| Author | Content |
dave
Jacksonville, TX
(Zone 8a)
 April 7, 2008
5:50 AM Post #4769746
| There are a total of 470 votes:
| India
(48 votes, 10%) |  |
| England
(389 votes, 82%) | |
| China
(9 votes, 1%) | |
| France
(24 votes, 5%) | |
|
Previous Polls |
Resin
Northumberland
(United Kingdom)
(Zone 9a)
April 7, 2008
6:43 AM Post #4769788
| Starts in India, but most of the book is set in Yorkshire, England.
|
plantladylin
East Central, FL
(Zone 9a)
April 7, 2008
7:49 AM Post #4769885
| I voted England. |
Marylyn_TX
Houston, TX
(Zone 9a)
April 7, 2008
8:07 AM Post #4769923
| I love that book! :-) |
grampapa
Wheatfield, NY
(Zone 6a)
April 7, 2008
8:27 AM Post #4769989
| I've never read it. I was a voracious reader as a child, but I guess no one ever suggested it. I feel somewhat deprived and should probably just go ahead and read it now.
Anyway, I voted England. |
chrissy100
Sydney
(Australia)
April 7, 2008
8:36 AM Post #4770018
| There have been two movies made about it as well as the book ...I loved them both ...in fact I call my special garden ( hidden garden out the back of my home in a farming district ...my secret garden because of that story ...everyone should have a little space set aside for their very own secret garden. |
Jianhua
Shangshui, Henan
(China)
(Zone 7b)
April 7, 2008
9:14 AM Post #4770159
| Though my vote goes for China, I know it is an English book. I once saw it on the bookshelf in a bookstore. But to tell the truth, I have not read it. Thanks for your reminding, next time when I come across the book, I will have a good read. Anyone here can do a favor to have a brief introduction of the book? |
chrissy100
Sydney
(Australia)
April 7, 2008
9:37 AM Post #4770206
| A little English girl (spoiled but lonely) lives in India with her parents ...after a terrible earthquake she is orhaned and sent to live with her Uncle in law in England ...(he has lost his beloved wife ...the girl's mother's twin sister) in an accident in the garden where she fell from a swing while heavily pregnant. The baby was saved but rejected by a heartbroken father who spends as much time as possible away from the mansion and the son he hardly sees. The manipulating Housekeeper convinces the father and servants ...and the child himself that he is very ill and will have a short life. After arriving in England the little girl sets about secretly
restoring the garden so beloved by her Aunt ...a secret garden that has been locked up ever since the Aunt's death. She takes her sickly cousin out to see the place his mother loved so much and this magical place helps her to help him get well and walk again. The father arrives home to find the son in good health and the garden restored ...much to the housekeeper's great discomfort as she has treated the young girl badly and in effect kept the young boy in bed for most of his life. You will have to read the book and watch the garden come to life in the movies ...the story is of how a garden can melt and mend the human heart.
chrissy |
gardenglory
Gainesville, FL
(Zone 9a)
April 7, 2008
9:46 AM Post #4770221
| First book I remember receiving as a gift as a child. Still have it. My kids loved it as well. |
heathrjoy
Johnsonburg, PA
(Zone 5a)
April 7, 2008
10:15 AM Post #4770275
| I posted this just a minute ago but the monster in cyber space must have eaten it...
This book sounds like a good read, I'll have to check it out.
I kind of cheated on my vote. My maiden name is Hodgdon...when my English (and Irish) ancestors came to the States it was spelled Hodgson. |
Pinger42
Mooresville, NC
(Zone 7b)
April 7, 2008
10:15 AM Post #4770277
| I love this book! Here's my synopsis, Jianhua:
First published in 1911, The Secret Garden is the story of Mary Lennox, a bitter and selfish little girl who hates the world and everyone in it. After she is orphaned by a cholera epidemic in India, she is sent to live with an estranged uncle on his sprawlingly creepy English country estate. When she first arrives, she is pale and thin and sporting a personality that would smell like sour milk if it could. She detests the outdoors. With a little help from her maid and a boy named Dickon, Mary gradually develops the pleasant demeanor of a normal girl. So paradoxically, India made Mary pale, hostile and unaccustomed to strange foods, whereas England makes her healthy, rose-cheeked and full of Zen. As the book's title unsubtly suggests, there is also a garden involved, complete with hidden door and buried key. But as new life springs forth in the garden, so blooms new hope in the wounded hearts of each character.
There is no single book that can more readily transport you into spring as you sit underneath a tree and listen to some bird whose name you don't remember whistle a tune that you do.
But the real reason to love this book is because, not unlike the garden hidden in plain sight around which it centers, the novel itself has its own dark secret...which is: It is not a very nice book, despite its goody-goody reputation. The Secret Garden is about neglect. Of plants and of people.
