This review also appears on my blog, Read-at-Home Mom.

When Tom's brother, Peter, contracts the measles and is placed in quarantine, Tom is sent to stay with his Aunt Gwen and Uncle Alan in a house owned by Mrs. Bartholomew. Mrs. Bartholomew also owns a grandfather clock, which, due to being rusted into the wall, remains on the lower level of the house even though her rooms are on the second floor. The clock never strikes the correct hour, and, Tom notices, in the middle of the night, it strikes a non-existent thirteenth hour. It is during this mysterious extra hour that Tom leaves his bed and wanders outside into a magnificent garden which is not there in the daytime. And it is in this garden that he meets Hatty, who is living at some point in the history of the house, and who can see Tom when others cannot. The two form a friendship which becomes important to both of them and remains so even as Hatty ages and outgrows Tom as a playmate.

I am starting to realize how heavily British my reading list is for this project. So far, I think only The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and Savvy are by American authors, and this is the fourth Carnegie Medal winner I have read so far. (The others are The Graveyard Book, The Little White Horse, and Skellig.) I used to have a really hard time getting into British books, even after successfully reading Harry Potter, and I have only recently been cured of this problem by watching EastEnders. So now that I feel I can handle the language, I guess I have some catching up to do in the world of British kids' books. In any case, like Little White Horse, Tom's Midnight Garden is another beautifully written story with which I have fallen completely in love.

I have always been intrigued by time travel and time slip books, so it was natural for me to gravitate toward this story, but whereas other books have tackled this concept from a very scientific standpoint, this book plays heavily to the emotions instead. This is a book about friendship between two people who love and admire each other despite the challenges presented by the confines of time and space. What begins as a story about a boy climbing trees in a mysterious garden no one else in his time knows about becomes something much greater: a commentary on growing up, a celebration of true friendship, and a life-changing experience for both Tom and Hatty. The ending, above all, is handled beautifully, showing Philippa Pearce's great command over the English language, and stirring up unexpected emotions in the reader.

Tom's Midnight Garden was adapted for film in 1999, and that film is infinitely better than the movie version of Little White Horse I mentioned a couple of weeks ago. There is a bit too much additional backstory tacked on at the start of the movie that does not appear in the book, and the screenwriter also added an unnecessarily cheesy ending that takes the reader beyond Pearce's stunning final moment, but everything between those two things is faithful to the book. Certainly read the book first, as there is nothing like it, but you need not avoid the movie, as it preserves the integrity of the story quite well.

I was not, as a rule, a huge fan of sad book when I was a child, but I remember both loving Tom's Midnight Garden and finding it heartbreaking. Sometimes I'm reluctant to reread something that gave me so much pleasure as a child, because I want to hold on to that initial experience. But the rereading was well worth it. It is a story about the power of memory, the relentless passage of time, and the fleeting but intense beauty of the world and childhood. One might think that these are not themes that would resonate for a child the way they do for an adult, but I found the story more mysterious and sadder as a child than I do now, while finding it just as compelling. Now I appreciate the story in a more articulate way, while having the added pleasure and poignancy of being able to remember the experience of being a child reading the book for the first time.

Such a sweet book. Tom’s adventures in the garden were beautiful and I love how the mystery tied together as the book went on. Getting to see the characters learn and grow was such a treat. I expected what happened with the ending but it was still touching and wonderful - almost more so than if I had I not seen it coming.

This was the first time my youngest sons (ages 8 & 6) had heard about time travel and they kept asking logistical questions. The only answer I could give—magic—didn’t satisfy!

*** Review available by request for those on my Friend list ***

Well simply, but utterly textually delightfully, Philippa Pearce's 1958 Carnegie Medal winning Tom’s Midnight Garden features a lonely and frustrated boy (the Tom of the book title) who periodically goes back in time. And whilst in the past, Tom meets and also befriends a young girl (Hatty) and participates in her life as she grows up. But since in Tom's Midnight Garden Philippa Pearce has time in the past moving considerably more quickly than it does in the present, Hatty is of course maturing much faster than Tom (who actually does not age at all in fact) and basically right before his eyes so to speak, and with Hatty as she moves way past Tom age wise at the end of Tom's Midnight Garden developing typical teenaged interests, including being courted by Barty, whom Hatty ends up marrying, but that this also causes the garden to fade and to finally cease to exist for Tom (kind of sad to a point perhaps, except that the elderly landlady Mrs. Bartholomew of the present is in fact the Hatty of the past and when she recognises Tom and he recognises her, they not only have a joyful and loving reunion, but Tom's Midnight Garden ends with both Tom and also his brother being invited by Hatty Bartholomew to visit again).

