About reading

Title:The Secret Garden.

Author: Frances Hodgson Burnett.

Genre: Adventure.

Publisher: Longman.

Level: Elementary.

Brief summary of the plot:

The book is based on the story of a sickly little girl tucked in herself, Mary Lennox, who after losing her parents by an epidemic, travels from India to Misselthwaite Manor, a mansion in Yorkshire, where her reclusive uncle Carven lives. She was a selfish, arrogant and haughty child, and she  always got what he wanted. She never had the love of her parents. The walls of the mansion exude sadness and keep more than one mystery. One day, defying warnings of adults, Mary goes into a private garden in the manor house, that has been closed for ten years and which will become a magical refuge for herself and her three new friends: Colin, her disabled cousin, Dickon, her innocent and full of goodness brother and a robin. The three children and the robin restore the site which in turn will help them build a special relationship that will change their destinies forever.

Personal Opinion:

In my opinion, The Secret Garden gets a mark of  5 out of 10.
This book is a wonderful story in which you feel that you are the protagonist, and where you share Mary and her friends´ adventures. You can imagine the great gardens of the house, the secret garden, the birds and animals that accompany them in their daily life, the arrival of spring and the discovery of friendship.
The narrative is simple and exciting, full of very vivid and realistic descriptions. These are what really give life to the pages.

Title: The Secret Garden

Author: Frances Hodgson Burnett

Synopsis

When Mary’s parents died she goes to live with her uncle (Mr.Crave, who is a strange person) in England.
She is often ill like her cousin Colin, so Mrs. Medlock and Martha (servants) take care of them.

Walking around the gardens Mary meets Ben Weatherstaff (the gardener) and his only friend “The Robin” on the wall of a garden without door.

Marta talks to Mary about her brother Dickon (a friendly boy) who tells his mother Mrs. Sowerby (a really nice woman) about children’s troubles and she helps them to be happy.

Personal Opinion

I would like to recommend this book to everybody. I think “The Secret Garden” is a wonderful story which reminds us of our childhood , always full of values such as willpower and friendship. 

We must thank María Jesús Menéndez, Ana Toraño and Alejandra García for their help. They have written some pages of the boy’s diary.

I think “The Secret Garden” is a good story: a girl who nobody loves, without parents, goes to live with her uncle, an unhappy man with a very big house and a very sad story in his life.

There she meets Collin, her unhealthy cousin, and Dickon , who will become her best friend.
Dickon teaches Mary that life is the most wonderful thing that you can have: if you want to be happy, you must love everything around you. The world is wonderful, life is wonderful… when Mary and Collin understand that, their lives change forever.

Click on the book to access a website where you will see the trailer of the film based on the book, find online exercises and some ideas about what you can do after reading the book.