Books Like A Little Princess

Some books are about the fall; some are about the rise. A Little Princess is about both, and that is why it has endured for more than a century. Sara Crewe begins the book as a wealthy little girl treated like a princess at Miss Minchin’s London boarding school, and she ends it as a servant in the same school, sleeping in the attic and working for her keep after her father dies and his fortune disappears. What makes the book extraordinary is not the fall - it is what Sara does with it. She refuses to stop behaving like a princess in the sense that matters: she keeps her imagination, her kindness and her dignity, even when she has nothing else. Frances Hodgson Burnett’s novel is one of the most hopeful books ever written, and it is entirely clean.

If you have just finished A Little Princess and are looking for your next read, this guide is for you. The books below share its spirit: heroines who face hardship with imagination and courage, rags-to-riches and fall-and-rise arcs, and storytelling that is clean, wholesome and family friendly. For each recommendation, you will find a short description and an honest content note, so you can choose with confidence.

More from Frances Hodgson Burnett#

The most natural place to start is with the author herself. Burnett wrote two other great novels in the same register as A Little Princess, and the closest is The Secret Garden.

Mary Lennox, the heroine of The Secret Garden, is in many ways the opposite of Sara Crewe: where Sara is generous, Mary begins the book as a spoiled, cross, neglected child. But the two books tell the same story in reverse. Mary, sent to her uncle’s Yorkshire estate after her parents die in India, discovers a hidden walled garden and, in restoring it, restores herself. The book shares A Little Princess’s portrait of a child transformed by her own imagination and effort, and its hopefulness is the same register. It is entirely clean, and it is the perfect next read for Sara’s fans.

Burnett’s third great novel, Little Lord Fauntleroy, is a different kind of story but shares the same warmth: a poor American boy who discovers he is the heir to an English earldom, and whose kindness transforms his bitter grandfather. It is clean and warm, and it completes the trilogy of Burnett’s most beloved books.

The Classic Companions#

Beyond Burnett, the classics that share Sara’s spirit are among the most beloved books in the language, and the most essential are by L. M. Montgomery, Johanna Spyri and Eleanor H. Porter.

Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery is the closest spiritual cousin to A Little Princess in all of children’s literature. Anne Shirley, like Sara, is an orphan who arrives in a new place with nothing but her imagination, and like Sara she transforms the place and the people around her. Where Sara endures hardship with dignity, Anne endures it with laughter, and both heroines share the same bottomless capacity for wonder. The book is funny, warm and entirely clean, and its portrait of a child’s inner life is one of the great achievements of the genre.

Heidi by Johanna Spyri shares Sara’s story in a different setting. Heidi, an orphan, is sent to live with her gruff grandfather in the Swiss Alps, and her warmth and innocence transform him and everyone she meets. When she is taken to the city to be a companion to a rich girl, she endures homesickness with the same quiet courage Sara shows in the attic. The book is clean and deeply warm, and its portrait of a child whose goodness changes the people around her is one of the most beloved in all of children’s literature.

Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter shares Sara’s optimism in a different key. Pollyanna Whittier, an orphan sent to live with her stern aunt, plays the “glad game” - finding something to be glad about in every situation - and transforms her whole town. The book shares A Little Princess’s portrait of a child who changes the people around her simply by being herself. It is clean and warm, though readers should know that its relentless gladness is part of its period charm; the book rewards reading with a smile and a little irony.

Stories of Courage and Endurance#

Some readers love A Little Princess for its portrait of a child enduring hardship with dignity, and for them, the best next reads are the books that take that theme seriously.

The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley is the modern book that comes closest to Sara’s story. It is set in England during the Second World War and follows Ada, a girl with a clubfoot who has been kept inside her whole life by her cruel mother. When the children of London are evacuated to the countryside, Ada escapes with her little brother, and the book follows her slow discovery of safety, trust and her own worth. The book shares A Little Princess’s portrait of a child who has been told she is worthless and who learns, through endurance and care, that she is not. It is honest about its difficult material but entirely non-graphic, and it is one of the most moving children’s novels of recent decades.

For a classic in the same register, The Railway Children by E. Nesbit follows three children whose family falls on hard times and moves to a small house beside a railway line. The children endure the change with courage and good humor, and their adventures along the railway - waving to passengers, preventing a disaster, slowly discovering the truth about their absent father - are among the most beloved in children’s literature. It is clean and warm, and it shares A Little Princess’s portrait of children facing hardship together.

Modern Books with the Same Spirit#

The spirit of A Little Princess did not end with the classics. Modern fiction has produced several books that carry the same warmth and courage.

The War That Saved My Life, mentioned above, is the most direct modern heir. For readers who want the imagination-and-wonder side of Sara rather than the endurance side, The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate is a different but related read: a gorilla living in a shopping mall who discovers, through friendship and art, the courage to change his life. The book shares Sara’s conviction that imagination is a form of wealth, and it is clean, short and deeply moving.

For readers who want a modern family story with the same warmth, The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall follows four sisters on a summer holiday and is entirely clean, though its register is sunnier than Sara’s attic.

Choosing Your Next Read#

With so many wonderful options, the question is where to start. Here is a quick guide.

If you want to stay in Burnett’s world, start with The Secret Garden - it is the closest in spirit and in authorship. If you want another heroine with a bottomless imagination, start with Anne of Green Gables. If you want the mountain version of the orphan story, start with Heidi. If you want the optimistic register, start with Pollyanna. If you want a child enduring hardship with courage, start with The War That Saved My Life. And if you want the family version of the fall-and-rise story, start with The Railway Children.

Whichever you choose, you can read with confidence: every book on this list is clean, wholesome and suitable for readers of many ages, and each one carries at least a piece of what makes A Little Princess so beloved.

Building a Wholesome Reading List#

If this guide has given you a taste for clean, wholesome classics, there is a whole shelf waiting. Our clean books for adults themes and values guide offers thoughtful context across genres, and our family-friendly clean books for teens list extends into the young adult territory. The stories section is full of reading lists like this one, built with the same care and the same content notes, so you can always find your next read with confidence.

The books that share Sara’s spirit are a gift: they are clean without being empty, wholesome without being dull, and hopeful without being naive. Start with the ones here, and let them lead you to the whole tradition.

The Quiet Power of Imagination#

What makes A Little Princess different from the other great stories of suffering children is that Sara’s imagination is not an escape from her circumstances but a way of surviving them with her self intact. She tells herself stories; she gives her meager portions away because imagining herself a princess makes generosity possible; she keeps her dignity in the attic because her inner life is a palace she refuses to vacate. That is the lesson the book’s companions share, each in their own register. In The Secret Garden, Mary and Colin rebuild a garden, and in rebuilding it, rebuild themselves - imagination as restoration. In Anne of Green Gables, imagination is Anne’s native language, the thing that transforms a plain farmhouse into a place of wonder. In The Thief Lord and Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library, imagination is literal: a Venice of hidden doorways, a library that becomes an adventure. These are books that trust imagination to do real work - not as a refuge from life but as a way of living it more fully. For readers who loved Sara Crewe’s attic palace, that is the thread that connects every book on this shelf.

Conclusion#

A Little Princess endures because it tells a true and hopeful story: that what you have can be taken away, but who you are cannot; that imagination is a kind of wealth that no one can steal; and that treating people with dignity, even when you have nothing, is the truest way to be a princess. The books in this guide share that story in their own ways - Mary’s garden, Anne’s wonder, Heidi’s mountains, Pollyanna’s gladness, Ada’s courage - and they are all clean, wholesome and worthy of the shelf beside Burnett’s classic.

Pick one, find a quiet corner, and let the next princess appear.