The Secret Garden is half charm, half wickedness, half summer and half winter. At one point Mary asks her maid why the garden was locked in the first place. She gradually learns of its painful history, but in that innocent question lies the lasting magic of The Secret Garden. It is always the flowers that one notices first before inspecting the dirt below.
A must read!
Ping
|
cathy4
St. Louis County, MO
(Zone 5a)
April 7, 2008
10:44 AM Post #4770390
| It was my favorite book as a young girl, too. I created a secret garden in the bottom of the closet, drawing pictures on the walls of the flowers, walls and gate. I used to sit in that closet with a flashlight to read more books. My parents actually left the drawings there until shortly before they moved many years later. There is a copy on my bookshelf and I take it out every few years to read again. |
heathrjoy
Johnsonburg, PA
(Zone 5a)
April 7, 2008
10:47 AM Post #4770404
| Oh, Cathy, what a great memory!! I remember when I was a kid and I wrote on the inside of my closet door...that isn't such a great memory! LOL! |
carrielamont
Milton, MA
(Zone 6a)
April 7, 2008
10:48 AM Post #4770408
| Thank you, Terry Dave, for the splendid timing ... I am awaiting approval from HarperCollins, who now hold the copyright to the cover illustration by Tasha Tudor, before submitting my Dave's Garden article about The Secret Garden, a wonderful book for children and adults. And now that you have all been reminded, if you haven't read it, go grab a copy at the library, or do what my very grand grandmother did, and read it to your grandchild. xx, Carrie |
heathrjoy
Johnsonburg, PA
(Zone 5a)
April 7, 2008
10:57 AM Post #4770446
| Carrie, no grandchildren here...but lots of nieces and nephews to share with. I can't wait to read your article! I also can't wait to sit on the patio this summer and read to the kids...making more good memories...
:-) |
jasmerr
Merrimac, WI
(Zone 4b)
April 7, 2008
11:19 AM Post #4770541
| Read it here free: [HYPERLINK@www.pagebypagebooks.com] |
Bookerc1
Mackinaw, IL
(Zone 5a)
April 7, 2008
11:20 AM Post #4770546
| I loved this book as a child, along with another of her books, The Little Princess, which was my favorite book for years. I liked the Little Princess better, as the heroine was a much more pleasant little girl who used her fantastic imagination to escape her dreary life. The Secret Garden always appealed to me, too, though, because I have always loved flowers, and loved how the beauty and hard work of the garden brought peace to Mary. I've wanted an English garden ever since I read this book!
|
carrielamont
Milton, MA
(Zone 6a)
April 7, 2008
11:42 AM Post #4770605
| So have a lot of us, witness the Cottage Gardening Forum here, just as one example! Sadly, for Anglophiles, most of the US doesn't have just the right combination of cools and warms that make the British climate so unique. x, Carrie |
GeorgiaJo
Dallas, GA
(Zone 7b)
April 7, 2008
11:45 AM Post #4770615
| Great book. I read it so often as a child that I almost had it memorized. Mary and Colin and Dickon and Martha and old Ben and the robin who showed the way. The moors, the big house with all its rooms and corridors, and those great accents (even tho I had to guess at how they really sounded). It had everything that a little girl could want from a book... secrets, and special places, and true love, it was also about a little girl who nobody liked (mostly because nobody had ever taught her how to be likeable). And she blossomed along with the garden. Remember when she realized that two people actually liked her? "That's two for me", she said. Also, does anyone else remember the one thing she asked her uncle for: ".. a bit of earth', I think it was. Who among us has not thought the same... |
carrielamont
Milton, MA
(Zone 6a)
April 7, 2008
12:30 PM Post #4770798
| Yes, Jo, you remember correctly. (I've read it recently. I guess I'd better finish the article now, hadn't I?)
Do you remember it as being chiefly a rose garden? Coming from GA, you might, I guess, but people aren't all that prone to starting rose gardens in New England. As an adult, I was surprised to find all the ROSES in there! I remembered, for more years than I shall divulge, "del-ph-ni-um". (That's Colin, reading aloud.) I HAD to have one, so I had one (1), as a specimen plant, in a pot, in the back yard (grass) on the patio. LOL.
