The secret garden

The late Victorian classic about the transformation of the spoiled orphan Mary Lennox through physical labor in a long-abandoned garden loses crucial character development as well as much of its romance and magic in this picture-book adaptation. The illustrations, rendered in precise watercolor and colored pencil, are sentimental and stiff. For younger kids, read the original aloud. From HORN BOOK Fall 1998, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

In this bad version of a bad idea, the richly developed classic novel has been squeezed into the picture-book format. Resembling the bald summary of an opera plot, the story in its reduced state is all but a cliché: An orphaned girl finds a neglected garden and a neglected cousin and restores them both with the aid of the housemaid's young brother. Collier's full-color paintings take advantage of the opportunities for flora and fauna as the garden responds to cultivation and to the turning seasons, but the children's figures seem pasted into the space, and the scenes lack warmth. (Picture book. 4-8)

'What happened then, some would say, was almost magic.' Excerpted from The Secret Garden (Open Air Theatre Version) (NHB Modern Plays) by Holly Robinson, Anna Himali Howard All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.