Thank you NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. I was so excited to see a graphic novel of one of my favorite books and this did not disappoint. I loved the creative layouts as well as full art pages. Although the dialogue felt choppy at times, the artwork was beautiful and brought back the same feeling of reading the original book.

Since I haven't read the original book, I didn't have any complaints with the graphic novel. The story I knew of remained the same so there wasn't anything that I missed.

The book is a graphic adaptation of 'The Secret Garden', a classic and the adaptation was done very nicely.
The narration is quite good and the language used is simple with short sentences but hides a deeper meaning and understanding to it.
The best part of the novel is the ILLUSTRATIONS. I'm a sucker for graphic novels and this one my friend was indeed beautiful. The play with the colour palette was something I definitely adored. The book starts with a grey pallete with turns into beautiful colours as the story progresses.

I liked this book a lot and it can be a great recommendation for young readers as well as the older ones.

Truth bomb? I've never read The Secret Garden. I knowwwwww. Hey, I just read Little Women for the first time in 2018. Have you ever seen a movie so many time you think you've read the book it's based upon? Yeah, 1994 Little Women was like that for me and then I finalllllly read the book. Now I haven't seen The Secret Garden as many times as Little Women but I've definitely seen it a handful of times. Not the 2020 one. The 1993 one. And this graphic novel adaptation was fine. Okay. Mediocre. The artwork was very simplistic. It was all just very meh. No magic.

This was absolutely gorgeous and made the nostalgia butterflies in my heart flutter with warm fuzzies.
I have always loved the Secret Garden even making my parents create me one of my own as a child.

This cover doesn't even begin to hint at the beauty of the art contained in its pages. It is a great homage to the old classic and the artwork fit the atmosphere and time of the story well.

Thoroughly enjoyed this and was happy to share it with my own kids who also enjoyed it and now want their own secret garden (what have I done haha)

Thank you to the publisher Andrews McMeel Publishing and Netgalley for sending me an E-ARC for review.

Firstly I wanted to thanks for the opportunity to the publishers and netgalley and apologize that it took me so long review this book.
I want to begin saying that I wasn’t aware that it was a classic! And I enjoyed it differently for sure. I did sense something that only the classics have but I couldn’t imagine that it was one. Really. 😂 Even the name did not light my alarms im that lightheaded.
The protagonist was the sassiest. She wouldn’t take a no for an answer without arguing and thanks to her curiosity she made it all become better. Just the cutest history ever.
The drawings were fabulous and had a particular touch. I think it was very well represented. So I couldn’t ask more for a book. Thank you so much for letting me read it and know about this one classic😅

Since The Secret Garden is one of my favourite books of all times, I’m a bit critical when it comes to judging adaptations. I want my source books to be done justice. I’m trying however to be fair and not overly critical.

First of all, I wanna say that the artstyle is really very cute. I also liked how the artists worked with colours. You could see that everything was grey at the beginning and slowly more colour came into Mary’s life as she grew accustomed to her new home. There is a whole theme in Hodgson Burnett’s book in that spring is coming and everything, also Mary and Colin, comes to life. I think that was rather well done in the graphic novel as well.

I was a bit sad, that some parts of the book have been left out in the graphic novel. I’m well aware that you cannot put everything into an adaptation. There are questions of space and time until everything needs to be done and I’m sure that it’s not easy to do at all. Still, I’m sad that Mary’s time in India wasn’t included because I think that would have given her character more depth in the graphic novel and would have explained more of her background and the reason why she acted how she acted.

All in all, it was a quick, nice read but I would not suggest to anybody to read the graphic novel instead of the actual book.

I remember reading Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnet few years ago and I thoroughly enjoyed it! When I saw this book coming I know that I will love it and I did! It is such a nostalgic filled cute graphic novel which the illustrations are so good and I loved this..... I give it 4 stars.

Overall, this book is a very cute graphic novel version of the Secret Garden. I loved the artwork as well as the story. The only thing I didn't like is that author's cut out everything about colonial India because, in their opinion, the book doesn't properly portray the oppression of Indians. As an Indian, I think it is important to discuss the oppression of Indians during British Raj but, not every work needs to discuss or avoid that. While, reading older works, we should take care to understand the mindset of the past instead of editing the book to avoid thinking about it. Editing it out also made it more difficult to understand that Mary is new to everything about England including the flora and fauna.

The Secret Garden was one of my favorites when I was younger so when I saw this illustrated version I was excited to check it out! Although it is hard to maintain the same level of depth when converting a novel to a graphic version, The Secret Garden Graphic Novel was able to stay true to the main points of the story. Obviously some details are left out, but the beautiful illustrations easily make up for those omissions. If you’re a fan of The Secret Garden, you will most likely enjoy this beautiful graphic version.

