Happy endings.

[rivka]

I'm reading A Little Princess to Alex right now. If you don't know the book, the rest of this post won't make any sense to you, but I feel compelled to post it anyway.

Apparently, at some point in the past I gave Alex a brief plot synopsis of the whole book so that she could decide whether or not it was too sad to read. It's the only thing that kept her going through today's chapter, "The Diamond Mines Again," in which Sara is orphaned and impoverished in one stroke.

She sniffled a little as she leaned against my side. Then she looked up at me trustingly. "Mom? When Sara's father's friends come to find her in the end, do they kill Miss Minchin?"

...It occurs to me that she may not feel that my promise of a happy ending holds up.

Comments

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

I like your daughter's version. A lot.

From now on, I am going to imagine that they kill Miss Minchin offstage.

[graceo.livejournal.com]

I like Alex's version too. I think Karl Marx would also have offered his approval.

[txanne.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah. That's my new headcanon.

[naomikritzer]

Well, she's humiliated and facing financial ruin (if Amelia is correct and everyone's going to pull their daughters out in the wake of this scandal)...which for her, is probably worse than a nice straightforward death.

[moobabe.livejournal.com]

Heh. That would be a happy ending.

[piqueen.livejournal.com]

That book made me cry everytime I read it well into adulthood. It's quite the saddest book I ever read as a child.

[papersky.livejournal.com]

They only use the flats of their blades, because she's not a worthy opponent. But the bit where Miss Minchin runs away screaming when the dragon burns down the school is my favourite part of the whole book!

I'm now very tempted to write Sara Crewe's exciting adventures in a fantasy kingdom, to fall between the chapters of the book as it exists.

I like The Secret Garden better, even if trying to diagnose Colin is problematic for an adult reader.

[shandra.livejournal.com]

A Little Warrior Princess. :)

[ratphooey.livejournal.com]

They totally should have killed her.

[moobabe.livejournal.com]

This! Right here!

[matthewwdaly.livejournal.com]

'I'm sorry,' my father said. 'I'll leave you alone," and he left me.
'Who gets Humperdink?' I screamed after him.
He stopped in the hall. 'I don't understand.'
'Who kills Prince Humperdink? At the end, somebody's got to get him. Is it Fezzik? Who?'
'Nobody kills him. He lives.'
'You mean he wins, Daddy? Jesus, what did you read me this thing for?" and I buried my head in my pillow and I never cried like that again, not once to this day. I could almost feel my heart emptying into my pillow.

[boxofdelights]

*trustingly* But they do make her understand what was wrong with what she did, don't they? Don't they?

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

*like*

[rivka.livejournal.com]

We read The Secret Garden a month or so ago. They've come out with an absolutely gorgeous illustrated version (http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Garden-Frances-Hodgson-Burnett/dp/0763647322/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1289708582&sr=1-4) - the garden pictures take over whole pages, winding in and out of the text.

A Little Princess was my very favorite book as a child. I've always been a sucker for the hurt/comfort paradigm. There's nothing like that moment when she wakes up in the attic and the Magic has been there.

[chargirlgenius.livejournal.com]

Oh yes. Mine too! And that very moment!

I'll just say that to the boys, the bad guy getting killed would *be* a happy ending. I'm starting to suspect that kids are bloodthirsty little critters...

[youraugustine.livejournal.com]

I am a complete and utter internet stranger who happened to come across this while looking for something else. However. I have to say it made my night, and my night needed some making.

So thank you for sharing it. :)

[dormouse-in-tea.livejournal.com]

and youraugustine pointed it to me, and this is now my favorite thing about today. <3

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Hee! Glad to hear that the search gods brought you to the right place.

[ewein2412]

HAH! girl with excellent plot sense! you've trained her well.

Hilary McKay, my absolutely favorite contemporary YA author, recently published a "sequel" to A Little Princess called Wishing for Tomorrow. It's not McKay's greatest book--nor what I'd envision as the sequel if I wrote it myself--but it's a fun read.