Title: The Secret Garden
Author: Frances Hodgson Burnett
Genre: Fiction
Age Level: 10-16 years old
Characters: Mary Lennox, Colin Craven, Dickon Sowerby, Martha Sowerby, Mrs. Sowerby
Plot: Mary Lennox becomes an orphan when her parents die in a plague in India (where she lives). She is sent to live with her uncle in England. At first Mary is sour, selfish, moody, and disinterested, but slowly she begins to open up to the place, and eventually, to the people. She grows to love the English moor and makes friends with Dickon, a Yorkshire lad who lives in a house on the moor with his 14-member family. Dickon teaches Mary about the animals and plants in the woods and gardens of her new home. She also hears of the secret garden, which her uncle locked up ten years before when his wife died. Mary stumbles on the once-buried key to the garden, goes inside, and determines to make vibrant again the untended, untidy garden. After a while, she determines to let Dickon in on her secret, and they plant flowers and tend the garden together. Mary also finds another surprise- her invalid cousin, Colin. He has lived a secluded life, constantly thinking about dying or becoming a hunchback. He is also given to tantrums; but Mary, with her fiery temper, proves a match for him. She becomes angry with his pessimistic, selfish, self-pitying ways, and declares that he never will turn into a hunchback. Colin has never considered this possibility. Once his attitude changes, his physical condition improves as well simultaneously. Eventually, Mary lets him in on the secret of the garden, and she and Dickon take Colin there, where he first walks. At the end of the book, Colin and Mary are both much changed for the better, and Colin and his distant father are reunited.
Precautions: In one part of the book, Colin chants about magic as they all sit in a circle in the garden. Also, one or two of the tantrum scenes might frighten younger readers.
Ratings: This book is an enjoyable read with quite a few insights into important truths of life. However, it is not written from a distinctly Biblical worldview, so although a wonderful story, it must be read carefully.
Title: Foxe's Book of Martyrs
