Racketty-Packetty House and Other Stories

Book excerpt: In addition to Little Lord Fauntleroy, The Secret Garden, A Little Princess, and other beloved classics of childhood, Frances Hodgson Burnett created a delightful legacy of short stories for children. This volume includes six of the best of these tales. "Racketty-Packetty House," the centerpiece of the collection, is a touching tale of a once-elegant dollhouse and its shabby inhabitants, happy creatures who love to dance. But the little girl who owns the dolls is tired of them, much preferring her new Tidy Castle dollhouse with its haughty, upperclass dolls, and her nurse wants to burn the Racketty-Packetty House. Children will love finding out what happens to the old house and its ragtag occupants. Also included here are "Behind the White Brick," a Lewis Carroll–like fantasy of a hidden world behind a chimney's brickwork; "The Story of Prince Fairyfoot," a fairy tale about a young man of royalty who, because of his tiny feet, is rejected by his parents; "Sara Crewe," an early version of A Little Princess; as well as "Little Saint Elizabeth" and The Proud Little Grain of Wheat." Heartwarming and instructive, these charming stories ― reprinted here complete and unabridged ― will enthrall anyone with a love of make-believe. They are sure to delight today's youngsters as much as they entertained children generations ago.