I haven't seen the lovely woman who suggested this book since I was in high school and I wouldn't be surprised if I never see her again. Through the beauty of Facebook, however, we have become reacquainted and I was beyond pleased that she decided to offer me a recommendation. This is a light read as it is a children's book (my daughter was thrilled I was reading it and highly recommended it), but it is a good one.
#58 – The Secret
Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett
Recommended by: AC
Recommended by: AC
When Mary Lennox was sent to
Misselthwaite Manor to live with her uncle everybody said she was the most
disagreeable-looking child ever seen.
This book is about a pair of children who discover a secret
garden and it rejuvenates them completely. I read this for the first time when
I was a child and was entranced by the idea of the garden. I found the children
to be amusing, and I really rooted for them to fool all the adults and enjoy
their garden. As an adult, I was actually horrified at the flat-out child abuse
and negligence, let alone medical malpractice of the highest multitude! The
kids are fed regularly, but beyond that, they are utterly ignored. It is
criminal. The boy spends his entire life believing he is crippled when he isn’t.
The girl is taught nothing because no one cares enough about her to bother.
Yes, sure, the garden sounds lovely and the kids mental, physical, and
emotional growth is quite nice, but maybe if someone had ever taken more than a
moment of time with these kids, they wouldn’t have been such beasts to begin
with.
(A side note – I actually love the musical that came out of
this book. Looking it up for this blog, I was shocked to discover that the
actor who originated Dickon is the very same actor who went on to create
Hedwig. That’s quite a career path!)
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