> Frances Hodgson Burnett was born in Manchester, England in 1849 as Frances Eliza Hodgson. She would go on to become a beloved author of children's literature (over the course of her life, she would write over forty books), with her most well known works being Little Lord Fauntleroy, A Little Princess and The Secret Garden.

> The family would fall on hard times following the death of her father in 1853. Her mother would take over the family business in order to keep the family's income coming in, and the recurring theme of a family losing their primary income would become a mainstay in Burnett's writings (many of her stories revolve around "rags to riches" or "riches to rags" plotlines).

> In 1865, the family moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, and it was during this time that Burnett began to write as a way to supplement the family income.

> In 1873, she married Swan Burnett and lived in Paris for a few years before coming back to the US to settle in Washington, DC. It was there that she began to focus on writing novels, publishing The Lass o'Lowries in 1877.

> The book that truly launched her as a popular children's novelist was Little Lord Fauntleroy. It was first published in serialized form in the St. Nicholas (a children's magazine) before coming out in book form in 1886. Serialization was a common practice for publishing stories during the Victorian era, in which stories would be published in parts (similar to how television breaks up a story into episodes and seasons). Prolific authors from this period, such as Charles Dickens, Alexandre Dumas and Wilkie Collins, all published in this way.

> A Little Princess was first published as a serialized novella under the title Sara Crewe or What Happened at Miss Minchin's; Burnett would then translate the book into a play before rewriting the story into the title it's known by today. Both version are still in print, though the revised novel is far more famous.

> Aside from the Shirley Temple version, the novel has been filmed 5 times with the first version coming out in 1917 and starring Mary Pickford. The story has also been adapted into plays, musicals and television series.