I liked it as a child - but on re-reading as an adult I found it unbearably cloying and maudlin. The whole sentimental goody-goodyness of the characters nauseated me. Much the same could be said of What Katy Did.
But like I said, enjoyed both as a child, so I would recommend The Secret Garden to children. Oh, and I’m male, and was given this book by our librarian. I probably wouldn’t have picked it out by myself, being a big fan of Arthur Ransome and Biggles at that point.
I hated it for most of the reasons posted on here. But Colin ruined it for me. He’s just a big, whiny jerk.
I thought it should be a musical. But not your ordinary musical, because I envisioned the first song to be Paradise City by Guns N’ Roses (for no real reason, just because it’d be funny to see Colin jumping around the stage singing “Just an urchin livin’ under the street/I’m a hard case that’s tough to beat/
I’m your charity case, so buy me somethin’ to eat,/ I’ll pay you at another time”)
Everyone hated my idea. So no musical.
As a kid, I liked it in part because both Colin and Mary were profoundly unpleasant in a lot of ways, and I liked that they weren’t the idealized kids I’d seen in other books.
As an adult, of course, I can see that there are lots of maudlin cliches in it. But as a kid, I bought into it completely.
Yeah, I thought that Mrs. Medlock and Mary and Colin were cool at the beginning just because they were total jerks.
I first read it when I was around 30, after getting it for a friend who said it was her favorite book as a child & she wanted a copy for Christmas. I totally loved it & have collected almost all the movie versions of it (TOTALLY loved the mid-90s one- thought the O’Brien-Stockwell one was OK tho those kids were too old for the parts).
Does anyone remember charachters named Phil and Betty? Two of the Sowerby kids? I think they must have made them up for the play.
But I liked LLF … and the movie …
Secret garden both movie versions were OK but I preferred the book.
As a child, I found it boring and sappy. As an adult, I found it to be one of the eeriest and most beautiful books I’ve ever found. It’s interesting to see other people saying that, too. And to see people saying the exact opposite.
I liked it well enough; I also liked Little Lord Fauntleroy. My favorite was A Little Princess, though, which I loved.
I read it to my six-year old son recently and he didn’t find it too girly, as I thought he might. He loved the mystery and the characters, like Ben Weatherstaff.
I loved it so much as a child, I didn’t want it to end. So I wrote sequels for myself. Mostly involving all those doors that she didn’t/couldn’t open in the mansion. The sappy message went right over my head; I wanted to explore.
Now I’m writing a book aimed at that approximate age group, and while it’s nothing at all like* the Secret Garden*, that’s the book I think of as I’m writing. I want to write the stories that I would have loved to read as a child. The Secret Garden was the book that made me want to become a writer as a child. I wanted to open those doors.
:: shuddering in disbelief ::
What are you, some kind of commie?
Great musical. Better book.
I read it when I was about ten or eleven and adored it, mainly because I loved gardening, and fantasized about stumbling upon some secret garden of my own someday. I’ve never read it as an adult, though I’ve seen a film version, which I liked well enough… I’m reluctant to read it again, since I’d hate to ruin my memories of it, as so many other books I loved as a child didn’t stand up to adult scrutiny.
The parts involving the people didn’t interest me nearly as much as the passages describing plants, though. I was an odd child.
I went out to make my own secluded garden under a half-fallen eucalyptus after I read it.
The musical has one of my favorite theatre songs ever.
She has her eyes, she has my Lilly’s hazel eyes . . .
One of my favourite chilhood books, and I still like it. I loved the decriptions of the clothes and the food (didn’t anyone else make roasted eggs after reading it?), and the secrecy about Colin’s return to health. Of course, I really wanted to be a Victorian child invalid. Curse my good health!
Of course, there’s still time to turn into Mrs. Bennett.
I loved it. I especially loved the colored panels which showed the revived garden.
you’re crewing the show? do tell. 
i stage-managed a local musical theater version of it six years ago.
because of the space limitations of the theater house, it was something of a logistical nightmare. i had a stage crew of 12 just to handle the scene changes.
it did very well with sold out performances and extra performances to handle the demand, but until i read the script i’d never heard of it before. how has your experience with the show been? are you doing just the stage play or is it the musical version?