BTW, despite my birthday cake wishes and dreams, I did not turn out to have a Martha or secret garden or fortune or English uncle a.k.a. guardian or any of those romantic things. My accent is still mine and I have few if any (LOL) manors in my future. Some would say few manners either, ha ha ha!
xx, Carrie |
LiliMerci
North of Atlanta, GA
(Zone 8a)
April 7, 2008
12:54 PM Post #4770879
| I love both the books and the movie! I voted England. |
amethystsm
New Haven, CT
(Zone 6a)
April 7, 2008
2:09 PM Post #4771245
| i love the book, and there is also an incredibly beautiful musical from 1991, written by Marsha Norman and Lucy Simon. It is one of my all time favourite musicals. [HYPERLINK@www.amazon.com]
amy (theatre geek)
* |
roybird
Santa Fe, NM
April 7, 2008
5:36 PM Post #4772145
| That was one of my favorite books as a child. Maybe I should re-read it. I loved the old house with all the mysterious rooms especially one where Mary found some ivory elephants. This was highly unlikely to happen to me in our suburban Arizona ranch -style house full of kids, but I wished it would! I also loved The Little Princess; not especially because of her good personality but because she had a wealthy, kind father to rescue her and restore her to her rightful place in the world! l.o.l. |
vanillaman
San Gerardo de Rivas
(Costa Rica)
(Zone 11)
April 7, 2008
10:24 PM Post #4773648
| I have only ever seen the movie, about 3 times, but now will read the book! For me "the book" is always much better than "the movie", although it was very well made and the all the cast were great, I thought so at least. It really touches the soul! |
ecrane3
Dublin, CA
(Zone 9a)
April 7, 2008
10:39 PM Post #4773770
| Never saw the movies, but I remember it being one of my favorite books growing up. I liked the Little Princess too...may have to go re-read both of them now and bring back fond childhood memories! |
gardenmart
Saugus, MA
(Zone 6b)
April 7, 2008
11:11 PM Post #4773967
| Loved it for many reasons but especially since it had a Martha in it!
Martha |
carrielamont
Milton, MA
(Zone 6a)
April 8, 2008
7:45 AM Post #4774958
| Yes, and both you and the Martha in the book are such likable characters! x, Carrie |
latelybloomin77
Kilgore, TX
(Zone 8a)
April 8, 2008
9:47 AM Post #4775468
| I'm not familiar with that book, but it sounds like I would like it. Didn't V.C. Andrews write a similar book w/almost tthe same characters, called "The Secret Garden"? I read that 20+ years ago & it reminds me of this book. Oh... I just remembered to book's title! Not the same, "Flower in the Attic. But similar, I remember roses in that one. I was very young "under 10" and saddened by the book I read! |
gardenmart
Saugus, MA
(Zone 6b)
April 8, 2008
9:53 AM Post #4775492
| I liked Little Lord Fauntleroy both book and movie. 1936 Freddie Bartholomew, Mickey Rooney, Dolores Constanza Barrymore (Drew's Granny} and C. Aubrey Smith. Superb cast, kept pretty much to the story and it's great. They've remade it since, but I like this one best.
Martha |
gardenmart
Saugus, MA
(Zone 6b)
April 8, 2008
9:54 AM Post #4775500
| Ugh! Flowers in the attic was creepy!! With a capital C. which is what VC Andrews does. not like Secret Garden at all.
Martha |
cathy4
St. Louis County, MO
(Zone 5a)
April 8, 2008
10:37 AM Post #4775730
| Many of the OZ books were dark and sinister too, not like the movie. |
carrielamont
Milton, MA
(Zone 6a)
April 8, 2008
11:32 AM Post #4776053
| Was gonna say the exact same thing, Martha, those are not the same things at all. Flowers in the Attic is poisoning children with arsenic on the powdered donuts, The Secret Garden is helping children not die, but rather bloom along with the hidden garden. Plus about 75 or 85 years earlier, right? xx, Carrie |
vanillaman
San Gerardo de Rivas
(Costa Rica)
(Zone 11)
April 8, 2008
1:15 PM Post #4776514
| Speaking of books and movies, sorry to get off topic lol! I'm a sucker for Victorian novels and melodrama, tear-jerkers etc. I love that 1868 novel by Louisa May Alcott, called "Little Women" and if you watch either of the 2 movies I know of, you will need 2 boxes of Kleenex, maybe 3 with the original version. The latest "remake" was good too and I loved Susan Sarandon and Winona Ryder in the lead roles. It certainly has it's sad/tragic parts, but ends happily like The Secret Garden, and shares a very positive message!
|
latelybloomin77
Kilgore, TX
(Zone 8a)
April 8, 2008
2:01 PM Post #4776688
| Well this sounds like a great book. I'll have to get it! |
GeorgiaJo
Dallas, GA
(Zone 7b)
April 8, 2008
2:53 PM Post #4776903
| There's nothing dark and sinister or even remotely scary in Secret Garden, and it's not nearly so sentimental or preachy as Alcott's books. Just give it a quick peek and you'll be hooked!
