My Friend Picks...

Title/Author: A Little Princess/Frances Hodgson Burnett
ISBN (13): 978-0064401876

Xiao Wei talks about a book she loves dearly, and has read over and over again.

What's it about?
“A Little Princess” is a magical story filled with beautiful imaginations and whimsical fantasies, hope, love and courage, despite the cold hard realities of London in the early 1900’s. The protagonist of the story is Sara Crewe, the beloved, pampered, the only daughter of a rich Captain who dotes on her and sends her off to boarding school in London.

She’s one of the elite (a la Gossip Girl) with her fashionable dresses, jewellery and dolls, despite her being only 10 or 11 at that time, so everybody calls her Princess Sara. Misfortune befalls upon her on her 11th birthday when her dad dies of a sudden ailment, leaving her as penniless as a pauper. Enter the villain – Miss. Minchin the schoolmistress, who banishes poor Sara into the attic, strips her of all her belongings and student status and shows Sara no mercy.

What I liked
The beauty of the story lies in Sara’s fantastic imagination – she “transforms” the attic into the place of her dreams, as she tries to face each day with optimism, showing the strength and will of a child beyond her years. I can’t remember how many times I’ve reread it, during meals, before bedtime, in the car… until the cover’s all wrinkled and the pages all yellow. I especially loved the beautiful and classic prose, in which I could immerse myself for hours and dream that I could be in that beautiful place which Princess Sara created.

Book Bite: Did you know... "A Little Princess is a 1904 children's novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. It is a revised and expanded version of Burnett's 1888 serialized novel entitled 'Sara Crewe': or, 'What happened at Miss Minchin's boarding school', which was published in St. Nicholas Magazine.

According to Burnett, she discovered that she had missed out a great deal of things when writing the novella. She had been composing a play based on the story when she found out a lot of characters she had missed. The publisher asked her to publish a new, revised story of the novella, producing the novel." (from wikipedia)

Thanks so much for sharing with us your favourite read Xiao Wei! :)

If you'd like to share yours too, please feel free to drop me an email at hookedonbookz@gmail.com! :)

Comments

nomorebuns said…
i loved this book as a child too! i think it played a role in shaping my character, to a certain extent. it is definitely a classic!
A Bookaholic said…
arrgggghhh can't wait to get this boook!!!!
Xweing said…
You can get it online at Project Gutenberg.
A Bookaholic said…
O....m.....g....!! THAAAAAANK YOU XIAO WEI!!!!!

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