2019 EDIT: I've reread 'A Little Princess', and I can't believe how much I'd forgotten about it. I love it now more than ever. It really is a lovely story, made for rereads, never to be taken for granted. It is sad, misty and tearful, but beautiful, delightful and hopeful. Children, particularly young girls, will relish it.
The novel is exceedingly heartfelt and earnest, even towards its happy ending. Even with its theme of the unlimited power of the imagination; of a little girl's fertile, infectious, festive, luxurious, positive imagination, in the face of much hardships. It's also its feminine touch to its tale which helps mark it a classic.
What an aspiring, dear darling child Sara Crewe is, in so many ways. A clever, caring and regal lover of magic who may appear a saint on all fronts, but is in fact not so perfect and unbelievable as she might be accused of being on the first read of 'A Little Princess'. She is one of the strongest, kindest, canniest, and most resilient heroines that girls reading can look up to, as an icon, not just as her own princess. Her relationships with other girls are as pivotal as her loving bond with her father. Each girl is of different levels and kinds of class, intelligence, backgrounds, richness and health; as varied as Sara herself. Each girl can still be a princess no matter what.
Kindness is key to making the world a better place, always. As is compassion to those less fortunate. Nothing excuses cruelty and abuse to children, either.
'A Little Princess'- A keepsake treasure as real, powerful and important as imagination. To be read, reread, and read from for generations, for ever.
Final Score: 4/5
Original Review:
A Little Princess' - little to say what hasn't been said already. The beginning of the story is really wonderful, and I felt the connection Sara Crewe has with her father right away. It makes the tragedy more gut-wrenching.
It's a sweet riches-to-rags-then-back-to-riches children's classic. It is well-written from the heart, and the characters are distinct and likable. Sara, having lived all her life in India, uses her imagination and dreams to fill the gaps in her new, mundane Victorian life. Her storytelling skills bring joy to the lives of other girls at her boarding school. Whether in luxury or in cold tatters, Sara remains a princess on the inside.
In the last third of the book, 'A Little Princess' does end up being too good to be true, with a Cinderella twist/contrivance in which the heroine doesn't have to do much at all to get her happily ever after. Much like a wish-fulfillment tale. Although given all the hardships that Sara suffers from bitter, jealous and ignorant adults, I think she's earned her cathartic ending.
And after loving the 1995 film version so much from childhood, I did find the book somewhat meandering and predictable towards the end, and not very dramatic nor indeed realistic.
However, 'A Little Princess' is a lovely story for children that is not too simple. A tear-jerker and page-turner, with lessons about friendship, parental love, the good and bad in people, and compassion and respect towards those less fortunate than we are.
Learn this particular lesson well, females everywhere: every girl is a princess in her own way.
Final Score: 4/5
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