The Secret Garden
by Frances Hodgson Burnett
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Book Summary Information
Author: Frances Hodgson BurnettBrand: Candlewick Press
Afterword: Sandra M. Gilbert
Edition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2003-07-01
ISBN: 0451528832
Number of pages: 288
Publisher: Signet Classics
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780451528834
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of The Secret Garden
Book Review: If you must get this book, get the one with the Tasha Tudor illustrations
Summary: 3 Stars
I tried to attach this review to an edition of this book with Tasha Tudor's illustrations, but unfortunately my review somehow ended up in a group of reviews of the DVD of one of the movie adaptations through some glitch. Therefore, I'm reposting my review here so it will actually attach to the book it is meant for.
I note that this "Centennial Edition" and most of the other editions of this book currently being sold don't contain Tasha Tudor's illustrations. I am a huge fan of Tasha Tudor's lovely illustrations for both "The Secret Garden" and "A Little Princess". To me, the Tudor editions are really the classic evocations of these books, and it's even a bit irksome to see editions with other illustrations when there are so many other wonderful stories for those talented folks to work on. Therefore, if you're going to buy an edition of "The Secret Garden," I'd say the Tudor-illustrated edition, preferably in hardback with the lovely dust jacket, is the one to get.
Having said that, I'll admit I have had mixed feelings about this story both as a child and as an adult. In a nutshell, it's the story of a spoiled, ill-mannered little British girl named Mary who is being raised in India in late Victorian times. After her entire family dies in an epidemic, Mary is shipped off to live in a remote castle-mansion in the English countryside, where the climate (cold) and the accents (such as that of the Scottish maid) are foreign to her, and no one pays any attention to her. Exploring on her own, Mary discovers a "secret" walled garden and works to restore it with the help of a gardener and a local country boy named Dickon, who tames animals as well as being a whiz with growing things. Mary also discovers she has an "invalid" cousin, Colin, around her own age, who sequesters himself in his bedroom. Colin and Mary both have disagreeable personalities at the beginning because they've been ignored and neglected by the adults in their lives, but as time goes by and they spend more time outdoors in the garden, playing with animals and the like, they help each other develop into nicer and more physically healthy children.
If this sounds like a very old-fashioned Victorian story, it more or less is. Each time I've tried to read it (several times from about age 12, when a popular movie version was out, up through adulthood) I find the beginning pretty exciting, what with Mary suddenly losing her family and being shipped off to a strange place, but then it bogs down in the middle. The kids never do much except mess around in the countryside and think introspective thoughts; there are no big "adventures" to speak of. Unlike "A Little Princess," you don't have the hero/ heroine vs. evil villains plot aspect; it's basically a book about some children fighting the demons in themselves. The neglectful adults, such as Mary's uncle, are not particularly demonized nor are they abusive; one gets the impression that they just don't quite know how to handle raising the kids, which again is very Victorian given that the raising of children was often handed off to nannies or servants.
I am sure there are children and adults who would just love this book, especially all the descriptions of cute animal tricks and flowers coming to life, as well as the whole "children thoughtfully overcoming the mistakes of adults in their lives" theme, but I am equally sure there are folks who, like me, would prefer a story with a little more going on in it, such as "A Little Princess" (or even something wackier like "Alice in Wonderland"). The idea that kids who are physically or perhaps mentally/spiritually ill to some degree just need to run around in the sunshine and have pleasant manners and it all goes away is also a bit disturbing. Despite the nice illustrations (in the Tudor edition; can't speak to these centennial-edition pictures by someone else) and the charming animal antics, it's just not my type of book.
Summary of The Secret Garden
This timeless classic is a poignant tale of Mary, a lonely orphaned girl sent to a Yorkshire mansion at the edge of a vast lonely moor. At first, she is frightened by this gloomy place until she meets a local boy, Dickon, who's earned the trust of the moor's wild animals, the invalid Colin, an unhappy boy terrified of life, and a mysterious, abandoned garden...
Mistress Mary is quite contrary until she helps her garden grow. Along the way, she manages to cure her sickly cousin Colin, who is every bit as imperious as she. These two are sullen little peas in a pod, closed up in a gloomy old manor on the Yorkshire moors of England, until a locked-up garden captures their imaginations and puts the blush of a wild rose in their cheeks; "It was the sweetest, most mysterious-looking place any one could imagine. The high walls which shut it in were covered with the leafless stems of roses which were so thick, that they matted together.... 'No wonder it is still,' Mary whispered. 'I am the first person who has spoken here for ten years.'" As new life sprouts from the earth, Mary and Colin's sour natures begin to sweeten. For anyone who has ever felt afraid to live and love, The Secret Garden's portrayal of reawakening spirits will thrill and rejuvenate. Frances Hodgson Burnett creates characters so strong and distinct, young readers continue to identify with them even 85 years after they were conceived. (Ages 9 to 12)
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