The Secret Garden Review

 This review is going to be looking at The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnet. The book follows a little girl named Mary from Britain who was raised in India by her parents, yet when they die, she is forced to go with the only relative who they could find. Mr. Craven is an old man who keeps a huge mansion with impressive grounds and she is free to do whatever she pleases, but she does not know how to go about this. 

Mary is used to being spoiled and taken care of to the point where she does not know how to dress herself. The few servants in the mansion were not able to take her requests seriously and help her the way she wanted them to. Mary in the beginning of the book sort of reminds me of Briony from Atonement, in terms of her attitude. Briony is also a selfish, spoiled brat. 

Yet, throughout the book Mary learns to become a better person, a kinder person, caring, and overall enjoying her new life at the mansion better than she ever imagined. She makes friends with two boys, one being Mr. Craven's son, named Colin, and one being a boy from nearby, named Dicken. These boys help her explore and become this better person.

I like that she becomes better, she grows with her situation. Some characters don't get better in stories, they remain awful, but she gets better. Also there is the whole bit of the garden!

The garden is a symbol of growth and exploration, of rebuilding herself and embracing her new situations. I like the garden, though, the idea of this secret paradise being an escape where the friends can get together and do something they're all passionate out for one reason or another.

The garden for Colin is also an attachment to his mother, and a place where he can build his health back up and become stronger and happier with himself, sort of like Mary. 

Overall, I like this book. There's not a huge amount of action or adventure like some of the other novels I have reviewed, but it's a good and sweet book. I read it for my Children's Literature class for school and I would suggest reading this with your kids if you're looking for good clean entertainment for them. I would suggest this book for someone ages 8-11 maybe. There's also movie versions of this book (one of which is available on Prime Video). This book is widely available and even some places for free. 

Read and Enjoy!