The Secret Garden
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4.4 • 31 Ratings
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- $0.99
Publisher Description
The Secret Garden was written by Frances Hodgson Burnett. A house with a hundred rooms is a house full of secrets. That's what orphaned Mary Lennox finds out when she comes to live in her uncle's mansion on the Yorkshire moors. At night, she hears the sound of crying down a long corridor. Outside, she meets Dickon, a magical boy who can charm and talk to animals. Then, one day, Mary discovers the most mysterious wonder of all—a secret garden, walled and locked, which has been forgotten for years and years. Is everything in the garden dead, or can Mary bring this special place back to life?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Soothing and mellifluous, native Briton Bailey's voice proves an excellent instrument for polishing up a new edition of Burnett's story. Bratty and spoiled Mary Lennox is orphaned when her parents fall victim to a cholera outbreak in India. As a result, Mary becomes the ward of an uncle in England she has never met. As she hesitantly tries to carve a new life for herself at imposing and secluded Misselthwaite Manor, Mary befriends a high-spirited boy named Dickon and investigates a secret garden on the Manor grounds. She also discovers a sickly young cousin, Colin, who has been shut away in a hidden Manor room. Together Mary and Dickon help Colin blossom, and in the process Mary finds her identity and melts the heart of her emotionally distant uncle. Bailey makes fluid transitions between the voices and accents of various characters, from terse Mrs. Medlock and surly groundskeeper Ben to chipper housemaid Martha. And most enjoyably, she gives Mary a believably childlike voice. A brief biography of the author is included in an introduction. Ages 6-12.
