Anyone familiar with the realm of children’s literature will know Frances Hodgson Burnett, author of the classic The Secret Garden. Known and beloved among her works as well is A Little Princess, the story of a little girl named Sara who, having her wealth stripped from her after her father’s untimely death, is forced into servitude at the boarding school she attends in order to keep herself off the streets.
What people might not know about this classic tale is that it was originally serialized as a short story in St. Nicholas Magazine under the title, “Sara Crewe, or What Happened at Miss Minchin’s”.
St. Nicholas Magazine was a monthly literary magazine that published literature for children. The first editor of the magazine, Mary Mapes Dodge, was a children’s author herself, known for her work Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates. Over the magazine’s seventy-year run, Dodge published the likes of Louisa May Alcott, Mark Twain, and Joel Chandler Harris, just to name a few. The magazine also encouraged young writers to submit their work for the possibility of a cash prize, thus allowing many famous writers – such as Edna St. Vincent Millay and F. Scott Fitzgerald – to get their start.
“Sara Crewe, or What Happened at Miss Minchin’s” ended up being a very popular story.
One year after its serialization in 1887, the story was published in book form, illustrated by well-known children’s illustrator and frequent collaborator of Burnett’s, Reginald Bathurst Birch.
This is not the expanded version of the story that would come fifteen years later, but rather the story as it appeared in the magazine. Burnett would not change the short story until her publisher encouraged her, due to the popularity of the story, to include bits of backstory and characters that had been left out.
This version of Sara’s story begins with the death of her father. Unlike the full novel, which includes her first year at Miss Minchin’s school and the friends she makes there, this version focuses on Sara’s isolation from others. This makes it all the more impactful when, by the end of the story, she is rescued by her father’s old friend. The message of the story, though, remains very much the same, encouraging children to have kindness and optimism during hard times.
Also included in the back of this book are advertisements for other popular children’s literature, including the aforementioned Hans Brinker, collections of popular myths simplified for young people, and sets of the complete works of Jules Verne. In these advertisements, there is a feeling of literary encouragement.
With engaging illustrations and a compelling story, it is no wonder that “Sara Crewe” became popular. After the publication of this version of the story, there would be a stage version in 1902 under the title A Little Un-Fairy Princess. Much of what came to be in the novel version, like the girls Sara befriends in her first year who stick by her through her hardship, are introduced here. Regardless, the beginnings of this beloved story are crucial to the history of children’s literature, and the changes to the work, major and minor, are fascinating to observe.
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