“And the secret garden bloomed and bloomed and every morning revealed new miracles.”



A beautiful classic filled with magic, faith, friendship and the power of positive thinking! I adored this book from the moment I set my eyes on it. Even though I already knew the plot almost by heart (I watched the movie thousands of times as a kid, and I probably read the book too even though I can't be sure) I enjoyed every single page of this heart-warming tale.



I did not expect this novel to be so deep and beautiful: the more I read for my "Classic of the Month" series, the more I wonder why I don't read more classics, since I seem to adore every single one of them. Everything in this book felt right, the ending was so deep and wholesome, I absolutely have no complains about it! It is true that the mystery (mysteries) gets revealed quite early in the story, and so part of the magic of it goes away from that moment; but the rest of the plot is just as sweet and interesting as the mysterious beginning. Watching little Mary and the other children grow from disagreeable little creatures to healthy, strong boys and girls was just heart-warming. This is what I sign up for when I read a children's classic! Five shiny stars :)

This is a beautiful children's book which somehow, I've missed reading as a child. It is very unfortunate, for I would have been really enchanted by it. The book brought back my childhood memories. My childhood home had a large garden with lots of roses. My mother tended them and I used to help her. When I was a little older (younger than Mary Lennox in Secret Garden), I wanted my own thatch, so I got a nice square corner at one end of the garden with my own tiny garden toolset. Reading the book was really a nostalgic journey.

The story of The Secret Garden is an inspirational one for the children. It tells you how two disagreeable children become lovable, pleasant, and healthy. How does this happen? By the magic of course! - The magic of the garden, the magic of nature. We all know the healing power of nature. It is the best medicine for all our ailments. It soothes and cures our soul, and through the soul, the body, the way it did for Mary “quite contrary” and Colin the “invalid”.

The story is well written that I could picture almost all the characters - Mary, Colin, Dickon (oh I loved him) Mrs. Sowerby, and Captain, Soot, Nut and Shell, and all the troupe of Dickon. And the best and the biggest and the most important character is the secret garden itself. I really enjoyed the author's descriptive accounts of the garden and the Yorkshire moorland. It was so refreshing. I could almost swear that I breathed the same fresh air which Mary, Colin, and Dickon breathed, all through the read.

This is the second book I've read of Burnett, first being A Little Princess , which was a childhood favorite of mine. I really like the way she tells her stories. It is bewitching. I didn't really think I would enjoy a children's story this much in my mature years, but it was impossible not to enjoy it. Her writing is so good. She is one of the best children story writers. There is not an atom of doubt there.

The Secret Garden was not on my reading list as a child so reading it for the first time as an adult was quite fun! It is a classic story that introduces an extremely disagreeable, ill-tempered orphan and demonstrates how the beauty and magic of nature and the power of thinking positively can do much to transform and heal. Themes of transformation and renewal on many levels are explored within the characters and the landscape. The Yorkshire moor emanates a mystical presence and helps to set the mood for the magical scenes. The children are the focus of this story and they learn many valuable lessons such as the value of friendship, the beauty and healing in nature and the outdoors, the importance of hard work, and the power in transformation of body and mind.

Beautiful

Un libro infantil/juvenil con su moraleja y buenas enseñanzas de lectura agradable, que te hace sentir relajada y con final feliz. Para pasar un rato.

Hasta que punto nuestra actitud y forma de ver las cosas actúa como lastre impidiéndonos progresar. Hace falta un cierto equilibrio entre el cuerpo y el alma y estar en comunión con la naturaleza.

Por cierto, hay varias ediciones. Me han comentado (y me han enseñado algún párrafo) de la edición de Siruela, donde no todos los personajes utilizan el mismo lenguaje e incluso se adapta su forma de hablar en función de a quien se dirijan. En mi caso leí otra edición y me ha parecido un poco "plano". Por tanto, si puedes lee la edición de Siruela.

Valoración: 5/10 (de mi edición)
Lectura: noviembre 2020

No me ha aportado mucho, pero por la sensación de relax y el final feel good, le pondré 3 estrellas.

Jeden z moich ulubionych klasyków. Bardzo lubię wracać do tej historii, kiedy w powietrzu już czuć wiosnę.

Love love love
Also: counting this as my first BookTubeAThon read even if I read only 2 pages during the actual readathon, I NEED ALL THE BOOKS I CAN GET

The feels. The negative emotions. The friendship. The cousins. The good and the ill feeling adult characters. The hopeful vibes. The celebration of nature.

