ILLUSTRATED Frances Hodgson Burnett was persuaded to write this novel for children as an expanded version of Sara Crewe, otherwise known as What Happened at Miss Minchin's Boarding School.

The original and far shorter version was first published in serialised form in the popular U.S.A. children's publication, St. Nicholas Magazine, in 1888. Here in the UK, the National Education Association named the book one of its "Top 100 Books for Children" as a result of a poll of teachers in 2007.

This probably means that it would not meet with the present Minister (Michael Gove) for Education's approval.

But one never knows and I doubt if the author could care less. A brilliant read, republished for a great cause, namely the Working Class Movement Library in Salford, and one for which I have no doubt Frances Hodgson Burnett would have approved. Malc Cowle, Manchester, 2013.