50 Fun Facts About A Little Princess

What name does Sara Crewe give the doll she chooses with her father before he sails back to India?

Emily was named before she was bought: Sara picked the name first, then searched the toy shops with her father for the right doll. She wanted a friend to talk to about him once he had gone.

Which runaway pet from the house next door leads Sara Crewe to her rescuer in A Little Princess?

A monkey slips over the roof into Sara's attic on a freezing night, and she carries it home the next morning. That errand brings her face to face with the man who has spent two years looking for her.

Which venture, run by an old school friend, swallows Captain Crewe's fortune in A Little Princess?

Diamond mines sounded like the Arabian Nights to the schoolgirls, but the venture looked ruined when the captain died. The mines later proved rich, which is how Sara ends up an heiress.

Which child star played Sara Crewe in the 1939 Technicolor film The Little Princess?

Shirley Temple made it her first film shot entirely in Technicolor, and it proved her last major success as a child star. The script gave the tale a new ending in which Sara's father is found alive.

Which Mexican director made his first American feature with the 1995 film of A Little Princess?

Alfonso Cuarón had made just one feature in Mexico before it. He went on to direct Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, then won Best Director Oscars for Gravity and Roma.

Which classic about orphan Mary Lennox did the author of A Little Princess publish six years later?

The Secret Garden was inspired by the walled rose garden at Maytham Hall in Kent. She had written part of A Little Princess sitting in that same garden in 1904.

Which language does Miss Minchin wrongly assume Sara Crewe has never learned in A Little Princess?

French was her late mother's language, and her father had always spoken it with her. Miss Minchin, who could not speak it herself, looked foolish when the master called the child's accent exquisite.

What does starving Sara Crewe buy with a fourpenny piece she finds, then mostly give to a beggar?

Hot buns come six for her fourpence because the baker adds two for nothing. Sara hands five to a child who looks hungrier than she is and keeps only one for herself.

Which royal lets Sara Crewe search a hospital for her father in the 1939 film The Little Princess?

Queen Victoria appears nowhere in the novel, where the captain really does die. The film moved the tale to the Boer War so that Sara could find him alive among the wounded.

Which job does fourteen-year-old Becky hold at Miss Minchin's school when Sara Crewe befriends her?

Scullery maid was only her title: Becky also cleaned boots and grates, hauled coal up the stairs and scrubbed floors. Sara found her asleep by the sitting-room fire and let her rest.

Which servant from next door quietly fills Sara Crewe's attic with a fire, hot food and blankets?

Ram Dass crept in by lantern light while Sara slept, lying flat on the floor whenever she stirred. He had first met her when he crossed the roof to fetch a runaway pet.

What name does Sara Crewe give the rat she tames with crumbs in her attic at Miss Minchin's?

Melchisedec has a wife and children in the wall, so Sara saves crumbs for all of them. He learns to come out when she makes a low, coaxing whistle.

Which slow but loyal pupil becomes Sara Crewe's closest friend after being laughed at in class?

Ermengarde is called the monumental dunce of the school, yet her clever father expects her to devour books. Sara coaches her through the lessons, and the two stay friends through the attic years.

Which tantrum-prone four-year-old pupil does Sara Crewe adopt as her pretend daughter?

Lottie had lost her mother, as Sara had, and hearing that is what finally stops the screaming. Sara offers to be her mamma, and the little girl later climbs to the attic alone to find her.

Which jealous older pupil, the school's leader until Sara Crewe arrives, mocks her as Princess Sara?

Lavinia had been the best-dressed girl in the school until Sara's velvet coats and sable muffs appeared. She gets her revenge by telling Miss Minchin about the forbidden feast in the attic.

Which illness, made worse by business worries, kills Captain Crewe in India in A Little Princess?

Jungle fever might not have killed him alone, his solicitor says, had money worries not driven him half mad. The news reaches the school in the middle of Sara's eleventh birthday party.

Which famous prison does Sara Crewe pretend her attic is, with Miss Minchin as the jailer?

