n  B, is for Burnett.n

n  She liked books more than anything else, and was in fact, always inventing stories of beautiful things, and telling them to herself. n



A Little Princess was NOT a childhood favourite of mine, I wasn't refined enough for that. I wanted my "Pocahontas" and "Lion King" and to the devil with princesses in petticoats and their ilk. (to be honest I'm not all that different now) BUT I did enjoy the movie when I had occasion to watch it, once or twice, in my youth.

The story is a good one, about a girl who remains classy and courteous and kind despite circumstance. About what it means, truly, to behave like a princess.

Reading it now, as an adult, there are a few moments I really felt irked by. It bothered me that there should be such a to-do about Sara's experience while Becky would never amount to more than a servant, even at the "happy end" when she was a less harassed one. And I know that it is a time-frame thing and all that BUT for that alone I have a difficult time recommending this story be read to impressionable youth. I am old and stodgy, I am allowed my idiosyncrasies.

n  “If I am a princess in rags and tatters, I can be a princess inside. It would be easy to be a princess if I were dressed in cloth of gold, but it is a great deal more of a triumph to be one all the time when no one knows it.”n

What an adorable, heartwarming little book !! I believe this is the second classic that I have read ever( yeah, not a huge fan of classics :-|).The plot is a very simple one .But, as an old wise man once stated “Mysteries and complexities have their own charm but sometimes the simplest stories are the nicest”. Best way to sum it up!

It is the story of a little girl named Sara. She is remarkable…an intelligent, kind girl…a bit strange at times…but overall remarkable. She is super rich and her father spares no expenses to fulfill any of her wishes. But she doesn’t let it go to her head.



Will she be the same person if the circumstances were to change?? What determines what kind of a person you are? Well, no suspense here …we find out soon enough . Something really horrible happens …and she turns from princess to a servant overnight. What stands out though, is her unique way of dealing with these extraordinarily horrible circumstances .She uses make-beliefs to draw strength and cooks up stories to stay positive.


Well, every story needs a villain. And Oh yes …we get the cruelest of them all- Ms. Minchin. I hated her with all my heart!


Overall, a wonderful story with a beautiful theme/ message. But I felt there were some repetitiveness and the plot was too simple. If I had been younger , probably it would have been a 5-star read . But, still it’s a great book for everyone. And if you are in need for a little pick-me-up …it’s the perfect one ! ;)
n  “There’s nothing so strong as rage, except what makes you hold it in – that’s stronger.”n

Thank u  Mr. Grumpy for the awesome rec and BR ! :)

Casi parece un retelling de 'La cenicienta' y sin duda tiene todo ese halo de cuento de hadas ambientado en la Inglaterra victoriana, no puedo pedir más.... ♥

I went into A Little Princess with a small amount of backstory - I’d loved the 1995 film as a child (the protagonist is called Sara...I’m called Sara...it was a given I’d love it) so I had some idea of the plot and characters. However, I had no idea just how much I would be affected by the story. By the last 50 pages, I was sobbing.

A Little Princess is the story of Sara Crewe, who has arrived in London after a privileged life in India as the daughter of Captain Crewe, to start her education at Miss Minchin’s seminary for girls. Sara is a precocious little girl, often described as ‘queer’ in her opinions and statements, with a vivid imagination who is able to capture the heart of her peers through stories. Being so precocious, I thought I wouldn’t warm to Sara at all - but I was wrong. She’s utterly charming, polite and good. The model child - but told in a believable way. She’s not just a one dimensional character, and as we see her circumstances change, I especially came to love Sara and her plight. Through every adversity she tries to see the good in everything, and everyone. Mostly. Her relationship with the other girls, and her father, further highlight how special she is and how she treats everyone the same - regardless of status and circumstance.

The writing is surprising easy to follow and read for a book over 100 years old, and the plot kept me fully engaged throughout. I was blown away with just how besotted I was with the whole story. If anything, I would have liked some expansion on the Minchin sisters to make them more rounded as characters, as I found Amelia in particular quite one line as the simpering younger sister. It made her character arc less impactful than it could have been.

All in all, a wonderful children’s classic with touching characters.

Kolejny klasyk, z którym nigdy wcześniej nie miałam do czynienia, a który okazał się naprawdę fajny. Coś mi jedynie nie gra w głównej bohaterce.

