And we definitely enjoyed it! I had fun trying to do the Yorkshire accents (which I'm sure I butchered atrociously) and they had fun watching Mary and Colin turn from selfish brats into nice people. Because I love gardening and my kids get to help me in our flower and vegetable gardens, they could relate really well to a lot of what happened in this book.
But I had either forgotten or just not paid attention to the mystical ideas of Magic in this book. We had some good discussions about how Magic does not make flowers grow or people get well, and how misguided these poor kids were because the adults in their lives weren't teaching them the truth about God. There's also an emphasis on the power of positive thinking, basically, and some pretty humanistic stuff about people becoming good by trying to be good. I was a bit disappointed by all that, to be honest, as I hadn't remembered it at all.
Still, it's a lovely story of selfish people learning to care for things and people beyond themselves, and I do still enjoy it.
If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: G.
This is my 48th book read and reviewed for my second Classics Club list.
Oh, I LOVE The Secret Garden! It's one of my favorite children's classics ("Magic" aside, of course. 😊). I have a huge (probably 1x1.5 foot) illustrated version, and the illustrations are very well done, so I would definitely recommend that for kids, if your library has it, even though you've read it already!
ReplyDeleteSamantha, that illustrated version sounds wonderful! I love oversized books with wonderful illustrations like that. I'll have to see if the library has it, just for funsies. Thanks!
DeleteThis was my sisters favorite book when she was little so my mom read it a lot. We also watched the movie a billion times. There is something so simple but sweet and refreshing about it. (Though, the chanting scene in the garden was always weird to me.)
ReplyDeleteMC, that's very sweet :-) I've seen two different movie versions, I think, and I have the 1949 version with Margaret O'Brien in it sitting on my tbw shelves. Maybe I should pull it out to watch with my kids now that we've finished the book! They like Margaret O'Brien so much in Meet Me in St. Louis.
DeleteDid you see there's a new movie version coming out this summer (in the UK, anyway) with Colin Firth as the uncle?
This book always made me hungry and made me really want to try clotted cream.
ReplyDeleteSkye, yes, soooo much food in this book. I've actually made clotted cream! Only once, but it's bizarrely easy. And delicious. If you ever want to gain like 5 pounds, make some and then don't share it with anyone, lol. Delicious!
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