The Secret Garden
condensed by Laura Janelle and Laraine Diane E. Abad
- Manila: Lampara Publishing House, Inc., 2011.
- 127p. ill. 19 cm.
- Illustrated Classics Collection .
The Secret Garden is a novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett first published in book form in 1911, after serialization in The American Magazine (November 1910 - August 1911). Set in England, it is one of Burnett's most popular novels and seen as a classic of English children's literature. Several stage and film adaptations have been made. It is often noted as one of the best children's books of the twentieth century. In 2003 it ranked number 51 in The Big Read, a survey of the British public by the BBC to identify the "Nation's Best-loved Novel" (not children's novel). Based on a 2007 online poll, the U.S. National Education Association named it one of "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children". In 2012 it was ranked number 15 among all-time children's novels in a survey published by School Library Journal, a monthly with primarily U.S. audience.
The parents of Mary Lennox are not really prepared to have a child, and so they decide to hire a nanny or ayah to take care of her. But one day, Mary Lennox finds out that some of their servants and her parents have died of cholera. And so she moves to another country.