I had to read the Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett for school and I hated, hated, HATED it! Funny, now that I’m on stage crew for a play based on the book. What’d you guys think of it?
I loved it as a child. I don’t know that I would call it my favorite book, but it certainly ranked in my top 10 or 20 to reread.
Not sure if I read this book by that author, but I loved the book and the different versions of the movie! 
I read it as a child and loved it, and then I read it as an adult and loved, loved, loved… the first half. It gets so sappy when things start to go right! Then again, I’m a gardener.
I loved it as a kid. I’ll get around to reading it to my girls once they’re a little older and able to handle the trauma of everyone dying of cholera in the first chapter. 
It’s probably more of a girl book, though–I can see my husband, brothers, and most guys hating it too.
Just thank your lucky stars that you never had to read Little Lord Fauntleroy.
Loved it loved it loved it – read it over and over again – and grew up to be a gardener.
If it’s about the Arts, then Cafe Society is your place. Moved.
read it as a little girl… first an abridged version and then the big hardcover version that my aunt had given me (it was so pretty! I have no idea where it is now.)
I was kind of bored with it when I was little. It was a nice story, but there was too much… flowers and love and crap like that and not nearly enough dogs and horses and plane crashes and mysteries and such.
I haven’t read it since then. It’s just not really my thing.
I read an abridged version when I was like 11 or 12 and loved it. My 8 yo son just finished a very abridged “Step into Classics” version and really liked it too.
I’ve read a lot of stuff by Frances Hodgson Burnett. She also wrote “A Little Princess”, “Little Lord Fauntleroy”, The Lost Prince" and one I’ve never read and just found on Amazon - “The Making of a Marchioness” . Especially considering the time in which the books were written, her heroines were smart, strong-willed and feisty.
StG
You’ll totally love the first half! There’s an evil housekeeper and windy moors and somebody screaming in the night and a mystery!
Like I said, the second half is boring. 
I read it as an adult after seeing the movie (which I think was the most beautifully shot movie I have ever seen. It’s simply breathtaking). It was sappy, but okay.
I read the abridged version to my daughter age 6 - she really liked it. She doesn’t like other books like charlotte’s web or pippi longstocking.
I really love The Secret Garden. I find parts of it a bit racist (when they talk about the natives of India and whatnot), but I suppose it’s understandable, given the time period, and I try not to let it bother me too much. Bit, I have to say, it’s still one of my favorite books. I read at least parts of it every spring; I just find it completely enchanting.
I read it as a child and enjoyed it.
When I read it as a kid, I liked parts of it but overall I thought the story was too cloyingly sweet. Now as an adult, I still think it’s saccharine to beat the band, but I’m very impressed with the writing – it’s so evocative and every detail creates this perfect place. I guess I would like it more if I could give the kiddies the boot and have the garden all to myself!
I read it as a child, but I couldn’t appreciate it until I was about 14. I still read it from time to time - it makes good light Commuter Reading.
I remember loving the book as a child - I’ve probably blocked the second half.
The musical (is that the play version you’re doing?) is strange. There are some truly good songs, and some songs where you want everyone on stage, everyone backstage, and everyone ever involved in this or any other staging of the musical to die in a painfully.
I read it a couple times as a kid and loved it. I should reread it soon, just on principle. I think of it as a girl-book, too. Not that boys don’t enjoy it when they do read it, but I can’t imagine one choosing to read it on his own.
Why did you hate it? Just curious.