Little Lord Fauntleroy (original 1886; edition 2006)

Today I picked up a very cheap copy at a book stall. I didn't mean to go and re-read it right now, but it seems I'm doing it =) Not as good as I remembered, but still not bad. ( )

Little Lord Fauntleroy is a set book for my children's lit course, I think. It's the second book I've read by Frances Hodgson Burnett -- although I own A Little Princess too, and plan to read it soon. They all seem to start the same way, describing the child and then having a sudden change in circumstances, especially location (e.g. India to Yorkshire, America to , usually due to the death of a parent. In The Secret Garden and Little Lord Fauntleroy, there is some kind of amazing change in circumstance due to love or friendship -- in The Secret Garden, both Mary and Colin are changed, as well as Colin's father; in Little Lord Fauntleroy, the old Earl is changed while Little Lord Fauntleroy himself stays more or less the same throughout.

I'm sure I would have liked it more when I was younger. I suspect when I go back to The Secret Garden, I'll still find some of the old magic in it. But I'm a little too grown up and cynical for the simplicity of the journey through this book. It's interesting, though, to think about what kind of children's book it is, what kind of things the author had in mind. Sentimentality, evidently, and a story that can interest a child in it, but still moralising throughout -- it's not as overt as some books for children, but it's there. "Literature should improve your mind" kinda thinking. ( )

The third son of the Earl of Dorincourt, Cedric Errol, is disowned by his widower father because he marries an American. The couple have a child; Cedric Sr. dies in an influenza epidemic; both of the Earl’s older sons die – and, guess what? – the American boy Cedric inherits the title. His grandfather has him brought to England to groom him for the position.

Cedric is a paragon of beauty and virtue but, even though I tried, I couldn’t dislike him. “He was always lovable because he was simple and loving. To be so is like being born a king.”

What a wonderful children’s story this is – and I’m so very sorry that I missed it a s a child. 4½ stars

Read this if: you have a child to share it with (oh, do introduce him or her to Cedric!); you’d like a child’s view of the world of Downton Abbey; or if you value classics. ( )

What an immense delight! ( )

Cedric is everything I hate about precocious children in literature.