The Bastille came from a book she had been reading about prisoners forgotten for years. Becky becomes the prisoner in the next cell, and two knocks on the wall ask whether she is there.

Which talent wins Sara Crewe more followers at Miss Minchin's school than all her luxuries do?

Storytelling draws even the girls who envy her, because Sara acts out each tale and changes her voice as she goes. Becky first lingers in the schoolroom to hear one about mermaids.

To which city does the 1995 film A Little Princess move Miss Minchin's school from London?

New York replaced the fog of the original, and Becky became an African-American servant girl. The ending borrows from the 1939 film: Sara's father is alive, recovering in the house next door.

Which ailing neighbour, once Captain Crewe's partner, proves to be Sara Crewe's unseen benefactor?

Mr. Carrisford fell gravely ill and fled when the venture seemed lost, then recovered to find his friend dead. Guilt drove his two-year search for a child who was living next door all along.

Which coin does a small boy press on Sara Crewe at Christmas, mistaking her for a street beggar?

A sixpence was young Donald Carmichael's whole fortune, and he was sure it would keep a poor child for life. Sara bored a hole in it and wore it on a ribbon round her neck.

What does Sara Crewe call the eight-child household she watches through the windows of the square?

The Large Family earned the name because there were so many of them, and Sara gave each child a grand invented name. Their father turns out to be the lawyer hunting for her across Europe.

Which imprisoned queen does Sara Crewe hold up as her model for staying dignified in rags?

Marie Antoinette seemed to Sara more of a queen in prison, insulted by her captors, than she had been in her finery. Sara decides that being a princess inside counts for more than cloth of gold.

From which Indian port has seven-year-old Sara Crewe just sailed as A Little Princess opens?

Bombay was where the long voyage began, and Sara spends the cab ride through the fog remembering the hot deck and the lascars. She had always known she would be sent away to school one day.

Which handmade birthday present, wrapped in brown paper, does Becky leave for Sara Crewe?

A pincushion of old red flannel carries a birthday greeting, badly spelled and picked out in pins. Becky made it at night and hoped Sara could pretend it was satin.

Which plump, timid sister of Miss Minchin finally turns on her after Sara Crewe leaves the school?

Miss Amelia had obeyed her sister for years, then burst into hysterics and called her a hard, selfish, worldly woman. The outburst left Miss Minchin a little in awe of her.

In which language does Sara Crewe address the lascar who comes over the roof, to his astonishment?

Hindustani came back to her from her early years, and the delighted servant poured out a flood of respectful thanks. His report of the polite child in the garret set her rescue in motion.

What does Sara Crewe call the unseen power that fills her bare attic with comforts while she sleeps?

The Magic is Sara's word for the power that never lets the worst things quite happen. She thinks it rude to pry into who is behind it, so she leaves a thank-you note on the attic table instead.

Which Frances Hodgson Burnett bestseller of 1886 started a craze for dressing boys in velvet suits?

Little Lord Fauntleroy sold so well that velvet suits, collars and even playing cards carried the name. Its hero was modelled on her younger son Vivian, whose long curls she styled herself.

In which northern English city was Frances Hodgson Burnett born, the daughter of an ironmonger?

Manchester's cotton trade collapsed during the American Civil War and took the Hodgsons' business with it. Her widowed mother sold up, and they sailed to join an uncle in the United States.

Which silent star was 25 when she played schoolgirl Sara Crewe in the 1917 film A Little Princess?

Mary Pickford played children well into adulthood, and her fans were devoted to those roles. Two years later she co-founded United Artists with Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks and D. W. Griffith.

Which Christian animated series retold A Little Princess in 2012 as The Penniless Princess?

VeggieTales usually retells Bible tales with a cast led by Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber. Its 2012 video borrowed the riches-to-rags plot of the novel instead.

Which country made the 46-episode 1985 animated series Princess Sarah, based on A Little Princess?

Japan's Nippon Animation made it for its World Masterpiece Theater strand, and it ran all year on Fuji TV. A dubbed version later became a hit in the Philippines and inspired a live-action film there.

Which cartoon character took the Sara Crewe role in a 1994 animated version of A Little Princess?