And just to point out that Tom's Midnight Garden starts out prosaically enough with Philippa Pearce having her main protagonist Tom being sent away from home to live with his aunt and uncle in a large and lonely, rather dismal Victorian house that has been converted into apartments (into flats) because his brother Peter has developed the measles and Tom must be isolated from him. Not being allowed outside of his aunt and uncle's flat just in case Tom might actually be contagious himself, he misses Peter and feels lonely and utterly miserable, that is, Tom feels lonely and miserable until he slips back in time and meets both Hatty and the magic Midnight Garden of the past (and which Tom visits on a regular basis, with both the garden and his friendship with Hatty making life interesting and more tolerable). A lovely and magical time-slip novel that I have absolutely adored reading is Tom's Midnight Garden (and one that I totally regret not having encountered as a young reader, for at the age when I was the intended audience, I would have simply accepted Philippa Pearce's text, her story as magical but also perhaps as potentially true, but that of course as an older adult reader I am considerably more jaded and am even with my utter textual enjoyment and delight asking myself all these internal and philosophical questions regarding the passage of time, ghosts, and that slipping back into time is of course and sadly impossible and just wish-fulfilment).

This was a surprising gem! I got it as a Christmas present and was sceptical as of the age and that I had never heard of it before, it was one of the least boring books I've ever read, in new books the story can drag and the writing can be very sketchy but this book is a prime example of an old book being thoroughly written and having a modern slant. I highly recommend this for yourself or the bookworm in your life.

My favorite book as a child. This book is responsible for my book addiction.

Or to "re-read"??? Did I read this as a kid??? I don't remember it, but the name and subject matter sound so familiar. In any case, I've been urged to read it soon! ;->

Kokia nuostabi ši Alma Littera knygų serija vaikams. Kadaise leistos, danbar naujai perleidžiamos klaiskos knygos džiugina su kiekviena nauja. Vienos istorijos kažkada skaitytos, kitas atrandu tik dabar, vienos patinka labiau, kitos mažiau, bet iš kaupiu ir saugau visas, su viltimi, kad mano vaikiukai jas skaitys ir mėgausis taip pat kaipn aš.

Istorija apie Tomo parką man girdėta nebuvo, tad su smalsumu kibau į knygą ir vienu ypu perskaičiau. Tomas, dvylikametis berniukas, keliauja pagyventi pas savo dėdę ir tetą, mat mažasis broliukas serga tymais. Ne su dideliu džiaugsmu jis ten keliauja, mat pas gimines tiesiog nėra kas veikti. Nei parko, kiemo, nei kitų vaikų - nieko. Tačiau smalsaus berniuko akį patraukia hole stovintis didžiulis laikrodis su švytuokle. Tomas netrunka išsiaiškinti, jog šis laikrodis yra lyg vartai į kitą pasaulį. Naktimis, laikrodžiui suskambus trylika kartų, Tomas atsiranda didžiuliame, žydinčiame parke, kuriame susipažįsta su Hete. Mergaitė mielai žaidžia su Tomu, dalinasi įdomiausiomis istorijomis, tačiau Tomui maga išsiaiškinti ir tiesą: kaip ir kur jis atsidūrė, ir kas išties yra Hetė?

Knyga įvertinta visame pasaulyje, gavusi ne vieną svarbų apdovanojimą, bet man „Tomo vidurnakčio parkas" netapo mėgstamiausia serijos knyga. Galbūt tikėjausi jautresnio pasakojimo ar bent kažkokio moralo, svaresnės pabaigos. Knyga patiks vaikams, mėgstantiems knygas apie keliones laiku, nuotykinius pasakojimus, nesudėtingas istorijas, kurias tikrai perskaitys kelis kartus prisėdę. Graži knygos kalba, puikus vertimas tikrai praturtins žodyną. Man asmeniškai šios knygų serijos favoritai yra „Smarkuolė Gilė Hopkins", „Gimęs bėgti", „Karo žirgas".

Muy lento, lo cual se agradece bastante viniendo de una colección juvenil. Y lo digo porque el ritmo le va perfectamente a la historia. Necesitas que el tiempo pase así para entender a Tom, y mucho más adelante, casi al final, darte cuenta del caminito de migas de pan que te ha dejado la autora hacia el desenlace. Una novela sobre la niñez, la amistad y lo que significa hacerse mayor. Me ha dejado como así :/c pensando, porque es bastante agridulce para tratarse de unas vacaciones en casa de tus tíos.

I have been trying to read children's fiction books like this because I think that it is not the time for me to read "heavy" books that are harder to read. I just think that I need to refrain from reading those kinds of books for a while because their darker themes are not really something I want to read about when I am stressed out from school.

So I decided to read this book. I think that it is a very delightful book. It is a good book to read when the days are getting wearisome. It is what people would call a light and easy read. But it is also a fun book because there are twists and turns that just make you want to read on. I definitely recommend this to anyone whether they are stressed out like me or not. The story of Tom and his midnight garden is a wonderful story that anyone will enjoy!