Why The Secret Garden?

When I was around ten, my parents gave me a beautiful illustrated edition of The Secret Garden. I had always loved reading, but most of the books I'd devoured up until that point had "Babysitter's Club" in the title and were forgotten almost as quickly as I had finished them. There was something different with The Secret Garden. To this day, it remains one of the only novels I've returned back to again and again. In the years that followed, I would faithfully dig it out at the end of the long winter, hungry to revisit the awakening garden and remind myself of the promise of spring. Interestingly, when I ask people if they've read The Secret Garden, I usually get one of two answers--either they've never heard of it or it's one of their favorite books from childhood. I'd love to hear what the book meant to you in the comments section below!

Though it was written in 1911 and read by generations of kids by the time it got to me (my own mother read the book as a child after her mother recommended it to her), The Secret Garden enjoyed a renaissance in 1987 when the copyright expired and publishers released multiple editions of the book, introducing many new readers for the first time. This resurgence led to several film adaptations, as well as the Broadway musical in 1991. By 1992, The Secret Garden was playing at the Ordway in St. Paul and my parents brought me to see it just in time for my 13th birthday. I was immediately smitten. To this day, I have only met one other person (aside from my parents) who has seen the musical version of The Secret Garden. Most people have no idea it even exists in this form.  Despite winning several Tony awards, it simply fell out of public consciousness after a few years and seems to have become as much a "secret" as its namesake. Lucky for you, that's about to change! In an effort to introduce you to a few of the beautiful, haunting songs from The Secret Garden, below is a video clip taken from the 1991 Tony Awards. Introduced by none other than Julie Andrews, the following offers a glimpse into the Broadway production. In the coming days, check back for more discussion of both the novel and the musical itself.  Enjoy!