After all, it is also a mystery. About a garden... a secret garden... behind a wall. You can see the tops of the trees, and birds fly in and out but where's the door...? Don't you want to go in and see what's growing in there? Don't you want to bring in a trowel, and help. :-)
Jassmer posted a link to the online version earlier in this thread in case you missed it.. |
jasmerr
Merrimac, WI
(Zone 4b)
April 8, 2008
4:45 PM Post #4777337
| Here's the link again: [HYPERLINK@www.pagebypagebooks.com]
I started reading it two days ago! ☺ |
irisMA
South Hamilton, MA
April 8, 2008
4:54 PM Post #4777364
| The Little Princess is the author's redo of her Sara Crewe which is a tighter written bk, The little Princess is longer and not as good in my opinion. I came to Secret Garden to read to my children (Now grown) but had Little Lord fauntleroy as a child. The author lived in the US for a time, but all three bks are set in England. |
gessiegail
Taft, TX
(Zone 9a)
April 8, 2008
6:16 PM Post #4777666
| Pinger42, if I read it I don't remember at my age, but your synopsis was so inviting and wonderful. Thanks for your time in sharing with us.
gail |
bigcityal
Menasha, WI
(Zone 5a)
April 8, 2008
6:20 PM Post #4777675
| I voted India - but my only knowledge was a Simpson's reference. |
carrielamont
Milton, MA
(Zone 6a)
April 8, 2008
7:31 PM Post #4778008
| LOL a Simpson's reference? Like Homer and Marge? xx, Carrie |
vanillaman
San Gerardo de Rivas
(Costa Rica)
(Zone 11)
April 8, 2008
7:33 PM Post #4778014
| I love Marge's hair! |
bigcityal
Menasha, WI
(Zone 5a)
April 8, 2008
8:53 PM Post #4778439
| Sure - Apu had a secret garden on top of the Kwik E Mart. |
carrielamont
Milton, MA
(Zone 6a)
April 8, 2008
9:04 PM Post #4778529
| Oh, the grocer guy? No, seriously? |
AnalogDog
Mountlake Terrace, WA
(Zone 8a)
April 8, 2008
9:30 PM Post #4778712
| I confess, I did a Google query. and then voted England. |
carrielamont
Milton, MA
(Zone 6a)
April 8, 2008
9:48 PM Post #4778840
| Shucks, you never read it either? Will you read my article, please, assuming I get it finished eventually? xx, Carrie |
latelybloomin77
Kilgore, TX
(Zone 8a)
April 8, 2008
9:58 PM Post #4778905
| Thank you Georgiajoe & Jasmerr for link. I'll give it a try. You got me hooked Georgiajoe! he he! |
NisiNJ
Bordentown, NJ
April 8, 2008
10:59 PM Post #4779297
| Both "The Secret Garden" (1949 with Margaret O'Brien) and "Little Women" (1933 with Katharine Hepburn) were coincidentally recently shown on Turner Classic Movies. Not that we should skip reading the books.
Also, one of my favorite songs on Charlotte Church's "Enchantment" album was "A Bit Of Earth," which I believe is from the musical that Amethystsm posted above. |
vanillaman
San Gerardo de Rivas
(Costa Rica)
(Zone 11)
April 8, 2008
11:10 PM Post #4779381
| I would love to see that version with Margaret O'Brien! I'm sure sure would have been a great "Mary Lennox". I also like Charlotte Church, but she is a little "naughty". Don't do a Google Image search unless you're very brave! |
gardenmart
Saugus, MA
(Zone 6b)
April 8, 2008
11:53 PM Post #4779651
| We love Louisa May around here. Local girl makes good. LW wasn't written for children specifically. It's semi-autobiographical and yes, get those Kleenex out! When poor Beth goes, I lose it completely. Every time. In the book or in the movie. You keep hoping that Jo will find a happy ending like her sisters do, well, maybe not Beth, but then she isn't suffering anymore, and she does. I found Hodgson Burnett to be the more sentimental type of Victorian writing. Her endings are wayy too happy. But I still love em.
My fave Little Princess is Shirley Temple, she made lots of movies where she lost her daddy or was an orphan and she got that part right. |
carrielamont
Milton, MA
(Zone 6a)
April 9, 2008
9:36 AM Post #4780844
| You think that's why I loved those type of books so much? "Broken" home, etc. etc. ? Who knows? The Secret Garden seemed to have gained a lot of Victorian horse-manure when I read it as an adult - as a child, I thought it was just perfect.
