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The Secret Garden: BBC (BBC Radio Presents) | 
 enlarge | Author: Frances Hodgson Burnett
Creator: Dramatization
Publisher: Random House Audio
Category: Book
List Price: $16.99
Buy New: $9.95
You Save: $7.04 (41%)
New (3) Used (6) from $4.61
Avg. Customer Rating:  267 reviews
Sales Rank: 3041090
Format: Unabridged, Audiobook
Media: Audio Cassette
Edition: Unabridged
Reading Level: Ages 9-12
Number Of Items: 2
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 4.8 x 1
ISBN: 0553474375
Dewey Decimal Number: 791.4472
EAN: 9780553474374
ASIN: 0553474375
Publication Date: January 1, 1996
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New in shrinkwrap. Fountain Street Books ships out Same day or Next day. All orders shipped in protective bubble mailers.
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Amazon.com
Mistress Mary is quite contrary until she helps her garden grow. Along the way, she manages to cure her sickly cousin Colin, who is every bit as imperious as she. These two are sullen little peas in a pod, closed up in a gloomy old manor on the Yorkshire moors of England, until a locked-up garden captures their imaginations and puts the blush of a wild rose in their cheeks; "It was the sweetest, most mysterious-looking place any one could imagine. The high walls which shut it in were covered with the leafless stems of roses which were so thick, that they matted together.... 'No wonder it is still,' Mary whispered. 'I am the first person who has spoken here for ten years.'" As new life sprouts from the earth, Mary and Colin's sour natures begin to sweeten. For anyone who has ever felt afraid to live and love, The Secret Garden's portrayal of reawakening spirits will thrill and rejuvenate. Frances Hodgson Burnett creates characters so strong and distinct, young readers continue to identify with them even 85 years after they were conceived. (Ages 9 to 12)
Product Description
What secrets lie behind the doors at Misselthwaite manor? Recently arrived at her uncle's estate, orphaned mary Lennox is spoiled, sickly, and certain she won't enjoy living there. Then she discovers the arched doorway into an overgrown garden, shut up since the death of her aunt ten years earlier. Mary soon begins transforming it into a thing of beauty--unaware that she is changing too.
But Missalthwaite hides another secret, as Mary discovers one night. High in a dark room, away from the rest of the house, lies her young cousin Colin, who believes he is an incurable invalid, destined to die young. His tantrums are so frightful, no one can reason with him. If only, Mary hopes, she can get Colin to love the secret garden as much as she does, its magic wil work wonders on him.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 262 more reviews...
 Favorite children's book May 29, 2008
This was my favorite book as a child. Still love it today. MUCH better than any of the movies made!
 Great read for all ages February 10, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
If there is a main character for the book it is Misselthwaite Manor. If there is a present theme is that we (metaphorically speaking) can all unlock our secret garden and make it grow and make a world which we can invite others into.
The story examines a series of characters from Mary Lennox, Dicken Sowersby, Martha Sowersby and of course Colin Craven as they find their lives revolving around the gardens and the moores of a place located in Yorkshire England as they find 'the magic' of the place managing to provoke life changing lessons for all of them.
Like her other book 'The Little Princess', the book starts off in India, and like 'Little Princess', Mary suffers the death of her parents and finds herself trapped in England but that is where the novels part ways. Instead we are immersed into a world of robins, flowers, gardens and shimmering fog and springtime activities. Mistress Mary is cast among a world she barely understand but must learn to survive in. She unlocks mysteries, gets new friends and changes the life of another -- Colin forever.
Both my daughter and I enjoyed the novel until the very end where it decays a bit into endless exposition as Colin begins his scientific experiments. The ending itself almost leaves open a sequel as several character issues find themselves a bit hanging in a lurch but the focus is not on any one single character -- mistress Mary pretty much drops out of the novel halfway through it. It is on the world around us and how it can change us if we let it. We all have beautiful secret gardens in all of us if we are willing to find them and share them with others and in the world of today, that's a great message.
An Absolute Treasure! February 5, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I can't believe I missed reading this growing up. My daughter and I just read this together. It was wonderful, and we both loved it. She likes to read books over and over, and I think she will appreciate reading this even more when she gets a little older. She loved the idea of secrets, twins, and the transformation of Mary. Having not had similar experiences to the characters in the books, such as losing close family members, she didn't quite understand the concept of a person having to learn to love and cry.
I loved the symbolism of the young girl blossoming with the garden, the relationship she develops with her cousin, the flower imagery, and the many little details like the birds nesting in the chairs in the run-down part of the manor. The mystery of this story is also wonderful and very suspenseful.
