The "little princess" in this story, Sara, is so kind, sweet, and good that she boarders on being a Stepford Child; nonetheless, this was a nice story and the characters of Sara, Becky, and Ermengarde were well drawn, while the others although not fully fleshed out, where done well enough given their small involvement in the book. If I'd read this as a child I would have loved it. ( )

Growing up I would love to read this book over and over again to myself before bed. Reading it again at age 21, I still enjoyed the plot but obviously the writing is less complex and enticing as I remember. Overall, I still enjoyed the story, due to the timeless characters and beautiful illustrations. I couldn't help but think of my childhood self as the main little girl, Sara, imagined stories and pretended she was a princess (despite her barren atmosphere).

The illustrations helped add to the simple, child-oriented text, as it depicted the historic time period of girls wearing big dresses and huddling by the fireplace for warmth. The light watercolors filled the page with an appealing aura that added depth to the easy-to-read wording. The message of Sara's adventures was to stay humble no matter what fortunes or hardships come your way. Even when she had all the riches in the world she stayed true to who she was. ( )