Type of bind: Hardcover
EAN num: 9780060278915
ISBN number: 0060278919
Label: HarperCollins
Manufacturer: HarperCollins
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 32
Printing Date: October 31, 2000
Publishing house: HarperCollins
Age index: Ages 9-12
Release Date: September 19, 2000
Sale Popularity Level: 697909
Studio: HarperCollins
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In this first-ever picture book adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett's A Little Princess, Sara Crewe and nineteenth-century London come brilliantly alive under the expert hand of award-winning author and illustrator Barbara McClintock.
When kindhearted Sara Crewe arrives at Miss Minchin's boarding school, she seems just like a teal little princess. Then a sudden misfortune turns her life upside down, and Sara is banished to the school's dreary attic and must work for her living. It takes all of Sara's imagination and a little bit of magic to turn her misfortune around and prove she is, at heart, a little princess.
Frances Hodgson Burnett's story of how Sara Crewe survives hardship and finds happiness again was originally published in 1905 and has won the hearts of children the world over. Now Barbara McClintock has captured the very essence of this unforgettable story in her lovingly detailed adaptation,
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A Little Princess follows the story of Sara Crewe, a young girl whose mother died when she was a baby and who has been sent to bording school. She has the finest clothes and toys and anything she wants but isn't spoiled (the story is a fairy tale, by the way). She imagines herself as a princess and wants to be kind wise and just. She does good deeds as her way of "scattering largess to the population." This results in her being the social butterfly of the bording school and earns her the animosity of its queen bee. All this changes in an instant when her fortune is lost and she becomes a scullery maid in the same boarding school. She works all day, sleeps in an unheated attic, and is underfed. She now imagines herself as a princess in disguise, and continues to try and do good deeds for anyone less fotunate. But now she has another identity too - a soldier, like her father, who must live on rations and bravely face each day.
I didn't find this book to be overly sappy and sentimental, but it got close to the borderline at times. There were plenty of discussions of dolls and lacey dresses and ribbons. I read this as an adult. I guess these are supposed to appeal to little girls who want to have a little princessy playground and so would love to read about ribbons, but I think descriptions of lace would have put me off as a child as well. Like I said, these only get borderline sappy, probably because Sara soon becomes penniless and enters the lower class. As a scullery maid she experiences hunger, phsychological abuse from the bording school mistress, and a grinding work schedule. This is not sugar coated for the children, but it isn't the focus either. The focus is on Sara's internal thoughts, her relationships with her few loyal student friends, and what she thinks of the neighbors and the new people she meets and things she sees. So even though there is all this poverty it is there as a setting and not because the author has an axe to grind. Strangely enough, this book came across as realistic.
This is a children's book, but functions as a book for adults as well. For example, the estate agent's diplomacy in getting Sara hired by the bording school after she is found to be penniless has some subtlties that are going to be more real for older readers.
I recommend this book to all. It is a children's book that works for adults too. It skirts the border of sappy, but for me didn't cross over at any point. It was a good story that I read through quickly and did not get bored with or bogged down by.
Rated by buyers -
Confusing title? You betcha! But just stick with me, and I'll explain very shortly, I promise.
A couple of weekends ago, I was babysitting a young girl who I have been sitting for now for about two and-a-half years. I let her stay up a little later than her usual bedtime, so this dear child was half-asleep by the time I finished tucking her in. I noticed that she had on her bedside table the book "A Little Princess," and I picked it up, closed the light, and carried the book with me to the living room.
I gave it just a very cursory skim; I had read it, and Burnett's "The Secret Garden," ages and ages ago when I was a kiddie, and all I could remember was that while I loved them both, "The Secret Garden" was the more beloved one of the two, for me.
I then settled in to read the book I had brought with me, D. H. Lawrence's "The Rainbow." (A book for grown-ups.) I was up to the penultimate chapter, and it was very slow going -- this chapter was taking me forever to complete, while the rest of the book had read pretty quickly. I gave up and picked up again my little friend's copy of "A Little Princess."
Well, I started to read and was thoroughly, absolutely smitten, enchanted, head-over-heels about this book. I just HAD to continue reading this when I got home, but I couldn't run off in the night with my little friend's book!! (LOL!) It was a little after 10 p.m., and her parents had told me they would be home elevenish. I was almost certain the nearest bookstore was open until midnight, but I called just to double check, and also to ask if they had a copy of "Princess" in stock. They were, indeed, open until midnight, and they did have a copy.
Her parents came home at 11:15; the father, as usual, put me in a cab, but this time I did not give the driver my home address. I gave him the address of the bookstore, he took me there, I told him to keep the meter running, and I dashed into the store, bought the book, and then headed home, hugging the book.
I stayed up late, very late, into the night finishing this dear story of precious Sara Crewe. I had had, indeed, "'A Little Princess' Attack," a la McDonald's "Big Mac Attack" because I had a craving for that book as strong as any "Big Mac Attack" ever recorded!!
A wonderful, perfect book in every way!
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