The Secret Garden (HarperClassics)

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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)

Book Description

When orphaned Mary Lennox, lonely and sad, comes to live at her uncle's great house on the Yorkshire moors, she finds it full of secrets. At night, she hears the sound of crying down one of the long corridors. Outside, she meets Dickon, a magical boy who can charm and talk to animals. Then, one day, with the help of a friendly robin, Mary discovers the most mysterious wonder of all--a secret garden, walled and locked, which has been completely forgotten for years and years. Is everything in the graden dead, or can Mary bring it back to life?

Customer Reviews:

A classic for girls.......2007-09-22

The Secret Garden is a book about a spoiled girl who uncovers the mysteries of the house around her which include, but are not limited too, what is behind the wall, and why is it kept secret. It is a good classic, but girls will enjoy it much more than boys do.

Classic.......2007-08-06

Even if you are an adult you should reread this book. Helps you to see how fun it was to be a kid.

Seeds the child's imagination..........2007-07-29

This has always been one of my favorite books since childhood. When I read my first story in this book it gave me so much inspiration to use my imagination as a child should. A child's imagination is so real! This reality soon takes the form of abstract, which paves the road to anywhere he wants it to go - or not...

The Secret Garden.......2007-07-05

This edition is printed on really cheap, unappealing paper. I can't imagine anyone wanting to give this version of a children's classic as a gift, or even to read from it to a child yourself.

Spellbinding Book.......2007-07-03

This book is the best book I have ever read. It's a light, happy book that I will treasure for the rest of my life. Ilove the theme of hope in the book, that will convince readers about the Magic inside themselves...if they hope. If they believe something will happen, it will. That theme is so beautifully conveyed. I couldn't put it down, and it is most definitely my new favorite book. A MUST READ!!!!!!!!

I ALSO RECCOMEND THE FOLLOWING:
Arthur and the Invisibles, Artemis Fowl Series, The Book Without Words, The Kingdom Keepers, the Prophecy of the Stones, The Game of Sunken PLaces, Midnight Blue

The Secret Garden (The Illus Children's Library)

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A very fine book to read
One of the best books ever written
Secret Garden

The Secret Garden (The Illus Children's Library)
Frances Hodgson Burnett
Manufacturer: Gramercy
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0517221152
Release Date: 2002-09-03

Book 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.

Customer Reviews:

A very fine book to read.......2007-02-08

For anyone who is teaching their 8 or 9 year old how to write this is one fine book to read because it is so well written. I am a homeschooler who is using IEW to teach my children to write and this book is loaded with "dress-ups". All that aside, the story line is captivating, the characters are memorable, and there are lessons to be learned here that will last a lifetime.

One of the best books ever written.......2005-10-02

THIS REVIEW IS ONLY ABOUT THE ORIGINAL VERSION, NOT THE MODERN REWRITE!!!

When I first read this book (at around 9), I loved it because of the main character, Mary. She was described as "disagreeable," but I liked her -- and I was disappointed when she changed from her "contrary" self into a nice little girl. I also loved the other characters (especially Martha, the "sturdy" housemaid and the "robin who showed the way" and Ben Weatherstaff), and the descriptions.

For example, Mary explores Miselthwaite Manor on a rainy day; she's heard that the house has over a hundred rooms-- and the book is so vividly written that all these years later, I can still remember her playing with a set of ivory elephants, finding a mouse and her young family in a sofa....Other vivid small moments are the maid talking about the moors and opening the windows which made me long to go to Yorkshire and breathe in the moor air. THe story itself is quite suspenseful and I loved that, too.

Now that I'm grown up, I still love all those things, but I understand why Mary had to change (though I still wish she hadn't!). Now, parts of the book (like her reaction to the flowers starting to grow in the garden) make me cry -- they're touching and Mary is too. I appreciate the descriptions and characters and plotting even more than I did as a child and agree that this is probably the best children's book ever written -- and one of the best books ever written, too.

It inspired me as a writer. I am the author of BLOW OUT THE MOON, which is also about a contrary child (but an American) who transforms herself as a result of kind-hearted English people in the English countryside. I didn't copy THE SECRET GARDEN, but the English boarding school I went to as a child (which is the subject of Blow Out the Moon) did remind me of that book!

