Is this book related to the earlier story Sara Crewe?

This novel is an expanded version of the 1888 novella titled Sara Crewe: or, What Happened at Miss Minchin's, which the author later adapted into a stage play before finally developing the full-length book in 1905.

Are there notable film or television adaptations of this story?

The story has been adapted multiple times for the screen, including a 1939 film starring Shirley Temple and a 1995 feature directed by Alfonso Cuarón, though these versions often take significant liberties with the original plot and setting.

A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Sara Crewe arrives at Miss Minchin's London boarding school as its wealthiest pupil, the pampered daughter of a father serving in India. Imaginative and generous, she wins the affection of the other girls and the resentment of Miss Minchin, who tolerates Sara's willfulness only because of her father's money.

When word arrives that her father has died penniless, Sara is stripped of her privileges overnight and put to work as a servant in the same school where she was once a star pupil, sleeping in a bare attic and surviving Miss Minchin's petty cruelty and near-starvation. She clings to her sense of self by imagining herself a princess in disguise, and small kindnesses from an ailing neighbor and a loyal servant girl sustain her through the worst of it, building toward a reversal of fortune.

Frances Hodgson Burnett expanded the book from an earlier story and play, publishing the full novel in 1905. It shares its author's recurring interest, seen also in The Secret Garden, in children whose inner resilience outlasts their circumstances.

Prose complexity: 4/10

Emotional Heartwarming Hopeful

F

Frances Hodgson Burnett

Frances Hodgson Burnett was best known as an English playwright and author. Frances Eliza Hodgson was born on November 24, 1849, at Cheetham Hill, Manchester, England, to Eliza Boond and Edwin Hodgson. She was the middle child of five, with two older brothers and two younger sisters. Frances grew up in a comfortable home. Mr. Hodgson sold brass goods to upper class households, and the family had a maid, a nurse-maid, and a horse and carriage. However, in the early 1850's when Frances was onl...

Sara CreweProtagonist

A wealthy pupil reduced to servitude after her father's death.

Miss MinchinAntagonist

The school's headmistress, cruel to Sara once her fortune is gone.

BeckySupporting

A servant girl who becomes Sara's loyal friend.

Captain CreweSupporting

All characters in A Little Princess

Frequently asked questions

Is this book related to the earlier story Sara Crewe?
This novel is an expanded version of the 1888 novella titled Sara Crewe: or, What Happened at Miss Minchin's, which the author later adapted into a stage play before finally developing the full-length book in 1905.
Are there notable film or television adaptations of this story?
The story has been adapted multiple times for the screen, including a 1939 film starring Shirley Temple and a 1995 feature directed by Alfonso Cuarón, though these versions often take significant liberties with the original plot and setting.