I love this 🫶🏽 Pitched as a contemporary middle grade retelling of The Secret Garden, A Bit of Earth nailed it. Diverse characters with found family trope, this book depicts how children deal with grief differently and how adults should be accountable for their action (not in patronising way). How they should be more considerate, care and listen to what these children has to say. Told in both verse and prose combined, this book is so beautifully written.

Maria Latif is not your typical lovely smiley FMC. She's prickly, grumpy, and does her own things with her own way. The story started with Maria being sent to live in Long Islands, NY. Growing up orphan, Maria steelled herself up and totally distrust adults in any way. She doesn't fear of being 'difficult'.

Until she found 'the garden'. Her bit of earth.

I love her character development best. She was still herself, but we can see how she starts to love her friends, and be loved equally.

I enjoy the friendship dynamic. We all deserve a Mimi, and Ricky in our life. And how could Ricky the youngest of them is the wisest?!! 😭😂

Maria and Colin started off bad. Same grumpy teens, with unloaded feelings and issues that they keep within themselves. They're just so much alike and I like how they reflected and learned from each other.

The issue was touching. We tended to forget that children or teens are just justified as adults on having feelings and emotions. Opinions. When they're being 'difficult', adults tended to give up on them and never try to understand what's beneath. Girls like Maria and boys like Colin exist, and they deserved to be loved no differently. Adults are taking huge part on how they understand and accept the grief. The meaning of losing someone's dear. The loneliness and confusion they keep inside.

This is a book about being yourself. A self discovery. I'm far from being the target market of this book, but, as I'm a middle school teacher, I'd love to have my students reading this and know that they matters. They don't have to go through the hard times alone.

I've been excited for this book ever since I saw the author announcing it on instagram because The Secret Garden is my all-time favourite classic! And I have to say, this book was everything I wanted and more 😭

💫 The representation!! - as much as I love the original classic, I've always had a hard time reading the first few chapters because they are set in colonized India, and well, the commentary was not great. Karuna Riazi has done an perfect job of writing this retelling with the MC being a (Pakistani/Bangladeshi/Kashmiri) brown girl and most of the secondary characters being Asian or Asian-American with varying ethnicities. I resonated with the representation in this book so much.

💫 The found family vibes in this book >>> I've basically highlighted the entire last chapter in this book, the found family scenes were so wholesome. A lot of the characters (including the MC) struggle through the course of this book to love themselves, as well as love their friends/family. It all slowly comes to a head at the end of the book, and the family declarations are just beautiful 😭

💫 The retelling itself - I kind of want to fangirl and list down every single detail retold from the original into this book, but that's gonna take too long. I'm just gonna say that the retelling aspect of this book was also perfect and it was everything my Secret Garden heart always hoped for in a Secret Garden retelling (bonus points for this book calling out a certain adult on them abandoning their child for years citing their grief, iykyk) (bonus bonus points for the characters in this book openly telling each other that they'll never abandon each other *sobs*)

--- ty to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for an advanced copy!

If there is one thing I am always going to read it's anything with a Secret Garden motif! This one not only lives up to the original but adds a character-type missing in the original - the step mother. While I enjoyed all the characters, this one struck me in a way I didn't expect. Something a lot of middle grade books lack (almost by default of the genre) is an adult character who actually advocates for kids. Having Lindsay not only stand up for Maria and Colin but also herself was a powerful message that brought me to tears.

This Secret Garden retelling mixes the heart of the original with a dash of modernity, the flavor of desi culture, and the lyricism of a good writer.  Over 368 pages the slow plot but rich imagery will draw readers in, hold their attention, and leave them thinking about the characters they have been fortunate to spend time with on Long Island.  Islam is practiced and normalized and naturally woven into the Muslim characters' daily lives without othering or over explaining.  I did struggle a bit trying to keep the relationships of who was supposed to be caring for the protagonist at various points since her parent's died clear, but once I abandoned stressing about it I was able to be swept away.  I recently reread The Secret Garden with my own children and the original is not plot heavy, nor action packed, but I watched as my own children were drawn to the slower, more grounded (pun intended) nuanced tale, and I think this book, in the same vein, will find its way in to the hearts of middle grade readers.  The book is clean, there is a possible crush hinted very slightly at the end, periods are also endured, and I do have reservations of the terrible marital relationship between Mr. and Mrs. Clayborne, but it establishes that change will occur, so at least it isn't normalized.  There are sprinkles of magic implied regarding the house, but it is always framed without clarity and in a subtle way to set the tone and the emotions the characters are feeling more than centralizing something rooted (see I did it again) in fantasy.