I tried picking up this book a few times before but I simply didn’t want to dislike it. So I gave it time, no matter how long it may be as I was determined not to DNF or hate it.

The issue was that I couldn’t stand how the book started with all the negative comments on Indians and their way of living. Some expressions do not sit well with me as I feel they aren’t ideal or fit for the reading age group.

As with her books, some adult characters are real douchbags, selfish and mean for the sake of it.

Many would consider parts of the writing to be racist, sexist and manipulative. Well, the only excuse I may give is that the book was written a long time ago. I will recommend it just for the growth of our main character and one other important child character who has the most impact I say when I read this book.

Not all clouds give us storm and thunder. Likewise, not all the bad parts in the first half continue to be the same in the later half. Things changed for good for our young orphan. She meets a young boy and they share a bond so pure and simple. The title makes a lot of difference when it comes to this second character.

I love the second half so much but I had to go through the rough first part to get the most out of the book.

Is it worth the hype?

Definitely. I would say things start rough and bad, hateful comments, idle adult characters but then everything changes for good when the book ends.

I never read this book as a child. It is a great story with the children saving the adults. Mary is an interesting character. Her parents essentially abandon her while living in India and living a hedonistic lifestyle. They suddenly die and the spoilt Mary is sent to live at her Uncle Cravens Misselthwaite House in Yorkshire on the moors.

Mary is a selfish spoilt child. At the house she discovers a secret enclosed garden where she begins a journey of self discovery with Dickon and later her hypochondriac cousin Colin. The secret garden and its magic cures the children and also saves Colins father.

The plotting of the story is excellent with mysteries being solved and the redemption of the children through unselfish acts. It was odd how in the final part of the book Mary’s part nearly disappeared and was superseded by Colin. Overall a great story for children.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Opinião em :https://youtu.be/6aSeML-rFTk maravilhoso, encontrei este livro por acaso na primeira ida à biblioteca, após anos e anos de afastamento. A minha conexão com a capa e título do livro foi imediata.
A história prendeu me do início ao fim, personagens fofas e o pormenor das suas características contribuíram para que me agarra se a história.
Mary é a protagonista, uma criança fruto de uma gravidez indesejada, repugnada pela mãe, indiferente para o pai, esta criança vai desenvolver características que a tornam curiosa e destemida.
Aos dez 10 fica órfã de pai e mãe, vai ser entregue à um tio que vive na Inglaterra, deixando para trás uma Índia de diferentes costumes e sabores, no entanto são as histórias que recorda que vão contribuir para criar laços com as novas pessoas com quem vai lidar na nova etapa.
Este livro conta nos as aventuras que vai viver e como ela vai transformar uma nova família que também não é feliz, Mary vai trazer luz, esperanças e sorrisos....
Mais não conto, recomendo mesmo este livro.

I wondered why I never read this book as a child; now I am very glad I didn't. Exposing children, especially ill or unattractive ones, to this dreck would constitute abuse. It is pure religious propaganda, thinly disguised as a magical tale for children.

I began reading it knowing very little about it -- in other words with an open mind. The trouble is as I progressed, my brain threatened to fall out. It began charmingly. It reminded me of The Chronicles of Narnia, which I still love though I am no longer a believer. But as it descended into silliness and then stupidity, I became increasingly annoyed.

What would a child learn from this book? Where to begin. If you are ugly, sick, bad-tempered, and nasty, you can become beautiful, healthy, happy, and nice, and all it takes is the fresh clean air of the Yorkshire moors and the companionship of people of an inferior class (as long as they are white and very, very clean). Bad thoughts made you sick, and good thoughts, brought about by the aforementioned conditions, will make you well. (Conversely, if you don't get well, it's your own fault and you're gonna die, 'cause dontcha know they hadn’t discovered the germ theory of disease in 1910?)

And there's Magic! Magic (or "The Big Good Thing") explains everything we don't understand, including the rising and setting of the sun and how plants grow. I am not making this up – the book was published in 1910, but this author simply ignores all scientific discoveries. And yet, she has these children with no formal schooling performing what they call "scientific experiments." Who needs to read books and learn about science when there's Magic?

There is also racism: Mistress Mary says Indians ("blacks") aren't people and no character in the book contradicts her. This seems perfectly acceptable, or at least explicable, to reviewers, too.

