The Secret Garden

by Margaret DeKeyser (Adapter), Frances Hodgson Burnett, Phil Devine (Illustrator)

Fully illustrated and adapted.

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Childrens, Middle Grade

180 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Annette]

This is a wonderful story for young children and adults. It’s a feel good story where a young child learns she has cousins, and to make friendships with people living nearby. Be inquisitive and help others to be able to make these connections.

[lulu wilford]

this version is below my reading level but i still enjoyed it

[Jamie Charrette]

Project reread books that I read in school is underway. It’s interesting how different things seem as you age. This is a fun little story and I would still recommend it to all ages

[Sojourner McConnell]

This book has captivated me since I was a small child. In fact, this book so affected me, I used part of it in my own book about a reader that learned how to interact with other through the characters in books. This was one of the first characters that she pulled how not to act, until Mary Lennox, changed her little heart. When she changed her heart, she caused a domino effect that made this a go-to book for beautifully told stories.

The story builds and with the main characters all learning from each other, it is a growth in personalities that is tangible. It is a wonderful book and I can't recommend it highly enough. Everyone should read this at least once. Me, I read it yearly.

[sun !]

cute book. I enjoyed the descriptive details on not only the setting but characters. 3.5 stars.

[Lexi Loo]

This book was filled with such charm and delight. I loved it, and I very much want to read the full version now.

[roach]

those rich kids were annoying af until they discovered the power of friendship

[Kristina]

I gave this book 4 stars because I thought it was a satisfactory story. I liked how the author wrote in a very descriptive way because I could imagine the settings and situations very clearly. For example, he described the gardens beautifully and I could really see what they were like. I also liked how there was a lot of symbolism and the plot was unique. However, I felt like there were a lot of extra and unneeded details in the writing that weren’t necessary to the understanding of the events. Overall, I enjoyed reading this book and I think it is worth your time.

[Violet]

4.7

I really enjoyed this book. It really leaves you with a happy feeling in the end. You feel true sympathy for the characters when they're going through something, and what I pictured the garden looking like due to the way the garden is described, it just made me picture something like a fairy garden. I enjoyed this book so much that I read it literally in a day. I recommend this book to anyone who's looking for a "feel good" book.

[michelle]

This is a marvelous children's version of the story. My 6 year old is on her 2nd or 3rd reading of it at this point and we have both enjoyed it. There are a few illustrations and other than some characters using "thy" and "thou" everything was easy for her to comprehend.

[Jennifer]

I agree with the other reviewer, it's a perfect way for kids nowadways to absorb this classic (that i never got to read myself as a child... just her other one, THE LITTLE PRINCESS. makes me want a whole series like this, for my library!

[Lekeshua]

I personally love this book every time I read it. My kids loved it too. They want their own secret garden and Dickon. They were glad that Mary and Colin changed their ways and became happy people.

[Quinlan]

i wish i had the real version

[Lou Oliver]

I loved this book. It was emotional, mysterious, and joyous.

Mary loses her parents and has to go live with her uncle. There, she meets Colin, her sick and isolated cousin. She teaches him that friendship and nature are the keys to a healthy and happy life.

I like this book because I enjoy the writing and can relate to Mary. I like the secrecy of having your own safe place, and I love the outdoors. I am also told that this is one of my grandmother's favorite movies, though I never met her.

[Miranda]

I enjoyed the book but what about Mary towards the end of it? Like, Colin and Mr. Craven just walk back to the house without her? The entire story focuses on her until the end, it’s almost like she’s forgotten

[Jessica Cook]

An absolute classic.
Seen the movie thousands of times, never got to release the material it was based off of.
Definitely more suited for young readers, but a classic all the same.

[Sarah Holm]

A classic story that I wanted to get a sense for, and found this Junior edition in a free library. Wish I would have read the regular version.

[Kiana]

3.5/5, why was I rooting for everyone??? Wow. Lowk Colin and Dickon were so cute, kinda shipped them….

[Layna Kim]

I like how Mary doesn't become spoiled when she is at her uncle's place.I felt bad that Mary couldn't wander and could only stay in her ordered rooms.

[Kylee West]

Got this for my friends classroom for her students to read and thought I would give it a go while I still have it. Great story

[Nicole]

I won this as a door prize at a bingo last year. It’s cute, but very middle grade as it is stated. I would probably like the full classic version, I’d imagine.

[Alison Trombley]

a sweet book

[Cynthia Stacks]

This was a wonderful read-a-loud for our young girls. They begged to read it daily and loved all of the characters and nature themes!

[Lemon]

This is a sweet book :)

[Angela]

Happy tears todo el rato

[Bekah Boo]

This is a very mysterious book. In the book a girl named Mary Lennox goes to a special place because her parent's died. She meets a man named Ben Weatherstaff, he is the main gardener. Then she meets Dicken, a young boy who loves animals and can talk them, too. She discovers a secret garden that is walled off. She finds a key next to a door and goes inside the garden, it is brutal and old with dying trees and no flowers. Expect for a few sprouts springing out of the ground. She tells Dicken about it but tells him to keep it a secret. They decide to fix the garden together. One night she hears a crying sound in the middle of the night and finds Mr. Craven's son, Colin. He is lying in bed and says he is sick and has a lump on his back. Mary tells him there is no lump and he needs to go outside and play with them in the garden to get better. She finds the garden used to belong to Colin's mother who died. They all play and work in the garden. They found the tree his mother died on when she sat on a branch that broke. They distract Colin because they don't want him to know that his mother died there. Mr. Craven sees the garden at the end of the book. He is happy the kids fixed up the garden and he is very proud of his son.

I gave this book 3 stars because I thought it was boring but I would recommend it to other people to read. ,

[Priscilla King]

I don't usually like dumbed-down "abridged versions" of books. Although this one skips a few of the lamer passages in the classic Secret Garden, I don't care much for it either.

The illustrations seem especially weird. They're not the usual period fashion plates. Real Victorians might have worn old or unfitted clothes, especially if they were children working outdoors; and real Victorian children's clothes really weren't far from being sharia-compliant. Still, I get the feeling that the illustrator was nudging the pictures in this abridgment toward sharia-compliance, and I think that's inappropriate. I could be hypersensitive. The fiddly details of Victorian fashions are hard to draw, but when so many people enjoy the challenge of drawing them, why publish an edition of The Secret Garden illustrated by someone who doesn't?

I don't hate the abridgment too much to resell it, having acquired it in a bundle, but I'd urge readers to wait and read the real thing.

[Daisya Spencer]

Synopsis: A ten-year-old orphan comes to live in a lonely house on the Yorkshire moors and discovers an invalid cousin and the mysteries of a locked garden.

This is an adapted version of the story, I wanted to point out.
I thought this was an okay story. I liked how Mary developed as a character throughout the book from being a brat to kind of sweet. The Prince was kind of another story because he annoyed me all the way through.
All in all, I thought this was a nice story with a really nice ending. Nothing more nothing less.

[Diego Tovar]

A great story I read a night after finding it between my childhood books. As a child (and also that English isn't my first language) I actually never read it when I was a child but now that i'm 17 (lmao) I read the entire book in 1 and a half hour and it was a pretty good experience. Also now I now it's a classic story maybe later I will plan to read the original story but for now I enjoy the book; and I personally recommend that small kids read it, inculcate the habit of reading on children.

[Jesylyn Batman]

I've always liked the story of The Secret Garden since I was little, but I had never read the original until I found a copy in my mall's bookstore. This story did, at one time, make me cry. Now, realize that it takes a LOT to make me cry, and so I can tell you with a straight face that this book is very emotional.