You know you've read a good book

when you turn the last page

and feel a little as if you have lost a friend.

~Paul Sweeney

Yup, the book that so capture my heart. I can still remember the first time I read it. Property of Maisara Ashran@Sareque (a cute friend of mine), it was during SPM weeks in 1999. Just imagine, during examination week! That just proves how good this book is. I simply can't put it down. In between final revision of exam subjects, I managed to finish this book in a week. Ngee~ Luckily, my SPM result turns out quite well=p

So, basically the book is about a sweet, intelligent and imaginative little girl by the name of Sara Crewe. She was the daughter of a very rich young man whose wife died delivering Sara. Sara was very close with her father and they love each other immensely. Captain Crewe loves his daughter so much so that she was treated like a little princess. She could ask for anything she wanted in the world and her dearest daddy won't hesitate to comply. (Luckily, she didn't become a spoil, ungrateful child..hehe) She loves reading and she would asked her father to get her all sorts of books especially the big, fat ones. Mind you, she even reads French Revolution and she's only seven years old! Like her daddy said.."She is always sitting with her little nose burrowing into books. She doesn't read them. She gobbles them up as if she were a little wolf instead of a little girl."

Sara was born and lives in India as her father was posted there. But as she needs to start going to school, she was brought over to London by her father to get the best education she can. She was sent to a private girl's seminary owned by Miss Minchin, a strict cold hearted lady and her younger sister Miss Amelia, a clumsy person who obeys anything her sister told her to do. As Sara had great clothes, her own French maid and personal carriage, this set her apart from the other students. Even her doll Emily had clothes as splendid as hers. Lace frocks, velvet frocks, hats and coats and gloves and handkerchiefs and furs. My..my..lucky doll. Hehe.

Sara's greatest joy is to 'pretend' things to make life more magical and she shared it with everyone especially those less fortunate than herself. And boy, she's really good at it. However, suddenly and tragically she was thrown into poverty when her father dies and it changes the way people treat her. And through this hard time she used her imagination to keep up her spirits. I like how the book says it on the back cover, 'Sara must keep a strong hold on her vivid imagination and tender heart to prove to those who ill-treat her that even through hardship she can remain 'a little princess' =).'

To me this is a really heartwarming story about a girl's struggle to survive life which can be so cruel to a young girl. Please be prepared with lots of tissue. Hehe=p

::A Little Princess was also made into a movie in 1995.

::Frances Hodgson Burnett is also the author of The Secret Garden.