<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: Heart Warming Inspiring Story
Review: This is a truly beautiful book about the power of life to heal the sick and the down hearted. Using the analogy of a garden coming to life, and the plants blooming in the springtime, Burnett tells the story of children and people becoming well, and discovering the "Magic" that is life, or God.
Mary is a sour little girl from India who is orphaned after a sickness hits her Indian town, and she is sent to live with her uncle, Archibold Craven, in Yorkshire, England. The manor is full of mysteries, as Mary soon discovers. Along with her new friend Dickon, a boy animal charmer from across the moor, she begins to discover the secrets of the manor and of the gardens that surround it.
This is a beautiful book, just brimming over with life. I would recommend this to young readers as well as adult. It is very sweet, and has a warm-hearted tone.
Rating:
Summary: One of my childhood favorites -- and I still love it!
Review: I can't count how many times I read this book in elementary school -- dozens, I'm sure. I still read it occasionally and listen to the musical.Here's a brief synopsis: Mary Lennox is a bitter child whose parents live in India during the very early 1900s (approximately). Her mother and father pay no attention to her, and she is spoiled, selfish and temperamental. When cholera kills her parents, she is sent to live with her uncle -- a hunchback who lives in a huge mansion on the Yorkshire moors. Slowly and with the help of the maid, the maid's brother, and the gardener, Mary becomes a normal, happy child. But her uncle never sees her and is rarely there. He was devastated by his wife's untimely death years earlier and cannot bear to be in the house where they lived together. Mary also hears a mysterious crying that no one else seems to. She investigates and discovers it is her cousin, Colin, who refuses to see anyone, believing he is crippled. His father can't bear to look at him because his mother died in childbirth. Mary and Colin discover his mother's garden, long neglected, and eventually Colin realizes he is perfectly healthy and learns to walk again. This is one of those books every little girl should read. It will stay in your heart forever.
Rating:
Summary: A Classic
Review: I think that this is FHB's best book. Although I certainly enjoy the romatic ideas of diamond mines, life-size dolls, and (completly platonic) secret admirers (as all appear in "A Little Princess") nothing beats the spunky nature and burgeonng independance of Mary, Colin and Dickon. After her parents die of Cholera, spoiled brat Mary is sent to live with her uncle in Yorshire. She is shocked, absolutely shocked, to find a world that is the complete opposite of India. Not just the weather: gone is the fully staffed nursery which completely revolved around her every whim (and she had a lot of them) and in its place is a local maid who brings her breakfast and that's about it. Mary doesn't even know how to dress herself. Appalled at first by the notion of having to look after herself, Mary discovers that it's really not so bad. Especially when she discovers a secret garden that has been locked for ten years. Together with her cousin, a boy as bratty and obnoxious as she is, and Dickon, a local boy with a way with living things, she sets about to bring the garden back to life. Mary and Colin, who have been raised with fairly good intentions and plenty of material possesions but no real love, learn what love is as they care for and nurture the garden. Burnett really has an ear for children's dialogue, and she brings a real sympathy to Colin and Mary even when they are at their most obnoxious. In addition, their transformation is believable, complete with little relapses into their self-absorbed natures. This is a book that is perfect for people of all ages.
Rating:
Summary: the secret garden
Review: The Secret Garden (book review) Soon Kim
June 18, 2002 Do you believe in magic? If you read The Secret Garden you will experience the amazing magic, I am sure.
Mistress Mary Lennox was born in India. Her parents paid no attention to her. Mary is not loved by all, she is spoiled, gloomy, sullen, and selfish in India. Suddenly, her parents die and she goes to live with her uncle on the Yorkshire moors of England. But also her uncle is an apathetic person.
When she arrived in Yorkshire she found another person who looked like herself. He is her selfish sickly cousin Colin. Mary and Colin discover his mother's garden. They take care of flowers and trees together, and they have a great deal of fun together. Mary learns to accept that there are other people in the world, and she helps Colin. The garden's magic makes the two children's characters normal and happy through good people and the beautiful secret garden.
