What if there were a book that encouraged children to be patient, kind, generous, and noble? Look no farther; A Little Princess does that and does it effectively.
For length, I estimate that A Little Princess is a bit shorter than Anne of Green Gables, but longer than Little Lord Fauntleroy. With only a little bit of dedication, anyone could read it in a day.
Girls 7+ should be able to grasp the main ideas of the book, and will surely relate to the seven-year-old heroine. Sometimes it takes boys longer to be interested in books about girls, but it’s still worthy reading for a boy if he’s willing.
Find my brief four sentence conclusion at the end or read on through for the details!
The Plot [spoilers ahead]
When she is seven years old, Sara Crewe is dropped off by her rich father—a Captain in the English army, serving in India—at a girls’ boarding school in England. At first, Sara is the school’s most popular pupil, looked up to by her schoolmates and made a show of by the teachers. She’s rich, kind, smart, and a good student. In short, Sara has it all, and is nicknamed Princess Sara by her schoolmates.
And then, it turns into past tense: she had it all. Because suddenly her father dies—dies far away in India—and dies partly from the shock he experiences when hearing the news that a large investment of his has totally failed to pay off. So Sara is left an orphan, penniless, and living only by the charity of the school owner. Unfortunately for her, the owner and head teacher owes her a bit of a grudge. Without delay, Sara is made to feel her poverty, and gradually she slips into the position of maid-of-all-work.
Sara’s common sense and, let’s face it, stubborn determination come to her aid. She resolves that she’ll act just as much like a princess now as she used to. Noblesse oblige, and she takes all the cruelty and neglect with a lofty calm. And even in her rather neglected and lonely life she finds friends; a few of her old schoolmates, another servant, and a rat.
Still, it’s very hard, and the braver of a face she puts on, the more aggrieved and unjust the school mistress becomes. But just when things look their worst, Sara receives help from a totally unexpected quarter—a gentleman who lives next door on a whim furnishes her room right down to a delicious meal. This is slightly unrealistic as it involves the gentleman’s Indian servant creeping through Sara’s attic window with mattresses and blankets and who knows what all, but he manages.
Now as it turns out, this benevolent gentleman has been looking high and low for a certain Sara Crewe. In fact, he had been her father’s partner in that failed investment—or rather, in that highly successful investment that was thought for a short time to be a failure. Of course from here on out things take off like a house on fire; Sara becomes rich again and is able to look like a princess to match her act.
It’s a good plot, a bit predictable along the lines of Cinderella of course, and the denouement is a touch unrealistic and coincidental, but Sara’s unique personality and outlook make it plenty interesting.
8/10 for plot.
The Point
The basic moral of the story is that character, not circumstances, should dictate who you are and what kind of a life you live. A princess doesn’t need a palace; what she needs is a generous, noble heart. It’s a great moral, realistically presented, and Sara, while still a human girl with occasional realistic failures, is a worthy heroine.
But interwoven with this moral is a bit of “magic,” the Magic in fact, which has its roots in Christian Science (the non-Christian, unscientific idea that evil, sickness, and so forth, are all the result of bad thoughts and can be banished by good thoughts). It’s not overt in A Little Princess, but if you’re familiar with the same author’s The Secret Garden, you’ll recognize the language and know that we’re headed in the direction of Christian Science.
It’s only toward the end of the book that this comes out; Sara attributes the good that happens to her to the Magic—primarily, secondarily to an unknown (human) friend.
The Magic—like the Force in Star Wars—is an impersonal “god” which favors good and brings disgrace on evil. This is all the further the theory gets in A Little Princess; it doesn’t go into the more distinctive ideas of Christian Science (in fact the general plot is largely inconsistent with them). Still, the use of capital M for magic merits a bit of discussion with a child who reads the book; who really is the one who gives the good things we have? Why is he good to us? The God of the Bible is a personal, loving, caring God and to reduce him to Magic is idolatry.
So I can’t give the book’s point a wholehearted endorsement but the main moral of the story is a great one and convincingly presented.
7/10 for the moral (which has more to do with how well presented the book’s moral is than whether or not I agree with it).
The Style
Frances Burnett’s style is fairly simple—suited to young readers—but not awkwardly so. It’s plenty readable and she does a good job creating interesting, unique, and believable characters.
9/10 for style.
Conclusion
8/10
A Little Princess is the story of girl who takes a difficult life with a resolute spirit, determined to act like a princess throughout it all. It’s a compelling story that will easily enlist your sympathy, and the moral will inspire you to be a little more noble in your own life—maybe even stop complaining about your chores. Although this part of the moral is great, it’s sad that instead of thanking God for her eventual rescue, Sara the heroine gives credit to “the Magic.” The plot is a little predictable, and the way things wrap up seems coincidental, but it’s still a book worth reading on a rainy day!
A Little Princess by Frances Burnett is available for free as an ebook at https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/146.
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Geneva D 
What do you think?