A Little Princess Review

This is the second book I have read (well, this one for today I listened to on audiobook) from this author. I enjoyed it waaay more than the first book I read from her (The Secret Garden, which I gave 2 stars). It is worth it to give authors another chance!

A Little Princess by Frances Hodgeson Burnett is about Sara Crewe, the daughter of a wealthy businessman/officer. She has just come back from India and will attend a boarding school for girls in London. Sara is a sweet girl with a huge imagination, and everyone in the school has taken a liking to her. Especially a girl named Ermengarde and another girl named Lottie. Well, almost everyone likes Sara. Miss Minchin, who is the headmistress, a two mean girls named Jessie and Lavinia, can't stand her.

One day, Sara receives news that her father made a bad investment, and he lost all of the family's money. Shortly afterward, her father dies of an illness. Miss Minchin decides to downgrade Sara into being a scullery maid for the school, and she can only sleep in the attic with the other scullery maid, Becky. She becomes friends with Becky, and tries to find other things to be happy about, but her optimism is constantly put to the test. What Sara doesn't know is that she will be in a better place again in the least expected way possible.

This was a very short, but very sweet book. I can definitely see why it is a staple of English children's literature. 

But I did give it 4 stars. I took a star off for the stereotypical depictions of the Indian characters and the problematic attitudes towards them in some parts of the books. It isn't as pronounced compared to the author's other book The Secret Garden, but it's still there. I am planning on reading books with Indian characters in them depicted in a better light and written by Indian authors (OwnVoices books) after this. 

Have you ever given an author and their books a second chance?

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