This was pure comfort to me. I didn't read this as a child so it shouldn't feel nostalgic, but listening to the audiobook (narrated by Elizabeth Klett, who does a wonderful job) made me feel just that. I feel so maternal towards Sara 😅 I love that her kindness is a conscious thing; she becomes angry and hopeless but chooses to be kind anyway. And I love her all the more for those rare moments when she let her composure slip! I understand that the racist and classist undertones were a product of the times, but they were still jarring, so just be aware before going in.

All that talk about Indian servants and slaves and the diamond mines... And then there's Becky. She gets nothing but a share of dinner while Sara is drowning in gifts (when they both suffered from child labor!), and then stays a servant at the end despite Sara inheriting more money than she could ever use.... Haha. Well.

The racism is the biggest ugh of it for me, followed by the classism.
 

I like Sara as a character, she is genuin kind, but also a little weird in the way of a child that grew up without peers of equal footing, and I like how it shows that kindness is something you have to chose and that sometimes its hard. I do not like the way everyone else is made to be lesser so she can shine, I cried for the other girls, and Saras story is sad, but it has this, this is wrong cause it happens to her a rich person, the happy end literally has Becky becoming her servent instead. 

 

This is one of my all time favorite books that I've reread a dozen times since I was ten. In my opinion, it tells the Cinderella story that girls should know - about hope, family, perseverance and the power of kindness. It doesn't end with marriage, the "evil stepmother" is just a head mistress jealous of Sara's knowledge of French and gentle likeability, and the "fairy godmother" trope we've come to be familiar with is actually just an old Indian gentleman with a soft heart. 

Some argue that this book has older themes, but while that's true, it also features moments unable to be timestamped. The turning point in this book, where Sara is starving and trying to survive by making up a world where she's safe and comfortable and then finds a fourpenny - she has a choice, and she makes the choice of a giver, a choice that weighs more on her than keeping the wealth would. The next chapters however, directly following after the event, seem to reinforce that doing good will result in good - and that is how the most magical chapter is reinforced. It's not just Sara's disbelief that makes it magical, but we've seen multiple times that she's consistently done good and she deserves warmth, food, and security. The idea and the reminder that good will be rewarded not only is a trope I love, but an important thing to remember even when we are facing challenges just like Sara.

This story has stayed with me since I was a little girl, and each time I read it, I relive some of its magic. No matter how old I become, Sara Crewe has always inspired me and I will reach for this book a thousand times more.