THE SECRET GARDEN
S is for:
THE SECRET GARDEN by Frances Hodgson Burnett
I
still get a warm fuzzy feeling when I think about this book and its overgrown
secret garden that eventually becomes what it should have been all along. You
let a few weeds get out of control and BAM—beauty gets buried. (The story of my
backyard life.) But of course, there's more to the story, where people grow.
First
Line: When Mary Lennox was sent to
Misselthwaite Manor to live with her uncle, everybody said she was the most
disagreeable-looking child ever seen.
End
Line: And by his side, with his head up
in the air and his eyes full of laughter, walked as strongly and steadily as
any boy in Yorkshire—Master Colin!
One
of my favorite lines is the first sentence of Chapter 27. “And the secret garden bloomed and bloomed and every morning revealed
new miracles.”
This
is sappy, but deep in my hardened heart I think of hope like that.
Inside every person is a seed of hope. Sometimes we keep it a
secret or pile (life) things on it. Sometimes we deny or ignore hope, but it's there waiting. When we allow hope to bloom, in our hearts, new miracles unfold.
I
told you it was sappy. I blame THE SECRET GARDEN.
I really liked this book too. The thought of a secret garden really intrigued me.
ReplyDeleteI love, love, love this book.As I recall, my grandmother read this book to me. One of my all-time faves, which I've shared with my kids.
ReplyDeleteNot read the book, but the movie was very sweet.
ReplyDeleteThis has always been one of my favorite stories. I get a bit sappy about it, too.
ReplyDeleteI didn't read that book until I became an adult (it was required reading for a Children's Lit class I was enrolled in). I did think it was a delightfully easy and wonderful read!
ReplyDeleteOh I love secrets, you must tell me more, friends!
ReplyDeleteI loved The Secret Garden too. I'm pretty sappy about a lot of the books I read as a kid. Recently bought a copy of The Wind in the Willows so I could read it again.
ReplyDeleteYes, Hope is what sustains us. There it is looking to the future!
ReplyDeleteHank
This was a great book! I remember thinking it was magical as a kid.
ReplyDeleteI remember watching a movie of The Secret Garden, but I still haven't read the book. It looks magical.
ReplyDeleteI was very young when I read this, so it's hazy. Of course now I realise the subtext you explained here.
ReplyDeleteI read the book way back when, but remember the movie more. Great indeed
ReplyDeleteOh girlfriend, my all time favorite both as a wee farm chick and now. I still love to tuck a secret garden here and there in my acre yard.
ReplyDeleteI loved that book too and the idea of a secret garden has always stayed with me.
ReplyDeleteI turned my daughter's room into a Secret Garden. I painted a weeping will tree in the corner that went all the way up to the ceiling. All kinds of flowers and plants all along the walls, bordered by a rustic white picket fence. My favorite part: I painted tiny lightning bugs and used glow in the dark paint for their little rear ends, creating a real corona effect around each bug. We'd turn off the lights and go around the room counting them.
ReplyDeleteI adore the book and the movie they did 1993. When I was a kid, I wanted to be Mary and to have her secret garden. I still do! ;)
ReplyDeleteI adore the book and the movie they did 1993. When I was a kid, I wanted to be Mary and to have her secret garden. I still do! ;)
ReplyDeleteYes, I love the hope that just pours out of that book!
ReplyDeleteNo apologies needed. I love my sappy friends because they appreciate the small things in life and aren't afraid to show it. <3
ReplyDeleteI read The Secret Garden long ago and I found it fascinating. Mysterious. I need to reread it as adult and see how my perspective on this has changed. :)
Elizabeth Mueller
AtoZ 2015
My Little Pony
Hi Teresa .. The Secret Garden - your sappiness reminds us lot that we can re-read this wonderful easy book that teaches us much through the metaphor of planting seeds and watching nature take its course .. Hope springs eternal .. cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteI love flower gardens, and I loved this book!
ReplyDeleteI don't think you're sappy. I think you're sentimental, and hopeful. I am, too. Otherwise, I'd be too depressed about humanity.
ReplyDelete