa." "What is it, darling?" Captain Crewe answered, holding her closer and looking down into her face. "What is Sara thinking of?" "Is this the place?" Sara whispered, cuddling still closer to him. "Is it, papa?" "Yes, little Sara, it is. We have reached it at last." And though she was only seven years old, she knew that he felt sad when he said it. It seemed to her many years since he had begun to prepare her mind for "the place," as she always called it. Her mother had died when she was born, so she had never known or missed her. Her young, handsome, rich, petting father seemed to be the only relation she had in the world. They had always played together and been fond of each other. She only knew he was rich because she had heard people say so when they thought she was not listening, and she had also heard them say that when she grew up she would be rich, too. She did not know all that being rich meant. She had always lived in a beautiful bungalow, and had been used to seeing many servants who made salaams to her and called her "Missee Sahib," and gave her her own way in everything. She had had toys and pets and an ayah who worshipped her, and she had gradually learned that people who were rich had these things. That, however, was all she knew about it. During her short life only one thing had troubled her, and that thing was "the place" she was to be taken to some day. The climate of India was very bad for children, and as soon as possible they were sent away from it—generally to England and to school. She had seen other children go away, and had heard their fathers and mothers talk about the letters they received from them. She had known that she would be obliged to go also, and though sometimes her father's stories of the voyage and the new country had attracted her, she had been troubled by the thought that he could not stay with her. "Couldn't you go to that place with me, papa?" she had asked when she was five years old. "Couldn't you go to school, too? I would help you with your lessons."