Summary
Summary of A Little Princess
Key ideas
Key idea 1
Love comes before the test
Sara Crewe is a clever, generous girl brought from India to a London boarding school. Her rich, loving father has given her comfort and affection, and at first she has everything money can buy. But the story asks what remains when comfort and kindness are taken away.
Her private games of make believe matter because they help her decide who she wants to be. Beneath the story of a fortunate child facing hardship is a question about character: can Sara keep giving kindness when nobody gives it back?
Key idea 2
Wealth buys attention but not affection
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Key idea 3
Sara notices what others need
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Key idea 4
A birthday becomes a sudden loss
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Key idea 5
Imagination protects her sense of self
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Key idea 6
A small gift carries kindness onward
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Key idea 7
Kindness opens a way toward help
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Key idea 8
Contrasts make quiet choices stand out
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The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
Read the rest freeWho it’s for
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 this book is
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. Burnett was already known for Little Lord Fauntleroy, and she would later write The Secret Garden. She wrote for children, but she did not hide hunger, cold or cruelty from them.
The story follows Sara Crewe, a clever, generous girl who is brought from India to a London boarding school at the age of seven. Her father is a rich and loving man, and for a while she has everything money can buy. Then her life changes sharply. She has to learn what she is made of when nobody is watching, nobody is clapping, and nobody is paying her any kindness at all.
In the next fifteen minutes you will meet Sara, her friends and her enemies. You will follow her from comfort to hardship and hear why her private games of make believe matter so much. You will also see how the book is built and what it asks of anyone who wants to be kind when kindness costs something. Let us begin with a small girl stepping from a carriage in a gloomy London square.
In this summary
- 1A rich girl arrives at Miss Minchin's schoolFree
- 2Imagination makes Sara a leader and a storyteller
- 3Three unlikely friends gather around Sara
- 4Her eleventh birthday brings sudden ruin
- 5Cold, hunger and cruelty in the attic
- 6Pretending to be a princess keeps her whole
- 7A coin in the mud and a gift to a beggar
- 8The neighbors next door and a monkey on the roof
- 9What the book is really about
- 10How the story is told
Key point 1 of 10
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.
Miss Minchin is the headmistress. She is cold, stiff and fishy eyed, and she cares about one thing above all, which is money. Because Captain Crewe pays so well, she sees Sara as a prize. She makes the girl a parlor boarder, which means Sara gets a private sitting room and special treatment. She also parades Sara before the other pupils as an example, though she does not like her and Sara can tell.
Sara is not spoiled by any of this, and that is the first surprise of the book. She is quiet, thoughtful and observant, with odd green gray eyes and a habit of staring that some people find rude. She treats servants as people and she does not boast. Miss Minchin's sister, the soft and timid Miss Amelia, is easily won over, but the headmistress hides her dislike behind sugar.
On the first day, Sara asks her father whether she should like the school and decides in her own way to see what happens. Her father kisses her goodbye and leaves for India. Burnett wants you to see that Sara has been loved, and that this love will be her strength later. Everything that follows tests whether it can survive without the money that came with it.
That’s 1 of 10 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Check yourself
Why does Miss Minchin give Sara special treatment when she arrives?
Right. “Because Captain Crewe pays so well, she sees Sara as a prize.”Not quite. “Because Captain Crewe pays so well, she sees Sara as a prize.”
How does imagining herself as a princess help Sara endure cruelty?
Right. “That thought gives her a quiet dignity that Miss Minchin finds maddening.”Not quite. “That thought gives her a quiet dignity that Miss Minchin finds maddening.”
What does the baker do after seeing Sara share her buns?
Right. “She is moved, and she calls the beggar girl in to the warm shop and gives her something to eat and a place by the fire.”Not quite. “She is moved, and she calls the beggar girl in to the warm shop and gives her something to eat and a place by the fire.”
Who’s who
- Sara Crewe
- Sara is an imaginative, generous girl whose wealthy father brings her from India to Miss Minchin's London school.
- Miss Minchin
- Miss Minchin is Sara's stern headmistress, who values wealthy families and treats poorer people with contempt.
- Captain Ralph Crewe
- Captain Ralph Crewe is Sara's affectionate father, a British officer in India who delights in giving her comforts.
- Becky
- Becky is the school's overworked scullery maid, who finds kindness and friendship in Sara.
- Ermengarde St. John
- Ermengarde St. John is Sara's kind schoolmate, who struggles with lessons and admires her friend's storytelling.
- Lottie Legh
- Lottie Legh is a small, motherless pupil who turns to Sara for comfort and motherly affection.
- Lavinia Herbert
- Lavinia Herbert is an older pupil whose jealousy of Sara makes her a spiteful school rival.
- Miss Amelia
- Miss Amelia is Miss Minchin's timid sister, whose sympathy for Sara is constrained by her sister's authority.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 68,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 4 h 30 min
- Listening time7 h 35 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary; paperback, hardcover and large print at cost
- LanguagesEnglish and 14 other languages
Questions about A Little Princess
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.
Is A Little Princess hard to read?
No. The language is clear and the chapters are short. It is often read aloud to children and enjoyed by adults too.
What is the main message of A Little Princess?
The book says that true nobility is a matter of character, not wealth or rank. Kindness, courage and imagination can help a person keep their dignity through hardship and can inspire others.
