Come summertime, when the roses are a bloom and the daisies start dancing in the breeze, I tend to pull out my gardening books and think about revisiting my favorite children’s literature. Quiet and shy as a child, I was content with my nose in a book on a summer’s day, curled upon my bed or sitting on the front stoop. The world came alive in my travels through books and I knew I always had a friend.
One summer I devoured all of the “Heidi” books by Johanna Spyri. I was immersed in the Alps with Peter and the Grandfather. Lois Lenski and her regional series of books kept me captive another summer where I learned about strawberry farms and the devastation of floods and how children lived in rural parts of the United States. The best summer was when a neighbor, whose four daughters were grown, gave us a box of books. Children’s classics. I thought I had inherited the greatest of summertime treasures.
This year, I was determined to read once again The Secret Garden. Fueled by the gardens I’ve visited
lately and buoyed by the garden walk last week, I pulled it out from behind a door that houses my collection of Tasha Tudor books. I have been once again enchanted by the garden’s locked door and what lies beyond it that holds so much hope for the children in Frances Hodgson Burnett’s classic.
This weekend, I had the opportunity to visit a most wonderful garden nearby, with mown garden paths and a smokehouse, a sprawling lawn for children to frolic in, and an 1880′s house that was a treasure to behold, not to mention Barbara, the hostess, who is a most remarkable woman and mother and gardener. When the feast was ready, we all helped carrying platters and bowls and trays through the paths and to the glade, where tables awaited, candles flickered, and good food was abundant.
I sat for a moment in the clearing and just looked about, sure I had tumbled into a secret garden. Has this ever happened to you?
Back on the cutoff, I enjoyed getting re-aquainted with ten year old Mary Lennox, her friend Dickon, who can charm animals , and her sickly cousin, Colin, who emerges at last from his bed to share the joys of the secret garden at Misselthwaite Manor in Yorkshire.
It is such a joy to watch Mary and Colin blossom, much like the flowers in the secret garden Mary is determined to reclaim. Dickon is such a wonderful boy. Even the adults soften and grow in this beautiful book, which I understand was originally marketed to both children and adults when it was first released in the early 1900′s.
Have you ever read The Secret Garden? It is such a sweet story, not only of a trio of children, two who have been virtually abandoned by parents and life, who attempt to restore a garden forbidden to all at Misselthwaite Manor, and flourish themselves in the process. It is also a story of hope in what lies beyond us and how our dreams can help us to grow and to thrive and to be the best we can be.
I love the edition I have, filled with Tasha Tudor’s soft illustrations. The Secret Garden, along with Barbara’s garden, which so reminded me of the pictures I’ve seen of Tasha’s garden, have made for a most delightful time.
The Secret Garden
A perfect book for a child – or for the child in you to read on a summer’s day.
Once again Penny. . . . . . lovely! Magical places very often come alive in a garden and beyond. . . My magical garden awaits you!!!!!
Mary Anne
Thank you, thank you, Mary Anne. I know that yours will be magical, indeed.
That is such a magical book, and your photo of the closed gate brings it all back – I want to open the gate and see what’s on the other side! There’s a marvellous movie of the The Secret Garden, which I used to watch with my older granddaughter. It was a favourite of ours. And aren’t those illustrations delightful – I hadn’t realised they were by Tasha Tudor, whom I know from a book about gardens that she wrote in later life (is it the same person I wonder?)
Is it the most recent movie of The Secret Garden, Juliet? I should see it, now, with your recommendation. I love the illustrations, and I just love Tasha Tudor’s work.
It is the same Tasha Tudor. She was an illustrator of children’s books, some she wrote herself, but, mostly others she illustrated, including classics such as The Little Princess, Little Women, Wind in the Willows, and dozens of others. There were cookbooks she illustrated as well as her own. Later in her life, there were three beautiful books about her life with rich photographs. The first one, I think it is called The Wonderful World of Tasha Tudor, she wrote. It is of her gardens and house, and lifestyle, which was much like that of the early 1880′s. The other two books were penned by Tovah Martin. Tasha Tudor’s Garden, and, Tasha Tudor’s Crafts (something on that order). Both were photographed by Richard Brown. If you saw one of them, you should try to find the other two.
Tasha Tudor passed away a few years ago, but, there is still a family website, Tasha Tudor and Family, that will give you a better idea about her. She was very talented, a bit eccentric, and lived her life that way she wanted to.
Actually I have never read this classic (although perhaps I should put it on the list of books to read aloud to my granddaughter) — but my eldest loved the movie, which I watched numerous times.
I am actually hoping that through my Paris wanderings I happen upon a secret garden of my own
Oh, do put it on the to be read list, Molly, though you, and I, will have quite a few years yet before our granddaughters will be old enough to understand it. You are the second to comment on the movie – I must get it.
I’m sure you will, Molly. Some very famous and some hidden secrets.
A wonderful post Penny – inspiring us to read and to slow down and take a look around us. The garden party you attended sounded gorgeous!
There is so much beauty around us, Janet, and you are experience some of it each time you are at your cottage. Even the storms have their beauty, though not the likes of which you had the other night.
Hope you’ve found that Burren honey. I did some googling, and, from what I read, it looks like the hives are gone. I hope not.
The Secret Garden is one of my many favorites. Celeste and I have read it together and have seen the movies (both old and new) together. It is a wonderful book to get lost in during a lazy summer day.
I admire your photos and your garden party as well. We have not even eaten on the deck lately. The heat has driven us in.
I can’t wait for the time I can share it with a certain little someone and must get ahold of the movie(s). It was such a joy to read again on these hot, lazy days.
We haven’t either, Janet. Too hot. We have used the grill and then rushed inside to the coolness. Looks to be a long, hot week.
Thank you for that information about Tasha Tudor. The movie was one that was out about 10 years ago, and it may be older than that.
You’re welcome, Juliet. She was really an interesting woman who did life the way she wanted to. I love her artwork. I will have to check out the movie. I’m sure the library has it. Thank you.
I love The Secret Garden still. How lovely to read it again while your head is full of gardens. My husband and I spent a week one year at the New Plymouth garden festival. On the way home I said if I closed my eyes I could see gardens and floweres imprinted in my brain..
Heidi was dearly loved as a child. I cried many a tear! I re-visited the book not long ago and was surprisingly disappointed.
It was the perfect time for me to read it, Joan.
What a lovely week that must have been and to have the sense of it being imprinted on your brain is so wonderful.
I cried and cried through Heidi, too, Joan. I wonder if I would have the same feeling now if I re-visited her. It is interesting the impact books have on us at different times in our lives.
I’m well overdue for a re-read of The Secret Garden. Thanks for reminding me. Lovely post!
You are quite welcome, Nicola. Thank you. I hope you have a chance to return to the secret garden sometime soon.