This A2 Elementary retelling of A Little Princess keeps the plot clear for learners while still giving the story some atmosphere and momentum. Sara Crewe is seven years old. She comes from India to a school in London.
This version is written for English-speaking learners and includes clickable word help inside the story, full story audio, and lesson notes after the reading. It is free to use on Yak Yacker and is designed to feel natural, readable, and manageable in English.
Sara Crewe is seven years old. She comes from to a school in . Her father is very . He says, 'Goodbye, my little princess. Be a good girl.' Sara smiles. She is wearing a dress and a big hat.
The school is big and . Miss Minchin is the head of the school. She does not like children very much. But she likes . She says, 'Sara, you will have a beautiful room and nice toys.' Sara is to everyone. The other girls like her. 'Tell us a , Sara!' they say. And Sara tells wonderful stories.
One day, bad news comes. Sara's father is . And all his money is . Miss Minchin is very angry. 'You have no money now,' she says. 'You must .' Sara moves to a cold, dark room in the . She is not a student now. She is a servant.
Sara . She is often and tired. But she does not cry. She uses her . 'My room is not a prison,' she says. 'It is a ! I am a princess inside.' Her friend Becky, a little servant girl, comes to visit. 'You are my princess,' Becky says. Sara smiles and tells her stories.
Next door, a man from comes to live. He has a . The monkey runs away and comes to Sara's attic. Sara returns the monkey. She meets the man's servant, Ram Dass. 'Thank you,' he says. He sees that Sara is very and .
One night, Sara is very . She goes to sleep. When she wakes up, the room is warm. There is a fire! There is food, new blankets, and beautiful books. 'Look, Becky!' Sara says. '!' Every morning, there is a new surprise. Sara is happy and .
The Indian man is a little girl. She is the daughter of his best friend. 'Her name is Sara Crewe,' he tells his servant. 'I have her father's money. I must .' Ram Dass smiles. 'Sir, I think I know her,' he says.
The man comes to the school. 'Sara, you are not !' he says. 'Your father's money is safe. You are a rich little girl again!' Sara cannot believe it. Miss Minchin is very . Now she wants to be nice. 'Sara, dear …' she says. But Sara is not angry. She is a princess inside. She is .
Sara goes to live with the kind Indian man. She takes Becky with her. 'You are my friend,' she says. And she never forgets to be a princess: kind, brave, and full of stories.
Sara, age seven, arrives at a London school from India. Her rich father calls her his little princess and tells her to be good. She smiles, wearing a nice dress and large hat.
The big, cold school is run by Miss Minchin, who cares more about money than children. She promises Sara a lovely room and toys. Sara is kind, so the girls ask for her stories, which she tells wonderfully.
Bad news: Sara's father dies, and his money disappears. Angry Miss Minchin forces Sara to work as a servant, moving her to a cold, dark attic room.
Sara works hard, often hungry, but she imagines her room as a palace and herself a princess. Her servant friend Becky calls her princess, and Sara tells her stories.
An Indian man moves next door with a monkey. The monkey escapes to Sara's attic; she returns it, meeting his servant Ram Dass, who notices her poverty and loneliness.
One cold night, Sara wakes to a warm room with a fire, food, blankets, and books. She thinks it's magic. Every day brings new surprises, making her happy.
The Indian man searches for his friend's daughter, Sara Crewe, to give her money. His servant Ram Dass says he knows her.
The man tells Sara her father's money is safe, making her rich again. Miss Minchin tries to be friendly, but Sara stays kind and princess-like.
Sara moves in with the kind man, bringing Becky. She remains a princess at heart-kind, brave, and a storyteller.
Let's look at some useful words from the story. They will help you talk about people, places, and feelings.
Read the words and the example sentences. Try to use them in your own stories!
- princess: a daughter of a king, or a girl who is very special and kind. Example: Sara was a little princess in a beautiful dress.
- servant: a person who works in another person's house, doing cleaning or cooking. Example: Becky was a servant at the school.
- attic: a room at the very top of a house, under the roof. Example: Sara's new room was a cold attic.
- imagination: the ability to think of new ideas or make pictures in your mind. Example: Sara used her imagination to see her room as a palace.
The story of Sara Crewe happened in the past. To talk about the past, we use the simple past tense.
For regular verbs, add -ed (like 'smiled' from 'smile'). For irregular verbs, the word changes (like 'came' from 'come' or 'said' from 'say').
- Regular: She smiled and asked for a story. They liked her very much.
- Irregular: Her father said goodbye. The monkey ran to the attic. She met a kind man.
- Negative: Sara did not cry. Miss Minchin did not like children.
- Questions: Did Sara have a big hat? Did the other girls like her?
Sara stayed strong by using her imagination. In English, we have many phrases to talk about this.
You can talk about things that are not real but feel real to you. It's a wonderful way to tell stories or make difficult times better.
- Use your imagination: Close your eyes and use your imagination to see a beach.
- Pretend: Let's pretend we are flying to the moon!
- Make believe: The children played a make-believe game about a castle.
- Turn something into something else: With a little paint, you can turn a box into a car.
Sara shows us that being a princess is not about money-it's about being kind, brave, and full of stories. No one can take that away from you.
Now you can practice: retell a part of Sara's adventure in your own words, or tell a story about a time you used your imagination to change a bad day into a magical one.
A Little Princess comes from the English-American / Frances Hodgson Burnett tradition and is best known as a children's novel. This Yak Yacker article is an original learner retelling based on Frances Hodgson Burnett, 1905; public domain, so the wording here is simplified for modern learners rather than copied from one old edition.
Older printings, translations, and retellings of this story can vary quite a bit. The original audience was usually kids/general, but this version is adapted for A2 Elementary learners studying English. Good for school/class empathy themes.
If you want to look into the source tradition, start with Project Gutenberg.
If you want to keep going, browse more in our English section and review the A2 English Vocabulary List. After that, try English Root Words and Prefixes for another useful next step.