SYNOPSIS:

The book updates and mirrors the original fairly well with an obstinate orphan arriving at a sprawling house, finding a prickly boy, and setting off to form a tentative toleration of one another with friendly neighbor kids in a garden that is unquestionably off limits. 

Maria Latif arrives from Pakistan against her will to be taken in by a distant relative (I'm not sure how she is related), but Asra has been called away and she is forced to stay with Lyndsay, the new wife of Mr. Clayborne.  The first wife was a friend of Maria's family, but Lyndsay is just as emotionally overwhelmed and lost as the child in her charge.  With Mr. Clayborne away on businesses, his mother Charlotte keeps them all on edge.  When Colin Clayborne is expelled and returns home, more tension erupts and the two children find themselves in an off limits garden trying to make the most of a difficult situation.

WHY I LIKE IT:

I love the mix of poetry and standard novel format.  It is beautifully written and clearly the author does a remarkable job of making her very unlikeable characters worm their way in to the reader's heart.  Both Maria and Colin are thorny and difficult, stubborn and rude, but you seriously cheer for them, and I did shed a few tears at the end.  With the author's writing ability apparent, I'm still not sure why the foundation of the relationships and getting Maria to the Clayborne home is so cumbersome.  It is too muddled and it drags the book down every time it is revisited.  The Dadi having the aunt's phone number was too easy, the inconsistency of the neighbors having no relationship to the Clayborne's for so long and Lyndsay not even pausing to think another Bangladeshi family living a few houses down might be my husband's first wife's friends, seems inconsistent.  Honestly Lyndsey in general needed to read like a competent woman struggling, not a teenager in over her head. I disliked her and Mr. Clayborne's relationship and I would hate to think any reader would find it ok or normal.

I love the Islam and how it presents when the character has to pray, she goes and prays, it is part of the story and it is seamless.  I don't think the culture is handled quite as well.  Lyndsay is a foot writer who is always cooking, yet knows nothing of desi foods? If Colin's mom is desi, wouldn't she at some point tried to cook familiar foods for him.  Half the neighborhood is Bangledeshi, so it seems everyone has a parent or step parent or distant relative that is desi and I loved the normalizing, but it seemed a bit assuming.  I don't think kids will wish it was more clear, but as an adult reading it, I felt like it needed to be interjected more without explanation, or if left as is, adding some context. I also wanted to know what Maria's parents did and a little introspection from Maria.  Again as an adult I see how her anger and grief changes how she remembers them, but from them always being away, to such soft poignant memories at the end, I think kids will need a little hand holding to understand the grief process and her understanding of them.  As it is, they just seem terrible and then all of the sudden great, and the pacing gets thrown off in the process.  

FLAGS:

It seems to hint at the end that Maria might have a bit of a crush on Colin, I honestly thought up until a single line that they were making a chosen family with the people who cared for them, but that line seemed to suggest it might be more of a romantic feeling than friend or brotherly.  I read an early copy, so this is subject to change.

Maria gets her period and it is detailed what she is feeling.  I think boys and girls can and should read it.  It is presented on age and appropriately: cramps, achy, dry about blood leakage, having it start young like her mother, etc..

Implied magic (possibly), music and musical instruments being played, milaad, lying, sneaking, being kicked out of school for physical assault, close male and female friendships, ADHD stigma.

TOOLS FOR LEADING THE DISCUSSION

I think this book would work in a classroom and would appeal to readers in an Islamic or public library.  I would consider it for a middle school book club, I think readers will connect and feel empathy for Maria, Colin, and Lyndsay and be better for it.

I preordered my copy and I hope you will do the same

The Secret Garden may be part of my DNA, I’ve read it so many times. I’m also a huge fan of the Broadway musical of about 30 years ago. I entered this book with high hopes, and was not disappointed.

Riazi follows the plot of the original without being too imitative, updating it to a new time, place, and culture. Maria is the contrary Mary who is softened by her time in the garden. Riazi gives her a rich internal dialogue, as she knows she will be passed to another home and refuses to do anything that would keep her connected to the home she is currently in. But a determined neighbor girl starts to break down Maria’s carefully erected walls. The main characters of the original are all represented in some shape or form—even the robin, who is represented by a small green lizard in this book.

There is some added conflict with Lyndsay, Colin’s stepmother, and how she finally finds a backbone in dealing with Colin’s father, who is still obviously grieving his first wife. I was a little confused as to Lyndsay’s cultural background—several hints were dropped, but it wasn’t really clear.

Placing Maria in Bangladeshi/Pakistani culture worked well, with her homesickness for her homeland, despite being passed around from unwilling relative to unwilling relative. The reason for her coming to New York is a bit of a stretch, but not too bad. And the resolution, like that of the original, is satisfying.

