Children · Drama
A Little Princess
The richest girl at a London boarding school loses everything overnight, except her imagination.
Five levels, about 80 languages
- A2ElementaryShort sentences and everyday words.
- B1IntermediateYou follow clear stories about familiar things.
- B2Upper intermediateLonger sentences, richer vocabulary.
- C1AdvancedClose to the original, lightly condensed.
- C2ProficientThe complete novel.
One purchase is one book, in one language, at one level: $4.99. Another level of a book you own is $1.99. Editions nobody has asked for yet are written on request: chapter 1 in a few minutes, the rest while you read. How the levels work.
About the book
Miss Minchin’s Seminary
Sara Crewe is seven when her father, a rich young officer, brings her from India to Miss Minchin’s Select Seminary for Young Ladies in London. She has a wardrobe of fine clothes, a doll called Emily and a sitting room of her own, and she is kind to everyone, including the sharp-tongued Miss Minchin, who dislikes her. Sara tells stories, imagines things and treats Becky, the overworked scullery maid, as a friend. Then, on her eleventh birthday, news arrives from India, and everything changes. Frances Hodgson Burnett first told Sara’s story in a shorter form in 1888 and expanded it into this novel in 1905.
Why it works for learners
There’s an early scene language learners will love. Miss Minchin decides that Sara must learn French and won’t listen when Sara tries to explain. Then the French master arrives, Sara answers him in perfect French, learned from her French mother, and Miss Minchin is left humiliated in front of her pupils.
The book is built from simple, strong situations: a school, a cold attic, hunger, kindness, a mysterious neighbor. The vocabulary is everyday and practical: food, clothes, rooms, lessons, money, weather. Sara’s habit of “supposing” (pretending she is a princess so that she will behave like one) gives the book its warmth.
Which level to start at
A2 is a comfortable start, and B1 is ideal. Upper-intermediate readers will catch more of Burnett’s gentle satire of Miss Minchin and her school. The narration gives Sara, Becky and Miss Minchin distinct voices, which makes the schoolroom scenes easy to follow by ear.
Read next
- The Secret Garden, Burnett’s most famous novel
- Little Women, four sisters making the best of hard times
- The Railway Children, a family facing sudden hardship