The Secret Garden was a childhood favourite of mine and I reread it to refresh my memories about it and see if it still touches my feelings. It is still beautiful and I even found some things I haven't realized as a child, for example the magic and God parallel. 
The audiobook is really good as well.

Such a wholesome, lovely book. Great cast, great development. This book is one of the few I can reread every few years and it will always make me feel better.

That said, it's very much a product of its time, and the casual racism at the beginning is definitely not ok.

Hopeful, inspiring, and so throughly full of life that even thinking about the garden brings a smile to my face.
We're introduced to this world that Burnett has created through the eyes of children, and it's the feeling of child-like wonder that the book inspires that has earned it the 5 stars in my book. The occasional glimpses through the eyes of the adults around them serve to add context and contrast the perspectives of the children at just the right moments.

A word of caution to any potential readers:
This novel is a product of the early 1900s, and as such contains racist and ableist language brought up in passing repeatedly. I found myself uncomfortable in the early chapters.

I massively enjoyed the development of the characters, and it made sticking through reading via Mary's downright petulant and spoiled perspective in the early chapters all the more worth it.

That being said, I can understand why some wouldn't like this novel- particularly if going into it expecting fantasy or characters having wisdom beyond their years. There's no big action scenes. Or, as I've heard - why does Colin attribute everything to this 'Magic'? Well, he's a child. A 10 year old child. In 1911. And as I've said, this child-like point of view is exactly what I found to be most endearing. I wanted this novel to be a cute read about a garden, and I got was I was looking for. Add in the gorgeous descriptions that left me wanting to explore the manor for myself? An air of mystery? The nostalgia of childhood? Inspirational sentiments, a found family, and cute animals? That's a 5-star read for me. 

I'm a sucker for old buildings and feel-good stories, and I don't think I've ever read a novel that ends on a happier note. The idea that we should take caution to not crowd out the goodness in our hearts and minds with sorrows and negativities remains a message important to the world even today. 

Have loved this story since I was little because I used to religiously watch the 1993 film adaptation. That movie REALLY captured this book. Granted, I haven't watched the movie in a while so I'm hoping it still holds up as much as this gorgeous book does. Can't really explain the warm, cosy, lovely vibes I got from every moment of this. Of course, Mary is initially a spoiled and annoying little girl but I think we were all like that at some point - and she grows out of it when she makes new friends! Dickon is now one of my favourite literary characters because he is just the sweetest little king and I love that both Mary and Colin are in awe of him at any given moment, even the adults are (Colin's doctor says of course Dickon can push Colin outside in his wheelchair, I would trust that lad with a newborn baby) - they say he has magic and is an angel but Dickon doesn't know that, he just goes about his day. What a pure and kind-hearted soul! Every time he did something I was just so teary eyed. This one conversation with Mary and Dickon where she asks 'do you like me?' genuinely made me cry. And of course eveyrthing about Colin and his arc is just so ahhhh! These kids deserve the world. Just such a beautiful book. There's nothing too fancy going on with the plot but it still manages to encapsulate this feeling of love and life. JUST LOVE IT.

i understand why this one is a classic and it’s getting so much love. the story is very innocent and sweet. i loved the magical aspects of the book and it was refreshing that there was no romance in it.

still, it contains a lot of ableism and racism and i don’t feel like that’s something to read to a child when they’re just forming their world view

It feels unfair for me to rip into this book because it's so beloved by so many people. But I hated it.

The Secret Garden is mildly better than A Little Princess, but I still had such a hard time getting through the writing and the plot. I did enjoy Mary, but the fact she was almost fully abandoned as the main character made me so mad. Martha was abandoned as well. The characters had no consistency in their appearances in the story and it just seemed like halfway through the story changed focus.

The end chapter made me irrationally angry as well. The last page didn't feel satisfying at all, it just felt like the story suddenly ended with no wrap up to anything else.

Overall I didn't like this. It took me an entire month to read and now I think I have a chip on my shoulder. Maybe the movie is better.

One star for the appearance of a baby fox and one star for a pony named Jump.