The Story:

It is a simple heart warming story of a rich girl whose fortunes play hide and seek with her. Initially she is very rich and enjoys everything as a princess and after some time we see her reduced to a pauper, having nothing and no body in the world. She works and struggles to support her life as a charity pupil. And then arrives the fairy tale ending in which the pauper is restored to unimaginable riches.

What I understood from the Story/the Moral of the Story:

1. The nature of life and its movement can never be understood. Life can treat you like a prince/princess this moment and in an instant it can drag you down to the dust, leaving you a pauper. What is asked of us is not to be proud of the riches or not to be grieving for the loss. Instead, we are asked to live the present with all the life that we have. Life itself is better gift than anything else. If you are sent to the attic, learn to enjoy the sunset and the friendships of sparrows and rats.

2. Friends are the precious gems not to be missed in this life. Friends will hold you on in any moment and in every moment. They will be ready to face the risks just to meet you and share a joke with you. If loneliness is the most possible villain for life, the friends can play the part of villains for the loneliness.

3. Believe in the healing power of imagination. Believe in it and believe in it always. Try to 'suppose' or 'imagine' the happiness in the moments of sadness. I have tried out such possibilities many times. I am not sure I will be able to imagine happiness in my extreme sadness, but this is the lesson from this book. It is, however, not a call to live in the hallucination. Work hard to support your life and in spite of that if you confront troubles and moments of difficulties, seek the soothing power of the imagination.

4. Respect everyone in any state of life that you find yourself in. Do not change yourself according to the fortunes. Have respect for everyone and every living being (even for rats). Let not fortunes or emotions decide your behaviour.

NÃO VOU SUPERAR OQ ACONTECE NO FINAL DESSE LIVRO COM A BECKY!!

Revoltadaaa

PS: é diferente do filme q nesse aspecto foi Mil vezes melhor.

"لكن مهما حدث .. مهما حدث ، فهناك شخص ما في هذا العالم لطيف للغاية هو صديقي .. صديقي ، حتى لو لم أعرف من هو أبداً - و لو لم أستطع شكره أبداً - فلن أشعر بكل تلك الوحدة " ♥️♥️

رواية أميرة صغيره الروايه التي اقتبس منها مسلسل الأنمي الشهير "سالي"
الجميع شاهد سالي و احبّها من خلال الكرتون الذي دُبلج للعربيه.
ستكون تجربة قراءة عمل شهير كشهرة هذا العمل مميزه جداً و ممتعه، ستعود بِكُم هذه الروايه الجميله إلى أيّام الطفوله و ستُحيي الطفل الغافي بداخلكم كما فعلت معي!

ممتعه جداً بكل تفاصيلها و شخصياتها للأمانه أحببتها أكثر من المسلسل الكرتونيّ
فشخصية سارا هنا أو سالي كما في الدبلجه شخصيه جميله جداً على رغم صغر سنها و ما تزال طفله إلاّ أنها تحمل صفات الأميرات.

هذه الروايه إنسانيّه واقعيه بها رسائل توجه ليس للأطفال فقط بل للناس عامةً
من بين تلك الرسائل أن الإنسان لا تنتهي حياته بمجرد أن تتغير ظروفه للأسوأ
و بالتفاؤل و الأمل و حب الحياة تعود الحياة كما كانت و أجمل كما حدث مع *سارا كرو*

من الأمور التي لفتت إنتباهي في الروايه شخصية سالي او سارا كرو ففي الروايه شخصيتها أجمل بكثير من الكرتون و الأحداث كانت أقلّ بؤساً في الروايه.
و أيضاً شخصية بيتر التي كانت موجوده في الكرتون لم يكن لها أي ذكر في الروايه.
و كانت إضافه جيّده في الكرتون.

ترجمة الروايه جداً رائعه لم أشعر أن العمل مترجماً لدقة الترجمه و جمالها.

شكراً تكوين، دار الرافدين على ترجمة هذه الأعمال الجميله و إحياء الطفل الذي بداخلنا❤❤

My heart is so full after reading this. Years ago, I got the movie A Little Princess for my birthday. I had never heard anything about it before, but little did I know that I would break the DVD player watching it so many times. Like the movie, the book is beautiful. There really is no other word that can accurately describe it.

