When Sara Crewe arrives at Miss Minchin's boarding school, the well-to-do student has every material comfort that her doting father can buy as well as the headmistress's fawning approval.

But when Sara falls upon hard times and is left to the mercy of the suddenly vindictive headmistress, she must rely on her optimistic outlook, lively imagination, and innate goodness to see her through a reversal of fortunes.

English-born novelist and playwright Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849-1924) wrote dozens of warmhearted books and is best known for her three children's classics: A Little Princess, The Secret Garden, and Little Lord Fauntleroy.

The National Education Association selected A Little Princess as one of its Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children, and a survey by School Library Journal ranked it as number 56 among its Top 100 Children's Novels.

Frequently adapted for stage and screen, it remains a favorite with dreamers of all ages.