A Little Princess
Complete textSara Crewe arrives from India at a London boarding school with her devoted father and an imaginative inner life. Her privileged position gives her unusual attention, but changes in her circumstances expose how differently the school treats children who cannot pay.
Continue readingAbout A Little Princess
Sara's habit of imagining herself a princess becomes an experiment in conduct rather than a claim to rank. The school divides comfort from service, while friendships cross that boundary. Small gifts, food and the attic's physical discomfort make kindness tangible and show what dignity costs when adults control a child's daily life.
Reading focus
Watch how Sara uses imagined royalty to guide concrete acts of generosity under changing circumstances.
This reading edition contains 66,750 words in 20 original sections. Read the text online with adjustable type and three colour themes, or keep a printable PDF.
Author: Frances Hodgson Burnett. Language: English. Reading edition: 28 October 2026.
Opening excerpt
Once on a dark winter's day, when the yellow fog hung so thick and heavy in the streets of London that the lamps were lighted and the shop windows blazed with gas as they do at night, an odd-looking little girl sat in a cab with her father and was driven rather slowly through the big thoroughfares.
Contents
All sections- Sara5 min
- MISS MINCHIN, Select Seminary for Young Ladies.12 min
- 2 — A French Lesson9 min
- 3 — Ermengarde11 min
- 4 — Lottie13 min
- 5 — Becky16 min
- 6 — The Diamond Mines16 min
- 7 — The Diamond Mines Again29 min
- 8 — In the Attic16 min
- 9 — Melchisedec18 min
- 10 — The Indian Gentleman19 min
- 11 — Ram Dass15 min
- 12 — The Other Side of the Wall13 min
- 13 — One of the Populace16 min
- 14 — What Melchisedec Heard and Saw8 min
- 15 — The Magic35 min
- 16 — The Visitor24 min
- 17 — "It Is the Child!"11 min
- 18 — "I Tried Not to Be"17 min
- 19 — Anne11 min
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This edition contains the complete English literary text, with 20 sections and 66,750 words. This reading edition preserves the checked English text and its section order. No study notes have been added.
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