BTW, the numbers are shifting - more people now think it was set in India than at first!
xx, Carrie |
roybird
Santa Fe, NM
April 9, 2008
11:50 AM Post #4781654
| Apu had a secret garden on top of the Quickie Mart?! No! Too good. L.O.L. And I needed it this morning. |
amethystsm
New Haven, CT
(Zone 6a)
April 9, 2008
12:08 PM Post #4781790
| i loved the recent film of A Little Princess, directed by Alfonso Cuaron. |
NisiNJ
Bordentown, NJ
April 9, 2008
1:21 PM Post #4782174
| Again, coincidentally--now that I think of it, I believe that in one movie version Beth was played by that very same Margaret O'Brien. |
carrielamont
Milton, MA
(Zone 6a)
April 9, 2008
3:57 PM Post #4782867
| LOL, India is gaining on England! The story BEGINS in India, but the good stuff all happens in Yorkshire, England. I know YOU know. xx, Carrie |
amethystsm
New Haven, CT
(Zone 6a)
April 9, 2008
4:05 PM Post #4782901
| This is making me want to listen to the CD. Rebecca Luker, Mandy Patinkin, Alison Fraser, John Cameron Mitchell, and the youngest - i think - Tony winner to date, Daisy Eagan as Mary.
The music really is so beautiful... |
carrielamont
Milton, MA
(Zone 6a)
April 9, 2008
4:11 PM Post #4782918
| I have never seen the movie, Amy, any of them - sounds like I should, though.
xx, Carrie |
gardenmart
Saugus, MA
(Zone 6b)
April 9, 2008
5:13 PM Post #4783179
| Carrie,
get on the computer to Netflix! your education is sadly lacking!! Margaret O'brien was in the LW with June Allyson in 1949. What a star studded cast that was. June played Jo, Peter lawford played Laurie, aforementioned Margaret O. was Beth. Janet Leigh was Meg, Liz Taylor {as a blonde!!} was amy. Mary Astor, Rossano Brazzi and C aubrey Smith were also in the cast. I just love the IMDB!! but I have seen this version and the Kate Hepburn one several times as they do appear on tv occasionally.
You can take a tour of Louisa May's house out in Concord which I have done, and see the room where they put on plays and the walls in "amy's" room that Louisa's sister May did. It's a great tour. They have a lot of actual Alcott items in the house and it has not been substantially changed since they lived there. It's really worth the trip if you like Louisa May Alcott.
Martha |
irisMA
South Hamilton, MA
April 9, 2008
5:18 PM Post #4783210
| Back to the book: daughter with reading disability had teacher read it to class in 5th grade. By 7th grade she could read it herself and was very excited about it. Her children are still too young but when older it will certainly be in their house. |
amethystsm
New Haven, CT
(Zone 6a)
April 9, 2008
5:22 PM Post #4783230
| Sadly, the musical The Secret Garden was never filmed. But various theatres all over the place do productions of it sometimes, and there is always the CD...
edited to say - you can watch the excerpts from the show as performed on the Tony Awards here:
[HYPERLINK@www.youtube.com]
This message was edited Apr 9, 2008 5:32 PM |
vanillaman
San Gerardo de Rivas
(Costa Rica)
(Zone 11)
April 9, 2008
6:12 PM Post #4783447
| Somehow I can't imagine The Secret Gargen as a musical, but would still love to see it, to see how it's adapted and to hear the music. I think it would make a great Ballet however, but I'm partial to that art form! |
carrielamont
Milton, MA
(Zone 6a)
April 9, 2008
7:32 PM Post #4783832
| Oh, Amy, thank you! (As usual, any youtube referral distracts me for st least half an hour!) I love Julie Andrews, well maybe not The Princess Diaries junk, but all her stuff before that, so to have her giving the intro just makes it better!! xx, Carrie
(Martha, I've read LW, fear not, and I might even have seen a movie or two. It's movies of The Secret Garden I haven't seen.) |
gardenmart
Saugus, MA
(Zone 6b)
April 9, 2008
7:37 PM Post #4783860
| wow, I forgot there was a whole "Martha" chapter in SG!! Yayy! Marthas rule!
Martha |
carrielamont
Milton, MA
(Zone 6a)
April 9, 2008
8:26 PM Post #4784094
| Marthas DO rule, Martha, except not, you know, that Martha. She has some complex. LOL. |
HoosierGreen
Danville, IN
April 9, 2008
9:08 PM Post #4784308
| My wife and I love the story so much that we named our son after the boy, Colin. He's 23 years old now, and the name is more common, but very unusual at the time.
|
HoosierGreen
Danville, IN
April 9, 2008
9:09 PM Post #4784314
| Actually, we spent six weeks in England when our Colin was five, and when we would call to him, half the kids in the vicinity would look if we were calling them. A much more common name there! |
Willowwind2
Union, WA
April 9, 2008
9:35 PM Post #4784460
| I voted England. That's where the story takes place. I read it in seventh grade and told my daughter about it when she was the same age only I remembered it as "Key to the Garden". She finally found it and it was an "Oh Mother!" moment. I've seen the movie and a play in Seattle with my daughter a few years ago. They did an excellent job with it. |
carrielamont
Milton, MA
(Zone 6a)
April 9, 2008
10:04 PM Post #4784621
| Glad to see so many TSG fans!!!! A gardening primer for every child, don't you think?
