Fresh Air Does the Body Good

The Secret Garden by Fances Hodgson Burnett

An epidemic hits Mary Lennox’s home in India killing her parents and the servant who raised her. Bitter and contrary, Mary moves from house to house until a blood relative is found in Yorkshire England. During her first few months at Misselthwaite Manor she is lonely and bored. Martha, one of the servants teaches Mary to dress herself and tell Mary that she needs to go outside and get fresh air from the Moor. Since Mary was spoiled and a terror, she was not fun to be around, but the more she was around Martha, the more she liked her. During her stay at Misselthwaite, she hears mysterious noises at night. She knows that it’s crying and Martha swears that it’s nothing. During the nice days Mary starts to go outside and walk amongst the many gardens, this is where Mary meets Ben Weatherstaff and discovers a secret garden that is rumored to be where the master of the house’s wife died and in his mourning he locked the gate and buried the key. As she grows more curious she learns not only more about the secret garden, but also the crying she has heard several times. She finds that there is a boy her age lives in the house and he is a crippled weak boy named Colin Craven who has a bad temper and is not fun to be around, just like Mary was before the magic took over her. She also meets Dickon the animal charmer who is also Martha’s brother. Many adventures ensue and many things change during the course of the book, but you’ll have to read it to find out more!

The Secret Garden is the September book club pick. I have never read this classic and is yet another great stride to getting more classics under my belt. I enjoyed the language of The Secret Garden. It was fun reading the proper children learning to speak Yorkshire. They would try it and the townies would love hearing them try. One statement that was made that I loved was talking about Colin and Martha said, “He’s been spoiled till salt won’t save him.” I loved this and when I read it, I laughed out loud.

I enjoyed several aspects of the book, first I like how Mary had to transform from being a rotten child with bad manners and crazy notions to growing into a child that learns manners. Then there is a role reversal between Martha who teaches Mary some basic truths about being a good child and therefore, Mary was able to teach them to Colin. Another aspect that I liked was how openly the character spoke of each other. When Mary first started her journey after becoming an orphan, she was told that she was ugly and they would explain to her how she was ugly. Martha also told Mary that she wasn’t as ugly as she was before. It’s funny how I would never dream of telling a 10 year old that they are ugly. My question is, is it cultural between Europe and America or is it a different time and no one talks like that anymore no matter where the setting is.

A fun game that I came up with while reading the Secret Garden, is statements made in classical literature are funny when taken out of context. I leave you with a couple of my favorites, enjoy!
“Children that feels like young wolves an’ food’s flesh an’ blood to ‘em.” Susan Sowerby
“I don’t want to be queer!” Colin Craven
So, what are your thoughts, do you want to read The Secret Garden? Did you read it ever so long ago and need to be reminded of the beauty of a child’s mind? Keep Reading my friends, keep reading!