The Secret Garden

The Secret Garden is a novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. It was initially published in serial format beginning in 1910 and was first published in its entirety in 1911. It is now one of Burnett’s most popular novels and is considered a classic of English Children’s Literature. Several stage and film adaptations have been produced.

     Marketing to both adult and juvenile audiences may have effected its early reception, since the book was not as celebrated as Burnett’s previous works during her lifetime. The Secret Garden paled in comparison to the popularity of Burnett’s other works for a long period. Tracing the book’s revival from almost complete eclipse at the time of Burnett’s death in 1924, Anne H. Lundin noted the author’s obituary notices mainly remarked on Little Lord Fauntleroy and passed over The Secret Garden in silence.

     With the rise of scholarly work in children’s literature over the past quarter-century, The Secret Garden has risen steadily in prominence. It is often noted as one of the best children’s books of the Twentieth Century. In 2003 it ranked No. 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 No. 15 among all-time children’s novels in a survey published by School Library Journal, a monthly with primarily U.S. audience (A Little Princess ranked No. 56 and Little Lord Fauntleroy did not make the Top 100.) Jeffrey Masson considers The Secret Garden “one of the greatest books ever written for children.” In an oblique compliment, Barbara Sleigh’s title character reads The Secret Garden on the train at the beginning of her children’s novel Jessamy.