xx, Carrie |
violabird
Barnesville, GA
(Zone 7b)
April 9, 2008
11:15 PM Post #4785044
| Who said it wasn't filmed? I just borrowed the video from my neighbor the other day and it was wonderful, had to watch it twice :) |
amethystsm
New Haven, CT
(Zone 6a)
April 10, 2008
1:24 AM Post #4785549
| The Broadway musical from 1991? Written by Lucy Simon and Marsha Norman? Really?
If that is true, i am totally amazed - and would buy it at almost any price! |
violabird
Barnesville, GA
(Zone 7b)
April 10, 2008
1:53 AM Post #4785619
| Sorry, not the musical but an enchanting version all the same. I've been to England and seen some walled gardens, so this was a treat to watch. Heck, it even made weeding look like fun. This version is what I saw [HYPERLINK@www.cduniverse.com] |
amethystsm
New Haven, CT
(Zone 6a)
April 10, 2008
1:05 PM Post #4787418
| Yes, i like that movie too... |
mardijoy
Washington, PA
(Zone 6a)
April 10, 2008
6:23 PM Post #4788717
| The Secret Garden and A Little Princess were two of the "chapter books" that I read to my two youngest daughters. I always read bedtime stories to my kids. We would read three short children's books each night. Bit by bit the two older kids decided to go off and read on their own. At some point the younger ones decided that they wanted me to read "big" books. So every night we would read three chapters (sometimes more if we weren't in a good stopping place) of the current book. I think we read A Little Princess first. I had my paperback copy from when I was in school.
My youngest daughter was involved with a community theater group and has been in the play version of both books. A bit part in A Little Princess and the part of the robin in The Secret Garden.
We loved those books, as well as Little Women, Peter Pan and many others. |
carrielamont
Milton, MA
(Zone 6a)
April 10, 2008
6:35 PM Post #4788756
| Sounds lovely. My kids would never sit still long enough for me to read long books to them. :-( My husband (not their father) read Winnie the Pooh and all the Harry Potters and whatever else I could sneak in there. He never read the girl books, if you know what i mean, so he never read them to my girls...? xx, Carrie |
Samigal
(Pegi) Norwalk, CA
(Zone 10b)
April 10, 2008
10:15 PM Post #4789977
| I voted England. When I read this book I was already a grandma and I loved the story. Thanks all for bringing it all back to me. Gardening is good for the soul. I didn't know about the movie or video, thanks for info. |
CapeCodGardener
Mid-Cape, MA
(Zone 7a)
April 10, 2008
10:23 PM Post #4790037
| The mention of The Secret Garden brought back the thrilling experience of hearing the book read to us fourth-graders by our teacher, chapter by chapter, every school day after lunch. We would put our heads down and dream. I haven't read it since, because after reading Little Women ( a childhood favorite) as an adult, I noticed that it just wasn't the same.
OH yes, I voted "England." |
gardenmart
Saugus, MA
(Zone 6b)
April 10, 2008
11:24 PM Post #4790371
| these books are on my reread list. I have a bunch of books that I reread periodically, Just did Jane Eyre because the Public TV had a new edition on recently. The Little Prince because I went to see the opera version, Pride and Prejudice countless times. Isaac Asimov's I Robot, The complete Harry Potter for the fourth time, and the first books of a variety of series of novels, just to refresh my memory about how it all got started among others. My daughter is amazed that I have read so many books before they made the movies out of them! My mom says the sisters at school when I was in the first and second grades said that I read through the readers on the first day I got them. It used to annoy them somewhat! i can't remember not being able to read.
Love it!
Martha |
amethystsm
New Haven, CT
(Zone 6a)
April 11, 2008
12:40 AM Post #4790776
| Possibly my favourite book is The Little Prince. |
Artgal
Evans, GA
(Zone 7b)
April 11, 2008
9:45 AM Post #4791712
| Maybe it is unsurprising that a lot of us on DG loved this book as a child. Sometimes, in summer, when I open the back gate I like to think of my garden as a "secret garden". |
Jianhua
Shangshui, Henan
(China)
(Zone 7b)
April 11, 2008
11:10 AM Post #4792189
| That Dave starts this thread, I guess, Is one of my favorites that rouses me.
First, I thank chrissy100 and Pinger42 who take trouble having an introduction of the Secret Garden.
