This is my favorite book, ever! My Mom made me read it as a kid, and I really didn't want to. I put it off and put it off, and finally decided to just suck it up and read it. I think it took 10 pages for me to get completely hooked.

I think I loved the book so much because it was all about bringing about life and growth through love. All the main characters are sort of "forgotten" in some way or another, and they go on this adventure when Mary finds a key to a secret, walled garden. The garden had been locked up and forgotten about and so when they find it, it is dead and grown-over with weeds. They sneak in and tend to it, little by little, and it comes back to life in full splendor.

The storyline becomes sort of a metaphor for life, itself. Even in the bad times, you can make it into whatever you really want it to be. The same is true for the people around you -- you can nurture the lost and forgotten and help them to bloom.