The Secret Garden

The Secret Garden

by Frances Hodgson Burnett

The sun shone down for nearly a week on the secret garden. The Secret Garden was what Mary called it when she was thinking of it. She liked the name, and she liked still more the feeling that when its beautiful old walls shut her in no one knew where she was. It seemed almost like being shut out of the world in some fairy place. The few books she had read and liked had been fairy-story books, and she had read of secret gardens in some of the stories. Sometimes people went to sleep in them for a hundred years, which she had thought was rather foolish. She had no intention of going to sleep, and, in fact, she was becoming wider awake every day which passed at Misselthwaite. She was beginning to like to be out of doors; she no longer hated the wind, but enjoyed it. She could run faster, and longer, and she could skip up to a hundred. The bulbs in the secret garden must have been much astonished. Such nice clear places were made round them that they had all the breathing space they wanted, and really, if Mistress Mary had known it, they began to cheer up under the dark earth and work tremendously. The sun could get at them and warm them, and when the rain came down it could reach them at once, so they began to feel very much alive. 

Mary was an odd, determined little person, and now she had something interesting to be determined about, she was very much absorbed, indeed. She worked and dug and pulled up weeds steadily, only becoming more pleased with her work every hour instead of tiring of it. It seemed to her like a fascinating sort of play. She found many more of the sprouting pale green points than she had ever hoped to find. They seemed to be starting up everywhere and each day she was sure she found tiny new ones, some so tiny that they barely peeped above the earth. There were so many that she remembered what Martha had said about the "snowdrops by the thousands," and about bulbs spreading and making new ones. These had been left to themselves for ten years and perhaps they had spread, like the snowdrops, into thousands. She wondered how long it would be before they showed that they were flowers. Sometimes she stopped digging to look at the garden and try to imagine what it would be like when it was covered with thousands of lovely things in bloom.

1. Make a copy of this document

2. Read the story quietly

3. Read the story aloud

4. Listen to the story

5. Re-read the story and highlight all the words you don’t understand.

6. Look them up in Vocabulary.com

7. Find a picture of a snowdrop. 

8. Answer the questions

Write in your own words what you know about Mary.

Mary was an odd, strongly motivated little person. She liked to read fairy story books. 

Why was Mary becoming faster and stronger?

Mary was becoming faster and stronger because she was beginning to like to be out of doors, she no longer hated the wind, but enjoyed it. She could run faster, and longer, and she could skip up to a hundred.

What did Mary do in the garden?

She worked and dug and pulled up weeds steadily, only becoming more pleased with her work every hour instead of tiring of it.

9. Find an image on google or draw a picture that illustrates this story.