The Secret Garden
Mary Lennox was a "sour" child. Growing up in India, she was often ignored and left to herself, which made her ill-tempered and lonely. When she was sent to live with her uncle in a massive, 100-room mansion in Yorkshire, she was miserable. The house was full of secrets, and the moors outside were cold and grey. Mary spent her days wandering the grounds, until one afternoon, she discovered a wall covered in thick ivy—and a door that had been locked for ten years.
With the help of a friendly robin, Mary found a buried key. She stepped inside the "Secret Garden" and found a world that looked dead. The roses were brown, and the ground was choked with weeds. But Mary saw a tiny green sprout pushing through the soil. For the first time in her life, she felt a spark of interest. She began to clear away the weeds, and as she worked to bring the garden back to life, something strange happened—Mary herself began to change. Her sourness began to fade, and her appetite returned.
Soon, Mary discovered another secret in the house: her cousin, Colin. Colin was a boy who believed he was a "cripple" who would never walk. He spent his days in a dark room, crying and waiting to be sick. He had a "fixed mindset"—he believed his life was already over. Mary refused to feel sorry for him. Instead, she told him about the garden. She and a kind boy named Dickon eventually wheeled Colin out into the fresh air and the hidden sanctuary.
As the three children worked together to plant seeds and prune the roses, the garden began to bloom with thousands of flowers. And as the garden grew, so did the children. Colin, seeing the strength of the growing plants, decided to try and stand. With the support of his friends and the magic of the blooming life around him, he realised that his "sickness" was mostly in his mind. By the time summer arrived, the garden was a paradise, and the two "sour" children had become healthy, happy leaders of their own lives.
