The Secret Garden

The Key to the Magic! Little Mary is an orphan, come from India to her relatives in England. Her cousin Cohn is a sickly lad, living in the same large cold house that Mary has been sent to. Both children are self-centered and lonely, unhappy in different ways. It is only when Mary finds a rusty old key that opens the long-hidden garden that the two learn to find love and happiness. In the mystery and beauty of nature and living things, Mary and Cohn overcome their problems and reach out to the magic and miracles of the wonders around them.

Mistress Mary is quite contrary until she helps her garden grow. Along the way, she manages to cure her sickly cousin Colin, who is every bit as imperious as she. These two are sullen little peas in a pod, closed up in a gloomy old manor on the Yorkshire moors of England, until a locked-up garden captures their imaginations and puts the blush of a wild rose in their cheeks; "It was the sweetest, most mysterious-looking place any one could imagine. The high walls which shut it in were covered with the leafless stems of roses which were so thick, that they matted together.... 'No wonder it is still,' Mary whispered. 'I am the first person who has spoken here for ten years.'" As new life sprouts from the earth, Mary and Colin's sour natures begin to sweeten. For anyone who has ever felt afraid to live and love, The Secret Garden's portrayal of reawakening spirits will thrill and rejuvenate. Frances Hodgson Burnett creates characters so strong and distinct, young readers continue to identify with them even 85 years after they were conceived. (Ages 9 to 12)

The Key to the Magic! Little Mary is an orphan, come from India to her relatives in England. Her cousin Cohn is a sickly lad, living in the same large cold house that Mary has been sent to. Both children are self-centered and lonely, unhappy in different ways. It is only when Mary finds a rusty old key that opens the long-hidden garden that the two learn to find love and happiness. In the mystery and beauty of nature and living things, Mary and Cohn overcome their problems and reach out to the magic and miracles of the wonders around them.