Hello Kitty starred in a 1994 home-video retelling made by her owner, Sanrio. It is one of more than a dozen screen versions of the novel, which range from a 1917 silent to a 2024 telenovela in Brazil.

Which actress from the Beatles film Help! played Miss Minchin in the 1995 film A Little Princess?

Eleanor Bron's headmistress meets a harsher fate than in the book. The film ends with her working for a young chimney sweep she once mistreated.

Which future Game of Thrones actor played Sara Crewe's father in the 1995 film A Little Princess?

Liam Cunningham also appears as Prince Rama, the hero of a tale told within the film, so the prince wears her father's face. He joined Game of Thrones in 2012 as the former smuggler Davos Seaworth.

In which war is Sara Crewe's father reported killed in the 1995 film A Little Princess?

World War I gave the film a way to keep him alive: he loses his memory instead of dying of illness in India. The novel has no war at all, only a business venture that seems to fail.

Which later Batman TV villain played the servant next door in the 1939 film The Little Princess?

Cesar Romero went on to play the Joker and refused to shave his moustache, so the white make-up was smeared over it. He had already acted with the film's young star in Wee Willie Winkie.

To which American state did the teenage Frances Hodgson Burnett emigrate with her mother in 1865?

Tennessee was a shock after city life: they spent their first winter in a log cabin near Knoxville. Frances began selling magazine tales there to earn money, and she never stopped writing.

Which American children's magazine first serialised the tale of Sara Crewe, beginning in 1887?

St. Nicholas ran the first version as a three-part novella, long before it grew into a stage drama and a full novel. The author began writing for children after meeting its editor, Mary Mapes Dodge.

To which city does Mr. Carmichael travel on a false trail in search of Captain Crewe's daughter?

Moscow was the best clue he had: an officer's orphaned daughter had been adopted from her school by wealthy Russians. That child proved far too young, and he came home just before the real one walked in.

Which royal fugitive of legend does Sara Crewe think of just before Miss Minchin boxes her ears?

Alfred the Great, hiding in a peasant's hut, had his ears boxed for letting the cakes burn. Sara laughs at the likeness and tells a furious Miss Minchin that she did not know what she was doing.

Which pet name does Captain Crewe give his daughter Sara because of her old-fashioned air?

Little Missus was his joke about a child who gave solemn advice like a grown woman. In a worried letter about his investments he wishes she were there to give him some solemn advice.

At which English school did Captain Crewe and his future business partner play cricket as boys?

Eton is where the two men's friendship began, which is why the captain trusted his old schoolfellow with every penny he owned. The partner's guilt over that trust drives the second half of the novel.

What colour is the outgrown velvet frock that becomes Sara Crewe's only dress as a servant?

Black was ordered within minutes of the news, and the pink party dress had to come off at once. The frock was already too short, and it marked the end of her days as the school's show pupil.

What is the name of the starving street child the baker takes in after Sara Crewe's kindness?

Anne is the only name she has, the baker says, and it gives the final chapter its title. Sara then offers to pay the shop's bills for feeding any hungry child who waits outside.

Which city is searched first for Captain Crewe's daughter, in the belief she was at school there?

Paris seemed certain because the girl's mother had wanted her educated there. The search turned up an officer's motherless daughter at a school in the city, but she had been adopted and taken abroad.

Whose unfinished boarding-school novel Emma is thought to have helped inspire A Little Princess?

Charlotte Brontë left only two chapters, which a magazine printed in 1860, five years after her death. Critics also hear echoes of her Jane Eyre and Villette, both partly set in girls' schools.

Which composer of Kenneth Branagh's films scored the 1995 film A Little Princess?

Patrick Doyle's score features the New London Children's Choir. A decade later he wrote the music for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and he went on to score Brave and Thor.

Which actress played Miss Minchin in the BAFTA-winning 1980s television serial of A Little Princess?

Maureen Lipman's serial ran to six parts and, unlike the 1939 and 1995 films, lets the captain die as he does in the book. It won a 1988 BAFTA for best children's programme.