THE SECRET GARDEN by Frances Hodgson...

THE SECRET GARDEN by Frances Hodgson Burnet (Tor: $3.99). Regarded as a classic of children’s literature since its initial publication in 1911, “The Secret Garden” recently was made into a Broadway musical. Frances Burnet was already widely known as the author of “Sara Crewe” and “Little Lord Fauntleroy” when she introduced a new type of central character into the drearily didactic world of pre-World War I children’s books. In contrast to the sweetly perfect miniature adults in Victorian stories, sour-faced Mary Lennox is “the most disagreeable-looking child ever seen” when she arrives from India at the Yorkshire estate of Misselthwaite Manor. The kindly servants and a benevolent nature, embodied in the fertile English soil, transform this nasty little prig into a considerate, healthy child in a readable series of small adventures. Caveat emptor: Check the pages of this new edition carefully, as two review copies were misbound.