A Little Princess (Puffin in Bloom) Hardcover – Illustrated, August 28, 2014

An excellent edition of A Little Princess by SeaWolf Press, which I recommend highly. The paperback is very well printed on good cream-colored paper, and durably bound – easy to hold and read. I have ordered several of their books now as gifts for the step-grandchildren, ages 3 to 10, and I love that SeaWolf reprints the original text just as it was, along with original illustrations.All very old fashioned, of course – but I strongly believe that children ought to understand that the world did not spring into being on the day they were born! As and when they are able to read the text, they will get a good mental workout – the brain, like the body, improves with exercise. And these old books are free of the vulgarity and propaganda – of the right AND the left – that pass for “literature” today.I never see the families except for a few hours once a year when everybody travels to our house for Christmas dinner and gift-giving. There is no chance of having a chat with the excited kids, and they of course never think to give me any feedback on the previous books I’ve given – nor do their parents.But I keep sending these books and more modern ones, good stories that inform and delight – trusting that if and when the kids read them, they will get a benefit, though it may be just a little thought in the back of the mind, a lamplight on the road of life that will be helpful sometime or other. Who knows – but it’s the best this retired teacher can do for them.

The death of Shirley Temple inspired me to download the movie“The Little Princess” from Amazon Instant movies. And that inspired me to order this unabridged version (but the original edition was called “Sara Crewe or what happened at Miss Minchin's.”) I had not read Princess for three quarters of a century (I am now well over 80) but I never forgot the charming book which I read many times as a child and thoroughly identified with the plucky little Sara, absorbing the atmosphere of foggy London and Sara's dismal attic, being happy with her when things were going well, shedding a tear or two when things were not. One of the scenes that haunted me most as a child was when Sara, cold and hungry, throws Emily, her beloved doll, on the floor and cries “You are nothing but a doll!” She is almost at the end of her tether, but not quite. Also, her giving a beggar child five of six rolls a kindly baker had given the half-starved Sara made a huge impression on me as a little girl. Children immerse themselves in books more thoroughly than an adult, they really live inside the plot, they can and do smell the roses. When Sara was hungry, so was I.Princess is a whacking good story which allows the tale to rise above being a lesson in morals. Kids don't want to be preached to but given a good story and interesting characters they'll get the point subtly. But that is also true with adults.Some reviewers have criticized the book because at the end of the story Becky went home with Sara as her maid. Author Burnett, however, is being true to 1899 London. The Cockney Becky could never be the equal of Sara Crewe the heiress. It's the way things were and to some extent the way things still are. Other reviewers have complained that Sara is too perfect. She is, however, too spunky to be insipid and she is certainly not goody-goody like Pollyanna. As a child reader I didn't regard her as too perfect nor do I now.You will laugh at an old lady reading a children's book she hasn't read in 75 years But now I read as a literary critic and Princess is not wanting in the quality of its writing and the deft originality of the plot. Ms. Burnett can write with beautifully apt descriptions and a taut, quickly moving plot. She in no way dumbs down her prose when writing for children. She puts you into foggy London right away, and introduces Sara and her father to Miss Minchin's Seminary “where the very armchairs seemed to have hard bones in them” and Miss Minchin herself had “large cold fishy eyes and a large cold fishy smile.”If you have any little girl in your family who has not read “The Little Princess” do pop the book into her Christmas stocking. She'll love it, trust me! And so will you!

Wow! I loved this so much! I’m really loving children’s classics so far! This was such a heartwarming story! Full of “magic”, imagination, & hope! Sara is just the most amazing little girl ever. She is so unlike other little girls, & I loved every unique thing about her. Her “pretending” really helped her for when things got too hard to bear. It helped her endure all the hardships she had to face. She was good down to the core. Such a fine “little missus”. So many amazing characters! Like Sara & Becky. And some horrible characters like Miss Minchin & Lavinia-ohhh I couldn’t stand them! So awful! Miss Minchin is the worst. The absolute child abuse she does to Sara is horrific. The kindness Sara shows to Becky, & to EVERYONE-even the ones who are horrid to her, is truly remarkable. So many scenes had me emotional, like with the starving girl on the street towards the end, & then everything that happens at the end in general. How you treat people says a lot about you, and everything comes back around to you in time as well. Such an amazing, book hug-able story. So happy I finally read this. Highly recommend. I have a few editions, but I read this beautiful copy I have w/the stunning cover & illustrations by Anna Bond. Beautiful!💜

The cover of this book is absolutely stunning and is also the main reason why I purchased it. I love Rifle Paper Co. and everything Anna Bond designs. The story was actually really great, and I enjoyed reading it (as a 26 year-old female). I'm definitely looking forward to passing this book down to (hopefully) future daughters to enjoy.The only reason why it's not 5 stars is because there were two pages where the ink roller got messed up and smeared the ink across the page to where the text was illegible. I requested a replacement, which Amazon promptly ordered, and it seems to not have any issues like that (I haven't checked page by page yet). I order all 4 books in this design series and 2 out of 4 of them had this issue. It seems that whoever was in charge of the actual inside quality check did a poor job. Some of the page numbers in a couple of the other books are almost being cut off the edge of the page (poor placement).Other than that, the stories are classic and the outside covers are stunning. I definitely don't mind sitting these books on my shelf.