Secret Garden.......2004-12-01

This is a classic book about a girl, Mary, who is forced to go to her uncle's mysterious mansion to live. But when a boy is discovered in a secret passage, Mary gets suspicious, and a little scared.
All that suspicion is gone when the mean gardener tells her the story of a secret garden. Of course, her curiosity gets the better of her and she goes to find it, that is, with the help of her new birdie friend. The two of them embark on a journey that will change their lives.
Every night when I read this book, I could not put it down because it was so good! When you think the problems are over, another one joins in. I enjoyed reading this book, and I hope you do too!

-6th Grade Student-

A Gardener's Labyrinth: Portraits of People, Plants and Places

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A celebration of great English gardeners

A Gardener's Labyrinth: Portraits of People, Plants and Places
Patrick Kinmonth , and Tessa Traeger
Manufacturer: Thames & Hudson
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1861542496

Book Description

An evocation of the British garden past, present, and future, A Gardener's Labyrinth celebrates 50 visionary gardeners and their glorious gardens. Illustrated with outstanding images by acclaimed photographer Tessa Traeger, the book reveals a history of gardens from tiny city allotments to country estates and formality to wilderness, as seen through the eyes of those who have shaped them. Whether as designers or writers, horticulturists or conservationists, explorers or scholars, all have enriched and furthered the tradition of gardening. Patrick Kinmonth unravels the principles and philosophies that have informed the gardeners' work and explores new directions for gardens of the future. A brief biography of each gardener completes this elegant book, designed by Stephen Gan of Visionaire magazine.

Customer Reviews:

A celebration of great English gardeners.......2004-01-14

Fifty great gardeners are profiled here in this beautiful coffee table book. Chapters are divided as "The Garden Proposed," "The Garden Described," "The Garden Planted," "The Garden Preserved," and "The Garden Explored." A four or five page essay accompanies each portrait in which the gardener discusses various aspects of their career, their philosophy of gardening, inspiration, opinions on design, or the making of their own personal garden. A portrait of the gardener and photos of their gardens are included. The photographs are by Tessa Traeger (renowed for her work in British Vogue) and they are simply outstanding.

The gardeners included are Andy Goldsworthy, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Charles Jencks, Kim Wilkie, Penelope Hobhouse, John Brookes, Arabella Lennox-Boyd, Mary Keen, Dan Pearson, Julian and Isabel Bannerman, Roy Strong and Julia Trevelyan Oman, Bob Flowerdew, Robin Lane Fox, Anne Scott-James, Pamela Schwerdt and Sibylle Dreutzberger, Graham Stuart Thomas, Anna Pavord, David Wheeler, Andrew Lawson, Tony Lord, David Hessayon, Geoff Stokes, Valerie Finnis, Carol Klein, Christopher Lloyd and Fergus Garrett, Beth Chatto, Keith Wiley, Alan Bloom, David Austin, Joy Larkcom, Jackie and Alan Gear, Mike Snowden, Miriam Rothschild, John Sales, Marchioness of Salisbury, Xa Tollemache, Robin Compton, Angelika Cawdor, Gilly Drummond, Martin Puddle, Beth Rothschild, Brian Mathew, Roy Lancaster, Christopher Brickell, James Compton, Nigel Marshall, Barry Unwin, Ghillean Prance, and Tim Smit. Biographies on each gardener are included at the back of the book.

Book Description

Frightened orphan Mary discovers the joyful wonders of life on the Yorkshire Moors with the help of two local boys and a mysterious, abandoned garden...where all things seem possible.

Customer Reviews:

Mistress Mary, quite contrary..........2003-11-02

The Secret Garden - my mum gave me this book when I was about eight and in the front it says: "for Kate, who will stay up reading until the wee hours of the morning." and it is true. I've read this book many times since then and I discover something new each time.

The characters are wonderful, especially Mary, Colin, Ben Weatherstaff and the "Yorkshire angel" Dickon. The changes that happen to both Mary and Colin throughout the book are a delight to observe.

I feel protected and happy once I've finished this book, things turn out happily, for the best and the image I have in my head of the Secret Garden surpasses anything I have ever seen in real life - and that is fine, for this is literature.

Book Description

A sensational bestseller when it appeared in 1986, The Garden of Eden is the last uncompleted novel of Ernest Hemingway, which he worked on intermittently from 1946 until his death in 1961. Set on the Côte d'Azur in the 1920s, it is the story of a young American writer, David Bourne, his glamorous wife, Catherine, and the dangerous, erotic game they play when they fall in love with the same woman. "A lean, sensuous narrative...taut, chic, and strangely contemporary," The Garden of Eden represents vintage Hemingway, the master "doing what nobody did better" (R. Z. Sheppard, Time).