If you believe this book, ten-year-old children are likely to found their own church, complete with worship, prayer, and hymns, all without adult guidance. Adult characters are bumbling idiots, but children, with the help of Nature, are very wise. The only adult who is an exception to this is Susan, but she appears to be a goddess or perhaps the almost virginal Mother of God (and her son Dickon is a Jesus metaphor, or maybe an angel or Saint Francis).

I think today's "intelligent design" proponents probably read this book as children. It could help explain their apparent inability to think critically.

This is the Last Book You Will Ever Need to Read

Imagine, a children's book that discourages reading! Mary, the heroine, is bored and restless and needs to be reminded that she can read by an illiterate servant who tells her that there are books in the house. Later she and Colin (who can also read) find the books, but they just look at the pictures! I find it astonishing that an author would place so little value on reading and learning that she would convey that in a children’s book. I suppose the only other books she thought a child would need to read were the Bible and Mary Baker Eddy's book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. Her message is "There's so much wisdom in Magic, or The Big Good Thing, that it is all the education you need! Why, you can even do scientific experiments! Who needs what science has to tell us when we have The Big Good Thing? Whatever you ask, it will give it to you."

This is new-age metaphysical drivel, but make no mistake, it's grounded in Christian theology. I did some research and discovered the author, Frances Hodgson Burnett, was inspired (brainwashed?) by Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science (and one serious fruitcake judging from Wikipedia).

I think "The Secret" is based on the same baloney. That's an idea promoted by one Rhonda Byrne (she was on "Oprah," a show I am happy to say I have never watched). The concepts are remarkably similar. To me, the idea of the "law of attraction" -- that our thoughts and feelings send a frequency out to the universe that comes back to us in the same frequency -- so we can somehow manipulate reality -- is incredibly arrogant. It makes us "god" in a way, doesn't it? And it's even more damaging than the concept of the power of prayer. At least with prayer, when your wishes don't come true you have the "mysterious way" of god to fall back on. With the law of attraction, you have only yourself to blame when things go wrong. I wish someone who believes that would explain natural (and unnatural) disasters. For instance, the crowds who were bombed at the Boston marathon this year must have been spewing enormous amounts of negativity to bring that about. Anyone care to volunteer to suggest that to the victims?

Watch this video by The Skeptics Society for a lighter look at "The Secret Law of Attraction" http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=Nf3Blm...

Je wil Mary Lennox liever niet te lang in huis. Ze is tien, uiterst arrogant en op z’n zachtst gezegd humeurig. Omdat je met haar situatie te doen hebt — ze is in India haar ouders verloren, breng je het wel op om voor haar te zorgen, maar een heel warm hart draag je haar aanvankelijk niet toe.

Mary wordt naar Engeland gestuurd en in het grote landhuis van haar oom ondergebracht. Heel gezellig is het er niet: er wordt geheimzinnig gedaan over de vele kamers die op slot zitten, over gehuil in de nacht, en over een ommuurde tuin waar sinds het overlijden van Mary’s lieve tante niemand meer is geweest.

Maar dan vindt Mary per toeval de sleutel van die paradijselijke tuin en komt ze te weten wie er huilt in de nacht. Ze verandert gaandeweg in het meisje dat je niet in haar had vermoed: een kind dat je voor altijd en op elk moment in huis zou willen hebben.

‘Wat een mirakels mooie middag,’ zegt Dickon, het broertje van het dienstmeisje, met wie Mary bevriend raakt. ‘Nu ben ik toch bijna dertien jaar en er zitten in dertien jaar heel wat middagen, zou ik zo zeggen, maar ik heb nog nooit zo’n mirakels mooie middag beleefd als vandaag.’

Onder anderen door Dickon leert Mary de schoonheid te zien. De ‘magie’, noemen ze het zelf. Om het goede gevoel en de magie ging het Frances Hodgson Burnett 109 jaar geleden. In het boek wordt het ook letterlijk gezegd: met positieve gedachten kun je verdriet en eenzaamheid en pijn laten verdwijnen.

Deze nieuwe vertaling van Imme Dros frist de klassieker uit 1911 helemaal op. Ondanks een moralistisch vingertje hier en daar is het een geweldige aanrader voor lezers van nu. (Bijvoorbeeld als je ‘Lampje’ van Annet Schaap gretig gelezen hebt.)