Book Review: A Little Princess

TITLE OF THE BOOK: A Little Princess                                                                     

AUTHOR: Frances Hodgson Burnett
PUBLISHER: Charles Scribner's Sons
NUMBER OF PAGES: 324
YEAR PUBLISHED: 1905
READING LEVEL: Middle Grade
GENRE: Fiction, Classic, Children, Young Adult













SUMMARY:
A Little Princess is a story about a young girl named Sara who is sent to boarding school by her well meaning father. Sara is sweet and imaginative and keeps her friends at school entertained with wonderful tales and stories she creates. After receiving some heartbreaking news, Sara is forced into servitude from the heartless Miss Minchin. To survive those hard times, Sara imagines herself to be a princess to keep her spirits up. A story of imagination, compassion, and triumph.


OUR STAR RATING:
4/5

BOOK DISCUSSION:
For the most part everyone really loved this book. It was such a sweet and fun book that was a quick read. The main character Sara is very lovable. She was odd, interesting, compassionate, self aware, self confidant, and just a well rounded character. We loved all the stories she would tell and how imaginative she always was.
She used her imagination to stay strong. We discussed how using you imagination like that can be a great escape from the real world. Just like reading, it's an escape and that's one of the reasons it's so wonderful. We really discussed the different stories we tell ourselves, and how perception is our reality. Our self talk, what are we telling ourselves all the time?
We like how Sara used the word "princess" as such a positive thing. It wasn't the negative spoiled meaning of being a princess. When she imagined herself to be a princess it was to be her best self no matter her circumstance, her high expectations for herself, and just her attitude toward everything.
We discussed a lot about not being reactive to negativity and how fear can be such a powerful motivator. It was decided that one of the main messages of the book was to have courage, be kind, and how our lives aren't about what is happening to us, but what we are telling ourselves.

A few favorite quotes from the book;

-“When you will not fly into a passion people know you are stronger than they are, because you are strong enough to hold in your rage, and they are not, and they say stupid things they wish they hadn't said afterward. There's nothing so strong as rage, except what makes you hold it in--that's stronger. It's a good thing not to answer your enemies.”

-“Everything's a story - You are a story -I am a story.”

-“Whatever comes," she said, "cannot alter one thing. 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.” 

The 1995 A Little Princess movie is so fantastic and highly recommended. They stayed very close to the book.