Download Description

A sensational bestseller when it appeared in 1986, The Garden of Eden is the last uncompleted novel of Ernest Hemingway, which he worked on intermittently from 1946 until his death in 1961. Set on the Cote d'Azur in the 1920s, it is the story of a young American writer, David Bourne, his glamorous wife, Catherine, and the dangerous, erotic game they play when they fall in love with the same woman. "A lean, sensuous narrative...taut, chic, and strangely contemporary," The Garden of Eden represents vintage Hemingway, the master "doing what nobody did better" (R. Z. Sheppard, Time).

Customer Reviews:

Quite boring..........2007-07-04

Hemingway failed to engage me in this particular story.

Perhaps, in this day in age, the antics of this goofy sexual saga, lacks enough juice and shock value to carry us through it with interest or enthusiasm.

In addition, I found that his writing style was quite different than in his other works...

Somewhat boring and disappointing

Garden of Eden.......2007-03-08

This is Hemingway's worst book. It's hard to know if he was going for the "titillation factor" or if he was simply this jaded, cynical and without compassion. If "three ways" thrill you, this is your Hemingway book; otherwise, it simply illustrates how superficial and careless he could be -- and his writing in this one is pitiful.

Hemingway and Eros: A Complex Combination.......2006-08-23

This is one of those books, published posthumously, that encourages readers to go back and read all of an author's previous works in its light. It's essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the psychology of Hemingway's work--and especially for anyone who thinks he already understands it. The games Hemingway's characters play with gender and sexuality in this novel cause us to reconsider the role of gender--and gender AS a role played by characters--in much of his earlier work. It's not surprising that this book was greeted with slight embarrassment upon publication. It reveals a Hemingway whose view of sexuality is much more complex and Modernist than that of many of his more conservative readers.

Diamond in the rough.......2006-06-07

I loved it. That said, I understand why it is in some sense unfinished - by which I mean 'not polished,' instead of incomplete. The story is fantastic and the characters some of the best Hemingway ever created. Perhaps the most enjoyable is the meta-writing: his writing on writing through the main character, who is forced to confront that many of his ideas about what he is doing and how it is to be done are too rigid - perhaps even totally wrong. Then again, the steamy affair and brutal exchanges leading to the climax ... masterful. None of his other books got me as hot or as emotionally involved as this one. Another 15 years and this might have been the best thing he ever wrote. Enjoy.

Should You Or Shouldn't You Read It.......2006-03-22

Yes, you should. It is strange and it is racy and the safari stuff does not really fit but this is a great book. It is closest to The Sun Also Rises and if he had written 100 books about people who just seemed to hang around I would have read them all.

Also, do not be scared off because it says "unfinished work". The ending works perfectly as is.

4 1/2 stars!

The Paradise Garden Murals of Malinalco: Utopia and Empire in Sixteenth-Century Mexico

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The Paradise Garden Murals of Malinalco: Utopia and Empire in Sixteenth-Century Mexico
Jeanette Favrot Peterson
Manufacturer: Univ of Texas Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 029272750X

The Enabling Garden: Creating Barrier-Free Gardens

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Don't let anything stop you from gardening

The Enabling Garden: Creating Barrier-Free Gardens
Gene Rothert
Manufacturer: Taylor Trade Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0878338470

Customer Reviews:

Don't let anything stop you from gardening.......1998-02-19

Buy two, at least. If you know a disabled, ill, or age-enriched gardener, this book is an absolutely perfect gift. If you garden, you'll want one book entirely for yourself, whether you're in perfect health and mobility or not. There are tips in here for garden design that you would never have thought about, and think about this: Can you show your garden to friends and acquaintances in wheelchairs, or is it closed off to them? Will you be able to move around in your own garden thirty years from now, or if you break your leg skiing? I savored the parts about attracting wildlife -- not pests, but butterflies and songbirds.

Average customer rating:

The title maybe Ugly Vegetables, but it's beautiful story
The Ugly Vegetables
Enjoyable
An awesome book and receipe included, how great is that!
Should Be in Every Library!

