7 h 34 minAudiobook16 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · 186 pagesHardcover · 6 × 9 in · 186 pagesAbout this book
What does it take to stay kind when comfort disappears and cruelty takes its place?
Sara Crewe arrives from India at Miss Minchin’s London boarding school with a loving father and everything money can buy. Clever and generous, she draws other children close through her stories. In Frances Hodgson Burnett’s A Little Princess, imagination gives Sara a world to share, while the headmistress values her chiefly for her father’s wealth.
Then Sara’s life changes sharply, and privilege gives way to a bare attic, hunger and cold. Miss Minchin’s kindness disappears when Sara can no longer pay. With friends such as Ermengarde and the overworked maid Becky, Sara faces a harder question than any school lesson: can she keep her dignity and care for others when she has so little herself?
What you’ll discover
- A princess in spirit Follow Sara as she tests the difference between having wealth and acting with true generosity.
- Stories against the cold Enter the worlds Sara imagines when her attic offers little warmth or comfort.
- Friendship beyond rank Meet Becky and Ermengarde, whose friendship with Sara reaches beyond money and schoolroom judgments.
- Kindness that costs something Consider what generosity means when sharing leaves you with even less for yourself.
- A warm storytelling voice Draw close to Sara’s thoughts through a narrator with the warmth of a fairy tale.
Who will love it
For readers who love boarding school stories, gentle moral tales and heroines who win through character rather than force. It is also a good choice for reading aloud to children.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A rich girl arrives at Miss Minchin's school
- Imagination makes Sara a leader and a storyteller
- Three unlikely friends gather around Sara
- Her eleventh birthday brings sudden ruin
- Cold, hunger and cruelty in the attic
- Pretending to be a princess keeps her whole
- A coin in the mud and a gift to a beggar
- The neighbors next door and a monkey on the roof
- What the book is really about
- How the story is told
Who’s who
- Sara CreweA clever, imaginative girl who loves stories and treats everyone kindly, and who tries to stay a princess in spirit whatever happens.
- Miss MinchinThe cold, money minded headmistress of the school, who flatters wealth and bullies those who cannot pay.
- Captain Ralph CreweSara's loving and generous father, a British officer in India who wants his daughter to have everything.
- BeckyThe overworked scullery maid, a shy and hungry girl who adores Sara and finds in her the first friend she has had.
- Ermengarde St. JohnA plump, kind and slow learner who admires Sara and longs for her friendship and her stories.
- Lottie LeghThe smallest pupil, a four year old given to tantrums, who attaches herself to Sara as a pretend mother.
- Lavinia HerbertA spiteful, jealous older pupil who resents Sara's popularity and takes pleasure in her troubles.
- Miss AmeliaMiss Minchin's weak and timid sister, who feels sorry for Sara but cannot stand up to the headmistress.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet, computer or Kindle, with the type as large as you like.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 7 h 34 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 16 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in, 186 pages: 8,95 USD when you start free, 15,95 USD on its own.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in, 186 pages: 15,95 USD when you start free, 22,95 USD on its own.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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A Little Princess
by Frances Hodgson Burnett · 1905
In a cold London attic, Sara Crewe uses imagination to keep her dignity when kindness costs something.
Medium level5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
A Little Princess is a novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett, published in 1905. It grew out of a shorter serial she wrote in 1887 called Sara Crewe, and out of a stage play she made from that tale.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A rich girl arrives at Miss Minchin's school
The book opens on a foggy winter day in London. A cab carries a small, serious girl named Sara Crewe to a tall, plain house on a square. A brass plate on the door says Miss Minchin's Select Seminary for Young Ladies. Sara has come from India, where her mother died when she was born and where her father, Captain Ralph Crewe, has raised her.
Captain Crewe is a young, handsome and wealthy officer. He cannot keep a child with him in India, because the climate is thought to be bad for children, and so he does what many British parents of the time did and sends her home to school. He is broken hearted at the parting, and he spoils her to make up for it. He buys her a whole wardrobe of fine dresses, hats, furs and silks. He also gives her a private maid, a pony and a carriage, and a large doll she names Emily.
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What is A Little Princess about?
It tells of Sara Crewe, a wealthy girl at a London boarding school who is suddenly made poor and turned into a servant. She keeps her kindness and dignity by imagining herself a princess, whatever her circumstances.
Who is Miss Minchin in A Little Princess?
Miss Minchin is the headmistress of the seminary where Sara lives. She is cold and greedy, and she flatters Sara while her father pays but becomes cruel once the money is gone.
Is A Little Princess based on a true story?
No, it is fiction. Frances Hodgson Burnett first wrote it as a serial called Sara Crewe in 1887, then expanded it into the novel published in 1905. It uses the shape of the Cinderella tale.
The author
Frances Hodgson Burnett
1849–1924 · English-American novelist and playwright
Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849–1924) was a novelist and playwright born in Manchester, England. She moved to the United States in 1865 and later lived in England and New York. Her books include Little Lord Fauntleroy (1886), A Little Princess (1905), and The Secret Garden (1911). She died in New York.
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