A magical story, I feel its a wonderful world of the imagination of a child which when we grow up we do lose part of that.

I love the character of Tom and Hatty, it took me a while to realise it was different era's he was visiting her in.


I have a theory - as the flat was quite dull whilst awake, that maybe be invented this world at bed time with the grandfather clock.

Love the idea of stepping outside into a different time/world.

This children's classic - one of the most beloved Carnegie Medal winners of all time - will probably be my last read of 2017. I read it, finally, because Penelope Lively praised it so highly in her recent gardening memoir Life in the Garden. Lively considers it to be far superior to The Secret Garden, that other wonderful children's classic set in a garden. I don't know that I agree with her, but I will acknowledge that I fell in love with Burnett's novel as a child - and I think that can really make a difference. But part of what she objected to is the fact that the idea of a garden as a place for healing is too 'obviously loaded with meaning' in The Secret Garden. Although I don't agree with Lively on this point, I do like what she has to say about this book:

"But, above all, it is a narrative of great elegance, simply told, and leaving you with insights into the nature of time, and memory." (Penelope Lively)

There is a time-travel aspect to the storyline, but the 1950s setting of Tom will feel nearly as 'historical' to contemporary readers as the 1890s setting of Hatty. It does capture something very universal, though, about children's play, about imagination, about growing up, and about the mysteries of time.

Philip Pullman claims that 'the ending is the best in all children's fiction' and I have to agree that it is wholly satisfying - both because it ties up all of the thematic threads in an emotionally satisfying way and because it is a delightful surprise.

spoilers follow. but what is a spoiler? a component revealed. is that component reflective of the whole? is that component the heart of the book or is it just another part of its body? is it a totem that represents the book's secret meaning?

the boy goes back in time to visit the girl. into the garden he goes, the changing garden. he feels safe and free in this garden. "there is a safe house at every dream level, which gets populated with the innermost thoughts and secrets of the Subject." he meets the girl in the garden. the girl shows him the clock. the girl will wind the clock. the old woman has wound the clock. "Totems are objects used by the characters to test if they were in the real world or a dream, and they all had specially modified qualities which made them very personal." the old woman dreams. the boy dreams. the brother dreams. they all dream together. you dream, I dream, we all dream together. "...a.k.a. unconstructed dream space existing within untouched subconscious..." the clock strikes the hour. the boy hears the clock and goes through the door, into the midnight garden. there he will meet the girl, again and again. the boy moves forward in time to finally meet the girl, at long last, as they have met many times before. "Inception is the act of inserting an idea in a person's mind which will bloom in a way making the Subject think it was their idea." the girl is an old woman; the boy is a boy. they hug, for the first time, their dreams a reality. a happy ending and beginning are achieved.

Life is but a dream
And I dream of you
Strange as it seems
All night I see you

n  n

* all quotes are from various articles about the film Inception *

“Nothing stands still, except in our memory.”

I did not expect to like this book as much as I did. I expected an easy, children novel (which it was), but it was also so much more than that. The wonderful characters and haunting story will stay with me long after I finished reading this book.

It was a perfect novel to end 2019's reading.

This book was a mashup between Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland .. and it was enjoyable to read
The story is about Tom who is a 12 years old boy and his family decides to make him live with his Aunt so he don't get sick from his brother .. there he discovers a secret garden that nobody else can access excpet for him at midnight, and he meets Hatty who is a little girl but she grows up at they play together but Tom never grows up !! whats happening ? why is the garden here ?
I would like to thank my friend Abdulla who recommended me this book and I really enjoyed it .. it was short and sweet and the ending was satisfying too ..

This is quite clearly a children’s book. Not young adults. Children. But I knew this before I read it and still wanted to read it, not having read it as a child myself, even though it was written when I was only 3, and even though it has been described as “one of the best-loved children’s books ever written”.

The clock strikes 13, time stops, and Tom slips out into the magical garden that doesn’t exist in “normal” time, striking up a deep and lasting friendship with Hatty who Tom finds there every time he visits.

That is the magical background of this enchanting tale. A tale filled with adventure, deep relationship and mystery. And a tale with a deeply satisfying, if perhaps predictable (well, I AM an adult) ending.

Definitely recommended for all children everywhere! And definitely recommended for all adults who, like me, are not ashamed to be childlike!

3.5 stars

I enjoyed this, but oh! how I wish I could have read this when I was 10 years old.

It's a lovely story of a young boy (Tom) who is sent off to stay with relatives because his younger brother has come down with the measles. Tom is not happy about this! (We are never given Tom's age, but I'm thinking he is 9 or 10 and younger brother Pete is 7 or 8).
Alas, Tom's aunt and uncle live in a flat and they have no children. Nor does anyone else in building.
How's a boy to find anyone to do stuff with?
I liked the clever way Tom's dilemma is solved. The story that unfolds is full of adventure and fun.
I liked Tom and the mysterious Hatty.

The book was written in the 1950s, with the story being set in that same time. For today's children it will all seem very strange; this reader found herself nodding in recognition.

Pearce left me with mixed feelings throughout my reading of her book. It is without a doubt that her rich language has created a magical, vivid world- one that all children would want to be a part of. It is this language that makes it all the more heartbreaking when Tom has to leave this world, live in the present and move on with his life.
Another positive to the text is the philosophical questions that Pearce evokes. The audience is left questioning the concept of time, looking more deeply into the nature of aging- and wondering what is even real. I did actually really enjoy the ongoing debate over which characters were ghosts- and I am sure that this would promote some excellent discussions.
All this being said, I often found it quite difficult to engage with the text, particularly towards the middle of the book. I sometimes felt that Hatty and Tom's encounters were anticlimactic, with a lack of purpose and meaning behind them, and I found myself wondering what it was all amounting to. However, I felt that her writing did become more focused towards the end of the story, and amounted to an excellent final plot twist.

Okay this grew on me because I liked Hatty so much. Tom was still annoying, though. And then ending touched my heart.

1. Iznerviram se kad u ovim godinama saznam da postoji klasik dečje književnosti za koji nisam ni čula
2. Iznerviram se što ovo nisam pročitala 30 godina ranije. Ok. 25 godina ranije. Osećam da bi mi bilo nešto najomiljenije na svetu.
2b. Iako mislim da bi meni bilo najomiljenije na svetu, nisam sigurma da bih mogla da preporučim Kad sat otkuca trinaest malcima danas jer je, naročito negde oko prve trećine, knjiga veoma spora. Prosto ritam iz drugog vremena. Ali to se do kraja sve isplati.

I loved this! Wish I would have known of it when my son was young

A childhood favourite I decided to revisit the last couple of days. This for years was my favourite story to be read to me and then I read myself at bedtime (which also led to a few visits into the garden in the middle of the night to try and go back in time). It’s a magical story no matter what your age is and definitely not disappointing to revisit at all as an adult.