The Ugly Vegetables
Grace Lin
Manufacturer: Charlesbridge Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0881063363

Book Description

It's easy to appreciate a garden exploding with colorful flowers and fragrances, but what do you do with a patch of ugly vegetables? Author/illustrator Grace Lin recalls such a garden in this charming and eloquent story.

The neighbors' gardens look so much prettier and so much more inviting to the young gardener than the garden of “black-purple-green vines, fuzzy wrinkled leaves, prickly stems, and a few little yellow flowers” that she and her mother grow. Nevertheless, mother assures her that “these are better than flowers.” Come harvest time, everyone agrees as those ugly Chinese vegetables become the tastiest, most aromatic soup they have ever known. As the neighborhood comes together to share flowers and ugly vegetable soup, the young gardener learns that regardless of appearances, everything has its own beauty and purpose.

The Ugly Vegetables springs forth with the bright and cheerful colors of blooming flowers and bumpy, ugly vegetables. Grace Lin's colorful, playful illustrations pour forth with abundant treasures. Complete with a guide to the Chinese pronunciation of the vegetables and the recipe for ugly vegetable soup! Try it . . . you'll love it, too!

Customer Reviews:

The title maybe Ugly Vegetables, but it's beautiful story.......2007-05-13

I was drawn to this book for several reasons. First off, I have a child born in and adopted from China and am naturally drawn to books relating to Chinese people. As much as I want her to understand her birth culture I am also learning at the same time. We have several Grace Lin books in our library at home and have loved everyone of them. What I love about this book is that it illustrates how we all have something to teach one another and that through our sharing and teaching we actually become comfortable with ourselves. This isn't just a book about some unusual vegetables, it's a story about people and what we each have to offer the world.

The Ugly Vegetables.......2006-03-15

One of my two year olds favorite books. Beautiful illustrations and a fun story, especially if coming from a gardening background. My daughter also loves trying to say the Chinese words for the vegetables at the end of the book.

Enjoyable.......2005-10-04

I bought this book for my 3 year old, but I think it's a bit too complicated for her. The story is lovely, and I bought this based on our enjoyment together of several other books illustrated and/or written by Ms. Lin. However, her attention span at 3 is too short to get through all of the narrative, so we just looked at the pictures while I summarized. The pictures, as usual, were colorful and intriguing, but we put this book aside for next Summer, when she'll be closer to 4, and we can read it together as we plan our own "ugly" vegetable garden.

An awesome book and receipe included, how great is that!.......2004-08-22

Each Grace Lin book I get, I am just so impressed by her talent! Every child loves to get their hands into dirt and growing flowers or vegetables is always fun and gives the child great pride to show everyone their hard work and or beautiful flowers!

Every child wants to be just the same as their friends, especially those in the neighborhood. Mom and daughter start in the spring to plant their garden and while everyone else in the neighborhood each have their own way of tending their gardens totally different from how her and her mom garden. When their plants appear they look like grass, where other neighbors' appear they look like normal plants.

The little girl constantly asks questions as all children do, why mommy, why mommy and her mommy patiently answers each of her daughters questions. When others in the neighborhood have beautiful flowersthat smell so good, the little girls garden has what she sees as ugly plants with no beautiful scents. Once the vegetables are ready to be harvested the little girl and mother gather their wheelbarrow with their vegetables. Later that afternoon the daughter is out playing in the yard and smells a wonderful smell and it's coming from her house! Her mom has made soup using their harvest and her mom gives her a bowl..... it tastes so good! Then there comes knocking at their door and it's the little girls neighbors wanting to trade their beautiful flowers for a bowl of soup. The Mom tells the neighbors about each vegetables and the next spring the little girl notices her neighbors growing " Ugly Vegetables" too!

I love that Lin includes a receipe to make using these so called "ugly vegetables" and that she included their names and even sounded them out. Keep up the good work Mrs. Lin and I'll keep on buying your books and singing praises to anyone who'll read my reviews!

Should Be in Every Library!.......2001-06-29

This was a wonderful story that my husband and children just loved. We learned about some new vegetables in the process. As a kid I wasn't fond of bitter melon, but I'm willing to give it a second try after reading the book! My 5 and 6 year old boys are clamoring for us to go out, buy some ugly vegetables, and make the soup! This book appeals to every member of the family and the illustrations are beautiful.

