Stevens, Faith

Book Review #2

Period 4

14 December 2016

A Little Princess

By Frances Hodgson Burnett

Fiction

294 pages

Classic Novel

         
 The novel,  A Little Princess, by Frances Hodgson Burnett is a story about a little girl named Sara

 Crewe who is the daughter of a very wealthy man, Captain Crewe. Sara's mother died when she

was born, and she has been living with her rich father in India. Her father thinks that since she's

getting older she should get a good education, and go to a special boarding school in London. They

arrive at Miss Minchin's Seminary for Young Ladies, Sara doesn't like it at all, but her father asks her

to be brave. They meet Miss Minchin, who is pretty dull, mean-looking and kisses up to Sara and her

rich father like crazy. Sara enters the classroom for the first time the next morning, and everyone

stared at her. Everyone seemed fine with her and she even became really good friends with a girl her

age named Ermengarde. The only problem was Miss Minchin would kiss up to Sara just because she

wanted more money. Two years later, on Sara's eleventh birthday her father had passed in search for

diamonds in a mine, this means that Miss Minchin will no longer get paid to take care of Sara. She

stopped kissing up to Sara, put her in the attic, and barely fed her. Sara was forced to helping the kids

with their lessons, running errands, and doing all sorts of other stuff. One day when Sara was looking

out her window she noticed that someone moved into an empty house next-store. He was a very

wealthy Indian gentleman who noticed she had little to nothing. He decided to send his servants over

secretly and give her stuff including food. He had a pet monkey that was very disobedient and hoped

into her room, so she decided to take it back. When she did her and the man talked and it turns out

that that man has been searching for her because he was her father's best friend and wanted to adopt

her and give her, her father's money.

            One of the things I really liked about this book was the main character Sara. It was interesting

to see how Sara went from rich to poor to rich again. I also really liked the author's way of

foreshadowing. The book grabbed my attention on the first couple pages and kept me wanting more

all throughout. "And upstairs in the locked room Sara sat on the floor and stared at the corner round

which the cab had disappeared, while Captain Crewe looked backward, waving and kissing his hand

as if he could not bear to stop." This made me sad but wanting more, wondering if the father was ever

going to come back. The ending was the ending I was really hoping for. Since Sara was adopted and

the Indian gentleman knew that Miss Minchin was abusing the kids, Miss Minchin was fired. This

book is probably now one of my favorites. I would recommend this book to people who like a lot of

foreshadowing and a little cry once and a while.