The Secret Garden is a novel that has stood the test of time. With a warm and impressive story, the Secret Garden can win anyone's heart.
Although the language used is simple, unpretentious, and with short sentences, not at all tangled, the author manages to hide behind the words, true life lessons. From the characters of this novel I learned about friendship, hope, dedication and trust. And I don't say anything more about the wonderful places where I accompanied the three friends on their walks! The graphic is absolutely amazing.
The Secret Garden is a good book to read at any age. It has something of the peace and the beauty of the classic novel. I always say that these novels have a special sweetness. Even if it is a children's novel, it makes no exception to the "rule".

This is a lovely graphic adaptation of the famous book. I haven't read the original, but this graphic novel combines nature, family, and friendship in an incredible way. The message of the book is like a breath of fresh air, revitalising both characters and readers. I think that both children and adults can enjoy this book, and I certainly appreciated the context explanations at the end of the story. It truly feels like a book that aims to educate being conscious of our times.

I really appreciated the importance of friendships and the different shapes that they can have. I wish more adult books could reflect different kinds of friendships, too. It felt like we can learn a lot from the way these children interact with one another and with their surroundings.

I had a lot of fun reading this graphic novel. The pages were colorful and really breathed new life into this story. The garden itself looked especially amazing. The story moved along at a steady pace and we saw some amazing things happen. As this tale comes to a close life at this manor was never going to be the same.

This book...

*sigh*

The original "Secret Garden" by Frances Hodgson Burnett is one of my all time favorites from childhood. It's a story that I think of fondly and often. I generally do not enjoy when someone takes something I love...especially from my childhood...and changes it.

However...

This edition of "The Secret Garden," adapted by Mariah Marsden and illustrated by Hanna Luechtefeld, uncovered the magic that Burnett planted over a century ago, and its blooms are a new magic for a modern audience. (...and I don't even care that my analogies are cheesy.)

Marsden pulled the perfect lines, moods, and moments from the original text and Luechtefeld wove an illustration haven around them. I cannot recommend this edition enough. My copy will be placed in a place of honor next to my multiple copies of the original.

A HUGE Thank You to NetGalley & Andrews McMeel Publishing for the opportunity to read and review this gorgeous graphic novel. I cannot wait to put it into the hands of my 8 year old.

The graphic novel adaptation of "The Secret Garden" leaves a lot to be desired. I have never read the original, but it seems like there was a lot of information lost in this format. There were pages of pictures without words; that would be okay if I felt more connected to the characters and the plot. This book may make a good adaptation for young readers. Older readers may want more words and fewer pictures.

I read the book as a kid and have revisited it over the years. My well worn copy was purchased from a second hand shop and that particular edition is older than I am. So it was really cool to see this book in a different format. I was excited to see the writer's and illustrator's interpretation of the book, to see what they'd choose to leave in, and what parts would sit it out. In a graphic novel adaptation, there are choices to be made and liberties that are taken in terms of what bits make it, because of course every single word and scene is not going to make the cut.

The authors chose to leave out the part about Mary's colonial history - that she lived in India during the British colonial occupation of the country. I'm not sure why they chose to not address it, and actively ignore it, but I can only hope it wasn't erasure of the long years of brutal colonialism and suffering of the land I come from. I will hope, in good faith, that they chose to not address the colonialism simply due to not wanting to bring up something that middle grade children might not know. But then again, why shouldn't they? It's historical fact.

Apart from that, of course, it's a well loved children's book in a format that is sure to appeal to a new generation of young readers who will discover this wonderful book for the first time.

As someone who enjoyed The Secret Garden novel, reading a beautiful graphic work of the tale was more than I could ask for! The art is beautiful and fitting and the adaptation works wonders in this setting.

I loved the art style of this book. But that is all I found for enjoyment in it, I don't clearly remember if I read The Secret Garden or not when I was a child. So I went into this with only the vaguest of knowledge as to when The Secret Garden was.

I didn't find much enjoyment in it overall honestly and am not sure who I would recommend this to besides those who enjoyed the original.

I was so excited when this became available to read! My little boy absolutely adores The Secret Garden movie but is too young to enjoy the classic novel just yet so this was perfect! The graphics were fantastic and endearing and we loved reading this together. I'd recommend picking this up if you have a young child to introduce them to a classic story.

The artwork in this story were amazing. I love how she was able to help the son get out of his bedroom and start going out to the garden. I did feel like there was some parts of the story missing, but overall it was a good read.

There is nothing better then a retelling of a classic. I have been binge reading them lately and this one did not disappoint. If you are looking for a way to get your kiddo into classics look no further then this gorgeous rendition of The Secret Garden!