I've never felt as connected to a protagonist as I did to Sara. This little girl had the biggest, most generous heart and no matter how bad her situation got, her character remained pure; even when she had nothing to her name she still put others before herself and never wanted pity. When she was grieving the loss of her father and went from being treated like a princess to being treated like a slave, I wanted so badly to save her. It made me want to find a way into the pages to take all her sadness and pain away because she deserved none of it.

This is one of those books that you should encourage your kids to read when they are young. Not to say that it isn't a book for adults, because it is, but I think children especially would benefit from reading it as they are most impressionable. As I was reading, I was overcome with a compelling desire to adopt Sara’s open-heartedness—it just made me want to be a better person which I think is a really special reaction to a book. Honestly every time my heart cracked and pieced back together was worth it and I would suffer a million times over if it meant that I had the honor of being touched by this story forever.

My favourite quote in the whole book:

n  “If nature has made you for a giver, your hands are born open, and so is your heart; and though there may be times when your hands are empty, your heart is always full, and you can give things out of that—warm things, kind things, sweet things—help and comfort and laughter—and sometimes gay, kind laughter is the best help of all.”n

"When one was sitting by a warm fire in a big, glowing room, it was quite delightful to hear how cold it could be in an attic."

This might be commonly classified as a children's book, but I absolutely loved it. The story is give your a blast of all kinds of emotions throughout the story, and how the protagonist, Sarah Crewe faces and reacts to each of them in quite a wonderful way. The way how each supporting character complements the story is excellent, and adds much impact.

' “You see, I know what it is to be hungry, and it is very hard when one cannot even pretend it away.” '

This book will make your laugh, sad, cry, and happy while submersing you in one of the loveliest plots of all time. It's true that certain things seems a bit too perfect, but I guess it's best that way, considering this is indeed a children's book. Also, the lessons are plentiful, specially in the middle part of the story, which will be invaluable to any child. If you have not read this book - regardless what age you are in right now - give it a chance, for, I think, this is something that has no age limit.

"She had learned to know how comforting a smile, even from a stranger, may be."

About six months ago I read The Secret Garden for possibly the first time, and while I was happy to have finally read it, realized that I probably would have appreciated it more if I had read it as a younger reader.

I felt similarly about A Little Princess.

In this story we have young Sara Crewe, a precocious and intelligent little girl whose father indulges her every whim and desire, sent to a seminary for young ladies where she uses her imagination to make friends and some enemies. When her father dies (not a spoiler, it's on the back cover, calm down), Sara is left in the hands of Miss Minchin, the nasty headmistress who already doesn't like Sara because... well, who knows why exactly. In these sorts of books, one never needs a real motive.

Because Sara's father is gone, and the money is gone, Miss Minchin takes to hating on little Sara even harder, tossing her in the attic in a room next to the scullery-maid's and making Sara into a little slave of sorts. And times are sad.

But never fear! Sara continues using her imagination and playing pretend and making friends with the rats in the walls. Due to her persistence and chronic do-gooding, things wind up turning out pretty well for Sara, in spite of everything, not that I was particularly worried. Sara is the sort of character for which things just naturally work out.

So, like The Secret Garden this is a fine little book with a nice moral for younger readers. As an adult reader, and one with a crusted up little black heart, I have bigger issues with these stories, social issues like the way anyone Not White is stereotyped and how some people are worthy and some are not, but everyone should aspire to improve their position in life which is not the same as aspiring to improve oneself.

The parts I did appreciate about the story are the same things most of us here appreciate: Sara is a bibliophile and sort of socially awkward in her unconventional ways. She stands her ground in the face of adversity and pisses people off because she doesn't raise her voice when they're screaming at her. I mean, yeah. I get it.

I also appreciated the inclusion of the rats. I fell a little in love with Melchisedec and am campaigning for my boyfriend to change one of his rats' names to that, a hard battle considering his rats are all females. I think rats tend to not have good representation in literature, so I was pleased to see Sara befriending them. I didn't do the same when I had mice in my apartment once upon a time, that was downright traumatic and awful and I don't think I slept well for almost a full year. But rats are a lot of fun - the pet kind. (Or the ones who sport capes and have adventures.) Not the jumbo-sized sewer rats you see digging in the trash in Baltimore.