Secret Garden

Boom Title: The Secret Garden
Author: Francesca Hodgson Burnett
Number of Pages: 358

Mary was always a very grumpy child, and very spoilt. She lived in India, where she always had servants around her, and she could order them what to do, and was always of short temper...and very rude. No one ever liked her. She never even noticed, because she liked no one, and nothing, she hated everyone and everything. Kids also despised her very much and they would make songs that matched her personality:

Mistress Mary, quite contrary,

How does your garden grow?

With silver bells, and cockle shells

And marigolds all in a row

Mary was so stiff and so spoilt she didn't even realise that her mother was always away at parties, and her father dead. But one day everyone died, of some kind of sickness. Her Rajah that used to take care of her was dead, and slowly the servants were dying. So everyone forgot about the impatient Mary. But when she was found, it was a conclusion she was an orphan and her only relative was an uncle, a very depressed one. He didn't want her either, so she got out of the way. However in the large house she was living in, there were so many mysteries...

The first time Calvin and Mary met

There was a reason Mary's uncle was 

devastated. He once had a beautiful wife who had died when she fell from a tree. The garden where the tree was locked ever since. And it was up to Mary to find it. Thanks to a friendly Robin she found the key of the garden, and when she entered it, it almost looked dead, but not so dead to she could fix it. She found a friend called Dickon, who understood animals and lived in nature. Working in the garden helped improve her attitude. However there was never end to mysteries in the house. She heard crying, she was sure of it. And when she went to explore, she found a helpless boy, crying in bed. His name was Calvin and the reason he was crying was because he was afraid that he was never going to live till when grows up, and that he would be a haunch back. Everyone said so. He would often go into hysterics, and was as spoiled as Mary was. The reason was because he was the Uncle's son. The Uncle couldn't stand to look at him, because he had mother's eyes, however they were unhappy instead of joyful. So he spent his time in his room, and no one was allowed to see him, nor was he to be talked about him, however he was to be obeyed. The thing is a doctor (again an evil doctor, like in The Pearl), wanted to make sure Calvin stayed unhealthy because he would own the home if Calvin died. And Calvin heard plenty of times that people were talking about him, about him dying, and Mary thought that he felt quite proud when he said it. All day long he went bossing around people and asking them to do exactly as he wanted. Mary realised how rude he was, but he enjoyed her company, so she stayed with him. And she told him all about the Secret Garden that she and Dickon were repairing, and how nice it was outside  The thing is, Calvin had never been outside. He was in bed all day long, and his legs were weak, and he was worried for the bump on the back that would make him hunchback. But the garden changed him as it changed Mary. He was fascinated by the flowers, and Dickon with his animals that he tames; a black crow, a fox cub, a baby lamb, and two squirrels. And it wasn't long before Calvin got the hang of walking too. It was a fascination moment. First he went on a wheel chair, and then on legs. However they didn't tell anyone this. They kept it a big secret. They were absolutely sure that everyone would freak out if they saw Calvin walking instead of lying in bed, or being pushed in a wheelchair. His father who was constantly travelling  heard one day a voice calling him. It said "Come to the Garden!" It was at that very moment that Dickon had shouted, "I shall live!" It's as if the Uncle heard it. He went home as quickly as possible  and found the son that had his mother, but this time, they were happy.

"I shall live forever ever and ever!"