Author: Frances Hodgson Burnett
Recommended Age: 8-11
Date Published: 1905
Genre: Historical Fiction
Summary: Sara Crewe was only seven when she was separated from her father and her beloved life in India and sent to “Miss Minchin’s Select Seminary for Young Ladies”. Treated like a princess by her rich father and those around her, Sara has everything she could ever want in life. Even the cruel teacher, Miss Minchin, bows to her requests. But when disaster strikes and Sara is left penniless, she is thrust into a life of servitude and poverty, continuing to dream of herself as a princess in spite of her cruel mistreatment.
Notes from The Radical Reader:
- Noble Characters: Sara is not a perfect child. She gets angry at Miss Minchin, irritated with Becky, the house-maid, and resentful even towards her doll. Whereas she was teased for being a princess because of her wealth, she still tries to be a beautiful and noble heroine when she is penniless. Sara’s beauty and true nobility shines through most when she has nothing.
- Captivating Plots: Riches to rags. Once a princess, and now little more than a slave. When one letter changes Sara Crewe’s beautiful world, she faces the future with grim determination and beautiful hope. But there’s another man in England who is searching for the missing Crewe child. Will their paths cross before it’s too late?
- Elaborate Worlds: Set in England during the British occupation of India, A Little Princess sheds light on a unique time in history when the distinctions between social classes were revered, where travelers from the foreign country of India were respected, and where the whispers of wealthy diamond mines were the talk of the town.
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