A Little Princess

Story

When Sara Crewe arrives at boarding school in London from India, she is treated as a princess by Miss Minchin, the headmistress, due to Sara’s father’s immense wealth. When those riches disappear, Sara is relegated to role of servant and all her luxuries withdrawn. Are kindness and generosity all she really needs?

Why we chose it

A classic riches to rags and back to riches again story.

Where it came from

A Little Princess started life as a serialised story in a magazine. It was then adapted by Burnett into a stage play which ran successfully in London and New York. Her publisher then asked her to expand the story into a full-length novel, including all the characters and plot lines that were left out previously.

Where it went next

A Little Princess has been adapted in numerous ways – films, television series, musicals, plays and a video game – the earliest film being made in 1917 and starring Mary Pickford as Sara. Shirley Temple appeared as Sara in the 1939 film. The London Children’s Ballet has performed its adaptation three times in 1995, 2004 and 2012.

Associated stories

Hilary Mackay wrote a sequel to the book in 2009 titled Wishing for Tomorrow which tells the story of the girls who were left behind at Miss Minchin’s when Sara left.

Holly Webb wrote another sequel in 2017, The Princess and the Suffragette, which tells the story of Lottie the littlest orphan from the original book.