Yesterday I went to the city, and purchased the Secret Garden at the price of 15.90 RMB Yuan (a little more than 2.00 AmD) along with a CD disc. The SG is simplified by Canadian David Desmond O'Flaherty for English learners as a foreign language. I read it and listened to it. Very nice a book , one must-have to for gardeners both the young and old.
While reading the SG, I grasped the following key words: Secret Garden, Roses, Robin, Mary, Dickon, Colin, Archibald Craven. In my opinion, the gardening secret lies in its bringing people back to life, to a better life.
By the way, when Dave designed this vote, he should add USA and Austria to the choices. The reasons are:
India -- the start of the story
England -- the set-in of the story
China -- most roses run blood of Chinese roses
France -- the author's first name is Frances
USA -- the author is American
Austria -- a country to which Archibald Craven traveled
picture: my yarden with kids
Click the image for an enlarged view.
|
carrielamont
Milton, MA
(Zone 6a)
April 11, 2008
11:14 AM Post #4792212
| Martha,
I, too, cannot remember not being able to read! I actually remember being young - who knows how old - and looking out at all the WORDS out the car window (one way dry cleaner stop etc.) and trying to remember when those letters didn't shout out what they said to me.
xx, Carrie |
carrielamont
Milton, MA
(Zone 6a)
April 11, 2008
11:18 AM Post #4792230
| Jianhua,
THANK YOU for your lovely picture and cute children! Are you trying to confuse our members more by giving them more choices? LOL. . . do you think the book is mostly about roses? (I ask this as a semi-professional reporter.)
xx, Carrie |
jasmerr
Merrimac, WI
(Zone 4b)
April 11, 2008
11:25 AM Post #4792269
| I love this photo...thank you, Jianhua! |
gloria125
Greensboro, AL
April 11, 2008
11:44 AM Post #4792332
| The story starts in India but the garden is in England.
I got the impression the little girl knew to save the garden because of her background in India.
A few days ago here in Greensboro, I went to buy pizza. The proprietors of the shop are a couple from India. While I was waiting for the pizza, I noticed a little garden out back of the the store. It was a triangle only about 12 feet on a side mulched in gravel, but in it were a blooming dogwood, and several roses in bud. Not many people in Greensboro, know to plant roses and it was a surprise to see these planted outside a commercial place.
Then I started to talk to the woman from India. She pointed out a strip of espaliered plum trees she had planted along the parking lot behind the building. The strip was only 3 ft wide but perhaps 100 ft long. There they were - blooming plum trees! She said she intended to plant tomatoes under the plum trees this summer.
A secret garden if there ever was one! Planted with such interesting plants in such a tiny space.
I was embarrassed that my own 2 1/2 acres was not planted in such an interesting way.
What a lesson in respecting the land! Even a little 3 ft square plot in a parking lot can become an interesting garden.
|
vanillaman
San Gerardo de Rivas
(Costa Rica)
(Zone 11)
April 11, 2008
12:34 PM Post #4792553
| Love that photo Jianhua, those children look so engrossed in those plants! |
fleuriste
Marciac
(France)
(Zone 8a)
April 11, 2008
2:09 PM Post #4792962
| I voted England, but its a cheat because that was where I lived most of my childhood! I read the book when I was around ten years old, a very long time ago! Loved it. It made me the gardener I am today. I dream of finding that ivy-covered wall, with all the climbing roses behibnd it, and the key to the ancient wooden door. It lifts the spirit when I am down. I still have my original copy and read it again from time to time. Interestingly, the gardening in it is very accurate for a walled garden in Yorkshire. You could use it as a guide and be successful. I saw a BBC serial of the book which was brilliant, except for one glaring weakness, the Robin. It was a stuffed bird with dubbed in song. Awful. What a way to spoil a story. Haven't seen any other movies, so I will have a look on Amazon and see what is around. Here in France there is nothing like that available. |
Willowwind2
Union, WA
April 11, 2008
3:12 PM Post #4793216
| Jianhua, Thanks for the special picture. Putting all the countries together does make it a small world and truly loved by everyone everywhere. We should all remember that. |
carrielamont
Milton, MA
(Zone 6a)
April 11, 2008
3:19 PM Post #4793249
| Oh, Fleuriste, that is just what I need to know for this article, because I don't think there is any place in the US that has a climate just like Yorkshire. Mostly we're TOO cold or TOO humid or TOO hot or TOO something. Burnett's adult homes, other than return visits to England, were on Long Island and Bermuda. Something about islands, I guess, that makes the climate mild but not hot (unless one is too close to the equator).