Possible Objectionable Material:
Loss of parents. Children in conflict with adults. Children being sneaky, but not in a dangerous or destructive way.

Who Might Like This Book:
If you liked The Secret Garden, I see no reason that you wouldn’t like this!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book also reviewed at https://biblioquacious.blogspot.com/2023/01/multicultural-middle-grades.html

Faithful to the spirit of The Secret Garden, but thoroughly and lyrically reimagined, Riazi manages to make us sympathetic to and ultimately fall in love with her own “prickly” characters.

First off, I support the HarperCollins Union in their fight for fair wages and benefits as well as diversity representation. And this book demonstrates why more diverse voices are needed in publishing.

This retelling of The Secret Garden proved to be more memorable and more nuanced than the original, a book I felt just "okay" about in past reading. Maria, the main character in A Bit of Earth, hails originally from Lahore, Pakistan, but due to her parents' deaths, she ends up shuffled around family until she ends up on Long Island in the custody of an old friend of her parents. The book perfectly captures the anger and antisocial aspects of grief as well as the hyperawareness that one's brown skin causes others to pre-judge and dismiss one. However, it also beautifully depicts the healing power of nature and friendship to help a girl (and a boy) to find a way through that grief.

An improvement on the classic novel in every way. Four stars.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an eARC. Opinions expressed here are solely my own.

Part prose. Part poetry. A Bit of Earth is a beautiful homage to The Secret Garden. It has all the elements of the much loved classic, but with an emphasis on diverse characters/cultures. Framed in a wholly contemporary setting.

By the end, this emotional book had me in tears.

A modern retelling of The Secret Garden that embraces a Muslim protagonist. Maria is prickly and quick to admit that about herself and is sure that is the reason she is bounced from family member to family member to eventually, friends of the family, after the death of her parents. In the end, she is accepted just as she is - prickles and all. A Bit of Earth is a sweet middle grades story.

A Bit of Earth is a contemporary retelling of The Secret Garden. Maria has had a rough life in Pakistan. After losing her parents, she is sent to the United States. She stays with old friends of her parents. While she is there, she explores and finds a locked up garden. She embarks on a journey of unexpected friendship and new beginnings. Maria, by her own admission, is a difficult child. It made it hard for me to like her for most of the book. I did enjoy the representation in this novel though.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

This book. Got all the elements of the classic Secret Garden story but with more focus on diaspora, identity, and the meaning of home. I ADORED this book so much. MC has Bangladeshi & Pakistani roots—there's so much SA culture too. An unforgettable tale.

A new spin on a classic that is inclusive for middle grade readers of all backgrounds. A Bit of Earth features Mari, an orphan who has been shuffled from one home to another until finally taken in by a friend of her parents’. Mari’s journey through grief is told through verse at the beginning of most chapters followed by first person narrative. This perspective on the loss of parents, the meaning of family, and how to navigate the myriad of emotions with it, is sure to resonate with readers of all ages.

Great retelling of The Secret Garden, with a main character POC. I love that the phrase "bit of earth" was included - great tie in with the original!

Riazi reimagines one of my favorite childhood stories, The Secret Garden, into a modern tale with a diverse cast and a comparatively surly Mary, turned Maria (that's MA-ria, not Ma-RI-a). I enjoyed the new characters and the whiff of magic brought to the story, as well as the cooking element. Delightful.

I grew up loving The Secret Garden, and I cannot remember a time I didn’t feel strongly about it. So strong were my emotions that my fourth grade teacher had to call my parents and express concern at the…ahem…passion with which I condemned the parents of the heroine Mary Lennox for not loving her enough. Needless to say, it’s a story that has always been close to my heart.

While the story has been retold a few times to my recollection, mostly in film form, they never really strayed so far off the garden path as to breathe new life into the story. However, Karuna Riazi’s utterly charming A Bit of Earth not only pulls the story into the 21st century, but also clears out the weeds and debris stemming from an uncomfortable colonialist undertone that exists in the original, no matter how much I might love it. Don’t get me wrong, that aspect of the story is still there in it’s way, but in a way that rings far truer for an audience reading the story today.

The story follows Maria Latif, a young girl of Bangladeshi and Pakistani descent who is orphaned after both of her parents are in an accident. After being bounced around from relative to relative, none of whom seem particularly interested in caring for the prickly, grieving child, a friend of her parents volunteers to take her in. Only problem is they live in New York, half a world away. On arrival, she is told that her new guardians cannot take her in just yet, and in the meantime she will be staying with the Claybourne family, Mr. Claybourne being another friend of her parents.

