The Secret Garden

The Secret Garden
by Frances Hodgson Burnett
384 pages

This book is about a young girl named Mary who is sent to live with her Uncle. Her Uncle is always gone though. Mary’s servant, Martha, encourages her to go outside and play. Mary ends up finding a secret garden and decides to bring it back to life. She asks Dickon to help her does this. One night she is in her room getting ready for bed and she hears someone crying down the hall and decides to find out who it is. It is her cousin Collin. He stays in bed all the time because he believes he is dying. Mary assures him he is not dying and invites him to join her and Dickon in the garden. By being outside, Collin grows stronger and healthier and so does the secret garden. Collin decides to surprise his father with the garden and his improving health. The Uncle had been depressed so many years because his wife died when Collin was a baby. The garden had become a secret because that is where his wife liked to spend her time and he could not think of going there because it made him miss her so much. Luckily when the Uncle sees the beautiful garden and his healthy son, he becomes happy again.

Personal Rating- 5

This book is a classic. I liked it so well because Mary learned how to be a nicer person. She also was able to make good friends: Martha, Dickon, and Collin. Collin was able to grow healthy and strong. This is just a positive book and has a happy outlook on everything. This is a good book for early readers because the print is big and has several pages. A student will feel like he or she is able to read a really difficult book!