Lovely story, Gloria. . . thank you. I'm so glad Terry/Dave came up with this for a voting both question! xx, Carrie |
CapeCodGardener
Mid-Cape, MA
(Zone 7a)
April 11, 2008
9:24 PM Post #4795128
|
| Quoted: | | I'm so glad Terry/Dave came up with this for a voting both question! xx, Carrie |
Yes, I'd love some more literary "puzzles" like this one!!
|
Willowwind2
Union, WA
April 11, 2008
9:58 PM Post #4795341
| My favorite book ever was " Anthony Adverse". I love fantasy now. |
Jianhua
Shangshui, Henan
(China)
(Zone 7b)
April 12, 2008
12:48 AM Post #4796063
| The above picture was shot this day fortnight. At the weekend, my neighboring kids came to my yarden in twos and threes to see the blooms. Out of great curiosity, they offered help of themselves to do gardening for me. I assigned them to pull up weed, and they went out with all their might with no one complaining of tiredness. Now I have formally acknowledged it that they are volunteers as Little Redhood Buddies for I plan to send each of them a red cap to wear while they are doing the gardening. Pucture: kids enjoying the crabapple bonsai. 
Click the image for an enlarged view.
|
Willowwind2
Union, WA
April 12, 2008
1:10 AM Post #4796110
| We have future farmers of America over here. The kids can be future gardeners of China. |
vanillaman
San Gerardo de Rivas
(Costa Rica)
(Zone 11)
April 12, 2008
1:30 PM Post #4797907
| I love your Bonsais Jianhua, and your little helpers. You can send them here to do my weeding anytime lol! |
carrielamont
Milton, MA
(Zone 6a)
April 12, 2008
2:41 PM Post #4798089
| Great pictures, Jianhua! What is your climate like? xx, Carrie |
Tallulah_B
Calgary, AB
(Zone 3b)
April 12, 2008
7:42 PM Post #4799285
| Hello!! I've never been to this forum before...
After reading some of the posts, I went to my library's site and put in a request for The Secret Garden. I've watched the movie several times, with Margaret O'Brien. It's so beautiful, and I also want to have my own Secret Garden. It's what I'm TRYING to create in my little patch @ the backyard. If only my hubby would quite putting his ladders in the yard lol (He's in construction...)
I plan on painting a scene on the wall of the garden shed that faces the yard, and I will also be making a checkerboard of boxes (on a painted plywood backing) to cover the ugly chainlink fence and block my neighbour's yard from view. Not that it's an ugly yard, but I believe they deserve their privacy!
I'll post pics when I'm done. Don't expect it b4 near the end of the summer tho - both are very ambitious projects that I needed to put down in order to motivate me lol |
carrielamont
Milton, MA
(Zone 6a)
April 12, 2008
9:26 PM Post #4799729
| That's what I do, you notice, Tallulah, is keep reminding everyone that I'm allegedly writing this article, to keep reminding myself. LOL! xx, Carrie |
wannadanc
Olympia, WA
April 13, 2008
7:45 AM Post #4800998
| Thanks for link to book online - am I the only one here who saw that???
How is it that I never EVER read the book or saw the movie? It isn't as if I am THAT old...amazing.
I will read it now ...
Thank you |
carrielamont
Milton, MA
(Zone 6a)
April 13, 2008
8:26 AM Post #4801096
| Yeah, Wanna! xx, Carrie |
Jianhua
Shangshui, Henan
(China)
(Zone 7b)
April 13, 2008
10:40 AM Post #4801571
| Apart from the Secret Garden, I have also read other two garden literatures: The Black Tulip by French Alexandre Dumas when I was having my further education at college, and The Story of a Garden in the South of France by American Richard Goodman which was sent to me as a birthday gift by one of our DG members. Good books to kill time.
By the way, tell you a secret to attract little helpers for your gardens: To make garden job fascinating and noble. The more you tell them they cannot do, the more they will be itching for a go as Tom Sawyer would do.
Picture: my well-shaped yarden in progress
Click the image for an enlarged view.
|
gardenmart
Saugus, MA
(Zone 6b)
April 13, 2008
11:04 AM Post #4801687
| Hey, SG lovers! This article appeared in this morning's Boston Sunday Globe about the Boston Children's Theater doing guess what?
Go here to read the article. I may go to see this!
[HYPERLINK@www.Boston.com] |
latelybloomin77
Kilgore, TX
(Zone 8a)
April 13, 2008
6:46 PM Post #4803660
| Wow that's something ironic. The poll & then the Chidren's play. I have to start reading this book! I've printed the 1st 3 chapters from the free link given earlier by Jasmerr. Just so busy w/the garden and everything else, haven't started. But this definitely seems like one of those...once you start you can't put down, books. What better way to start my new gardening experience, than with a book about 'the secret garden'. |
carrielamont
Milton, MA
(Zone 6a)
April 13, 2008
7:44 PM Post #4804009
| Martha, you wanna go on Wednesday afternoon? xx, Carrie |