I wish that you would read this book; if you need to love, if your mind has been devastated, if your life is dry and boring, if you lose interest in everything, then read The Secret Garden and your mind will sprout " The word is so beautiful." I still smell many kinds of sour smelling blushful roses in the secret garden. The sweet roses are coloring my mind still ......... I love them so.
Rating:
Summary: A lovely tale for those who have time
Review: The Secret Garden is truly a classic, written more than a hundred years ago. I think all young people and their parents should read or listen to this book and be familiar with the author's philosophical points, which are: what you think is what you are, and will become if you are not careful; that one can examine one's own character flaws and correct them so that life is better; and that positive thoughts and feelings bring the best result. The grandest point is that working this "magic" with self and others can create unintended good effects a thousand miles away.
I believe the story and the points of view of Mary and Colin are important talking points between adults and children. They could be watchwords between parents and their children all the way to 18 years of age when discussing personal behavior. The reason is that Mary and Colin are objective and can be discussed as a third party instead of blame and shame between a parent and child. In the book, adults and children were polite to each other, at the last even under stress.
Is it not odd that you want a child to listen to this book and be influenced by it; and that you let a child watch smash-mouth cartoons Saturday morning and hope they will not be influenced by the astonishing violence and shallow characterizations?
I thoroughly enjoyed this Book for the Heart even though I am an adult. It is a classic on a par with Alice and Wonderland, which is another book I really like.
The reading of The Secret Garden was wonderfully done, though the sound of the characters Mary and Colin sounded authentic but made my ears arch sometimes.
Rating:
Summary: A Childhood Classic. . .
Review: The Secret Garden, written by Frances Hodgson Burnett, is a charming book about a girl named Mary Lennox. She is a spoiled and sickly child who lives in India. When her parents die because of a cholera epidemic, she moves to Misselthwaite Manor to live with her rich uncle in England. Things are a definite change for her. Slowly she becomes stronger and starts to take an interest in the outdoors. She meets all sorts of people like Martha, Dickon, and Colin. Martha is a maid on the grounds who has taken a fancy to Mary, and Dickon is her brother. Dickon is quite an unusual fellow. He possesses the ability to talk to animals and is able to grow anything with a little bit of soil. Colin, who you will meet later in the story, is a child who has basically given up the will to live, believing he is doomed to be a hunchback like his father. Strong-willed Mary reprimands him and takes matters into her own hands. Mary has all kinds of adventures with strange sounds at night, funny accents, and a locked garden. The Secret Garden is a wonderful book about friendship, determination, and perseverence. I would recommend this book to someone of any age. It is beautifully written and full of life.
Rating:
Summary: For those who value fine childrens literature
Review: Who won't like this book? Well... I know that some parents these days feel it is a boring book which requires to much of an attention span. But children need and benefit from classics like this which require thought and which have a profound and telling message. It is a must read book for any family who values the classics and who feels that children need a balance of computer, sports and quality reading material. Set in Misselthwaite Manor on the Yorkshire moors, Mary Lennox who has been orphaned arrives from India at her uncle Mr. Archibald Craven's home where she discovers a cousin Colin who is sickly and spoiled. ALmost as much as she is. In time Mary discovers that her cousin simply needs some encouragement and the once spoiled girl becomes a secret cheer leader of sorts and they set out to get Colin walking. One of the characters I adored so much was the gardener,who knows that the two have discovered the secret garden that Colins mother had adored and tended so well, which has become overgrown and like the two young children, simply needs some tender loving and consistent care. The children are very careful because they get Colin ouside using the wheelchair since they want to use the garden as a tool for also helping Colins physical therapy. In a few months not only is Colin able to walk and get about but the garden is flourishing which as the story continues will become the healing tool for the uncle (Mr. Archibald Craven)who has been heartbroken and aloof since his wifes death. Like the Little Princess this book deals with death, loneliness and deep subjects.
<< 1 >>
|
