Frances Hodgson Burnett

A Little Princess annotated Frances Hodgson Burnett

A Little Princess is a children's novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett, first published as a book in and people that had been left out before. The novel was published by Charles Scribner's Sons with illustrations by Ethel Franklin Betts and the full title A Little Princess: Being the Whole Story of Sara Crewe Now Being Told for the First Time. Based on a 2007 online poll, the U. S. National Education Association listed the book as one of its Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children In 2012 it was ranked number 56 among all-time children's novels in a survey published by School Library Journal, a monthly with primarily U. S. audience. It was the second of two Burnett novels among the Top 100, with The Secret Garden number 15. Captain Richard Crewe, a wealthy English widower, has been raising his only child, Sara, in India where he is stationed with the British Army. Because the Indian climate is considered too harsh for children, British families living there traditionally send their children to boarding school back home in England. The captain enrolls his young daughter at Miss Minchin's boarding school for girls in London, and dotes on his daughter so much that he orders and pays the headmistress for special treatment and exceptional luxuries for Sara, such as a private room for her with a personal maid and a separate sitting room (see Parlour boarder), along with Sara's own private carriage and a pony. Miss Minchin openly fawns over Sara for her money, but secretly and jealously despises her for her wealth. Despite her privilege, Sara is neither selfish nor snobbish, but rather kind and gentle. She extends her friendship to Ermengarde, the school dunce; to Lottie, a four-year-old student given to tantrums; and to Becky, the lowly, stunted fourteen-year-old scullery maid. When Sara acquires the epithet "Princess", she embraces its favorable elements in her natural goodheartedness.