I think many adults who missed reading this growing up would enjoy this book. And I think all children, both boys and girls, should read this at least once. It is an absolute treasure.
 Thoughts are "as good for one as sunlight is, or as bad for one as poison." February 4, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
A spoiled girl living in India and raised by servants because her mother (Chapter 1) "cared only to go to parties and amuse herself with gay people" and her father "had always been busy and ill himself" was, by six years of age "as tyrannical and selfish a little pig ever lived" and at nine years old, the only remaining of her family, her parents having died during a cholera outbreak. "Self-absorbed" as she was, "she did not miss her [mother] at all" and, after a brief stay at poor English clergyman's house, during which she is dubbed "Mistress Mary Quite Contrary" by his children, is sent to her mother's recluse widower brother at Misselthwaite Manor in England. Cared for, again, by servants in the 600-year-old house situated at the edge of a moor, Mary is allowed to wander and explore from dawn to dusk. And doesn't meet her new guardian, Mr. Wes Craven, for an entire month. Listening to Martha, the housemaid, as she shares stories of her poor but happy life with her loving mother and many siblings, Mary is especially intrigued by anecdotes involving her brother, Dicken, who is said to have a way with wild creatures. Through luck and the help of a seemingly magical bird, friend of a gruff, stoic, tactless gardener (the very gardener who cared for Mrs. Craven's garden), Mary finds the overgrown, abandoned (for ten years) forbidden garden. She learns some secrets about the house and its inhabitants and befriends a sad, sickly boy who believes he will die and so spends all his time indoors terrorizing the servants with his demands. The two form a strong bond and, together with Dicken, share many adventures together in the secret garden. But although the story's message is overwhelmingly positive, there are some negatives, especially the racist views of Mary. In India, she treats the native servants badly. She (Chapter 2) "always slapped her Ayah in the face when she was angry." And is so outraged that Martha expected her to be "black," calls her "daughter of a pig." During the same conversation, she tells Martha that "They [natives] are not people - they're servants who must salaam to you." Racism (and the annoying Yorkshire speech) aside, the children's transformation from spoiled to spirited and the perfectly sappy ending make this an excellent story about the power of positive thinking, friendship and love. Better: Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery.
Secret No More February 4, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
In the story, The Secret Garden, the main character is a ten year old girl named Mary Lennox. She is a selfish, sour little girl who gets everything she wants. When her parents die, she gets sent off in a train, from India, to her uncle's house, Misselthwaite Manor, in Yorkshire, England.
At the house she expects to get everything she wants, but doesn't. There is nothing to do so she goes outside. Usually she would have sat inside all day in India and have people wait on her, but nothing is the same in England.
Outside, is a vast open land called the moor. There is not much on it except for shrubs and grass. It is fall, so the whole land is gray and empty. Then one evening Mary hears about a secret garden that has been locked up for ten years. Apparently her uncle's wife had died in the garden. So Mary tries to find it.
After awhile she makes friends with a robin who shows her where the garden is. It is surrounded by walls and inside everything is dead. Dry, gray vines hang over the walls, while dead flowers and plants lay aimlessly on the ground.
Everyday Mary tends to the garden with her friend Dickon, an animal charmer, who she met.
He helps Mary make the garden come alive.
Then one night she heard strange crying noises in the house. She went to investigate and found out that it was a boy named Colin who actually turned out to be her cousin. Colin was a spoiled and sickly child, just like Mary used to be, and had tantrums nearly every night. Everyone was ordered to do whatever he wanted. It was also expected that he would die soon, being unable to walk and so sick all the time.
The two children enjoyed each other. Together, they would laugh and play. Soon enough Mary told Colin about the garden and he decided to go see it in his wheel chair.
After he had seen the garden, it was decided that it would be kept a secret and that they would go and play there without anyone ever knowing. Everyday, all three children went outside in secrecy and tended to it, in hope it would come alive. Colin then began walking and soon running.
Finally the garden came alive and it looked just like and better than the children had imagined it. Then one afternoon, Colin's father came home. He saw that Colin was healthy and excepted him. They had become a family once again.
I thought this book was very touching and sweet. It is not the type of book that is full of action, but the plot is simply and has a good message. The way the plot shows changes in the characters makes them come alive more and seem like real people.
Even though the story was good, I thought it was a little slow. The conflicts were not very straight forward and it was a little bit too predictable. For example, Colin cannot walk. He the goes outside, which he would never do. It is very clear that he is going to get stronger and walk.
The slow paste is good for less advanced readers but is nice if you would like to read a less exciting book. So I would recommend the book for relaxed reading.
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