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Secret Garden (Young Reader's ed)
Frances Hodgson Burnett , and Jane Parker Resnick
Manufacturer: Courage Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Beautiful Madness: One Man's Journey Through Other People's Gardens

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To Know the Soul of Those Who Garden - Read On!!
A Treat for Gardeners

Beautiful Madness: One Man's Journey Through Other People's Gardens
James Dodson
Manufacturer: Amazon Remainders Account
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: B000H5ULRK

Book Description

Beautiful Madness will do for competitive gardening what Word Freak did for competitive Scrabble, and what Best in Show did for competitive dog breeding. It's Susan Orlean's The Orchid Thief with a sense of humor. You'll never look at a potted plant the same way again.

During an amazing year of living botanically, James Dodson went behind the scenes of the world's two most important garden shows (the Philadelphia Flower Show and the Chelsea Garden Show in New York City); spent time with the Botticelli of Bulbs; attended a rare plant auction of high rollers; sneaked into a Hosta convention; communed with the kindred spirits of Thomas Jefferson and John Bartram; met a man smuggling exotic day lilies; learned the inside poop on ten or twelve of the Western world's most influential gardens; swiped cuttings from a Founding Father's shrubbery; hung out with ten or twelve of the most accomplished gardening fanatics on earth; built three new gardens of his own; and wound up hanging perilously from a limb on the side of a cliff in Southern Africa, the birthplace of an estimated one-third of the world's flowers, where he capped off his year of incalculable learning and discovery by tagging along with four of America's leading plant hunters on an expedition into the rugged jungles to find the exotic new species of tomorrow.

This yeoman's tale of shared horticultural obsession burrows deeply into the story of how Americans became such fanatical gardeners and are today, in fact, at the forefront of what everyone agrees is a new Golden Age of Gardening, an unprecedented growth in gardening's popularity that has—according to a recent Gallop poll—an astonishing eighty percent of adult Americans claiming to be primary hobby gardeners.

Customer Reviews:

To Know the Soul of Those Who Garden - Read On!!.......2006-07-01

James Dodson has an amazing ability to make any aspect of his life that he cares to share with us interesting, readable and enjoyable. I have read all of his books. He has collaborated with Arnold Palmer on his autobiography.

He has written eloquently about his relationship with his father in a moving book entitled Final Rounds. He has written several books that talk about his relationshiip with his children and family. He has written about The Dewsweepers, a group of men who share a love of golf and true friendship. His personal books are about relationships, spiritualty and life and they are all very moving and very entertaining.

He has written what I consider the definitive biography of Ben Hogan which was a total departure from his previous efforts. A real tour de force.

In this book, golfers and golfing are hardly mentioned. This book is about gardeners and gardening. Is it ever.

A transplanted son of the "mid-south", Dobson and his family live now in Maine. A place where gardening does not come easy. Much of one's time, if they live in Maine and garden is planning for those few months where the climate is hospitable to plant life. The rest of the time, Mother Nature does her best to make life miserable for growing things and the people who care for them.

I did not buy this book. My wife did. However, before she was ready to read it, I spotted it, noted the name of the author, wondered if there were two James Dodson's, determined that the one I was familiar with was one and the same with this author and started to read.

It is perfectly logical that my wife would buy the book. She is a gardener, both flower and vegetable. She has lovely gardens and I enjoy admiring them, photographing them and keeping the lawns that surround them looking neat and trimmed. However, as I told her many years ago, "I don't weed." So, for me to start reading a book about the subject was unlikely. And I can assure you that if Dodson was not the author I would not have.

I was not long into the book before he had me hooked as he laid out his passion for gardening and related it to so many aspects of the gardening world and it's people. He even reintroduced me to an old friend I have not seen in a very long time - a lady by the name of Polly Logan. What a special treat THAT was.

As I closed the covers on the book, I was not invigorated to start turing over the earth and setting out a garden of my own. I did have a new appreciation of those who do and I enjoyed the travels that Dodson took the reader on to many of the pantheons of gardening around the world.

It truly is a beautiful madness and we are all enriched because of it.

A Treat for Gardeners.......2006-03-18

From the knowledgeable plant growers to the every day gardeners, the encounters Dodson writes about are most interesting and informative. I especially enjoyed the behind the scenes of the Philadelphia Flower Show and his return visit there the next year. His expedition to Africa opened my eyes to the flowers growing there, the trees, animals and customs of the county. A must read for all who enjoy gardening where ever you live. I did not want it to end.

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