9/29/2011

The Secret Garden

I don't know how I managed to avoid The Secret Garden all these years. I recently picked it up and read it for the first time. I very much enjoyed this classic tale. It has themes of beauty, mystery, children and friendship.

Mary Lennox is an orphan child who is sent from India to live with a distant relative in England. She is a terribly spoiled child, but through the kindness of a servant the rough edges become smooth. Mary learns of a secret garden kept on the premises, locked up for the last 10 years. Eventually she finds the garden and the key for the hidden door. Tending the garden is the way she spends her time, hoping the dying plants can again become beautiful. Along the way, she meets friends Dickon and Colin and shares her "secret" with them. The three friends share in the work of the garden and in the end surprise everyone with what the garden becomes but also what they themselves have become in the process.

I know that movies have been made about The Secret Garden, which I have never seen. For the beauty of it in my mind could never be equaled!

I enjoyed the book and see why it's considered to be a timeless classic to be read by children everywhere!