All the classic elements of The Secret Garden are still present, with an angry child in pain, processing tremendous, complex loss is sent somewhere where she is very much an outsider, in more ways than one. Unlike in the original novel, Maria is not a relative of the Claybourne’s — then again, the story makes it clear that even that connection wouldn’t improve things much — and she is also a Muslim immigrant newly living on Long Island.

She isn’t the only one in the area of course, but one of the beautiful changes to the text is the way Riazi takes the four young characters of the original novel and divides them along diasporic lines rather than class ones. Maria is the recent arrival, the most “other” when it comes to life in America. Colin was born and raised in the States, but with an English name and South Asian mother — therefore darker in appearance — he is caught between two identities and unable to feel at ease with either, even in his own home. Mimi and her brother seem to have the best of it, living with no expectations beyond the typical ones, with both cultural ties to their heritage and to the world in which they live.

In every sense the book is also about a forgotten, unwanted child healing while she helps a forgotten, unwanted garden come back to life, coming back to life herself in the process. But in mixing this well-known story with a modern, thoughtful reversal of the colonial undertone of the original, Riazi has created a new classic all her own that is not to be missed.

A Bit of Earth is testament to the fact that timeless tales can in fact be retold and retain their timelessness, if only the storyteller is willing to clear the weeds, and let the beauty and message grow and shine through on its own (yes, I promise I’m done with the garden metaphors).

A Bit of Earth releases March 14, 2023. Special thank you to HarperCollins for the advance copy for review purposes.

Modernized version of The Secret Garden. Midgrade novel covers friendship/acceptance/family disfunction

I'm an absolute sucker for any updated story based around The Secret Garden and A Bit of Earth took this storyline in a fantastic new direction. Kudos to Karuna Riazi for not only a retelling but one that was so lovely to read. (Side note: I'm not a huge fan of verse being mixed into stories but I really felt like it only added to the story here.)

Maria Latif is our orphan (replacing the stoic, spoiled Mary Lennox in the original) who, since her parents' deaths, has been shipped from relative to relative. Her unfriendly demeanor hasn't helped her in feeling connected (and there's plenty to unpack there!) so this newest move from Pakistan to Long Island is just one more. Maria finds herself staying with the second wife of one her parents'friends and his mother (he's off on business). There are oddities in the house to unravel, a friendship Maria doesn't know she wants (or needs) with some neighborhood kids, and a desire to fix up a locked garden mixed in as Maria finds her way and maybe, just maybe, is able to finally figure out what home really means.

Perhaps what I loved the most about this book though was the natural embedding of culture and religion. Food, dress, prayer, family relationships and more are all there and integral to the storyline. An absolute delight to read.

You don’t have to have read The Secret Garden, the book that it is based on. Of course, if you *do* know the original story, this book is just that much sweeter, as it tackles things that were confusing in the original book, or didn’t make sense to the modern reader.

The Secret Garden is a classic, written over a hundred years ago, telling the story of Mary, whose parents have both died, and how she is shipped from British India, to the cold of England, to live with a distant uncle.

In A Bit of Earth, Karuna Riazi takes the basic story, telling how Maria Latif is taken from where she lives in Pakistan, after her parents died, to live with a family friend.

From there, we have the basic story, but with the twist that instead of making friends with servants, Maria makes friends with other children in the neighborhood. And rather then having Colin be an invalid, he just has ADHD, and doens’t want his father to know.

I love how the things that happen make sense. I love how the smells and tastes are so important to Maria. And I love how Maria is prickly because that is how she has survived so far, and when she finds the garden, she is bound and determined to make things alive there, to get them to grow, and doesn’t mind if Colin and her other friends help her with that.
Secrets are kept, of course, but just long enough, before things are exposed. And the parents are understanding, after they get used to the idea. Everyone is very human.

Oh, so highly recommended. No holds barred. I felt so happy reading the story that I didn’t want it to end, and yet, I wanted to find out how it would end, even though I knew how the original one went.

<em>Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.</em>

-This was adorable!
-I've only recently read The Secret Garden, so I was very excited to see one featuring a South Asian Muslim protagonist. The story is pretty much the same - prickly orphan learns to love while caring for a secret garden. But Maria Latif is richly rendered with her cultural and religious background. And while I cared little for Mary Lennox, we see inside of Maria enough to love this stiff, strange child. The story is a shadowed by Maria's real pain of losing her parents and her ever-present sense of displacement, but still infused with enough humor to make it somewhat lighthearted.
-I also loved Maria and Lyndsay bonding over food, the fact that Maria wears hijab, and the normalization of periods in MG stories.
-I had a few minor-est of minor complaints. I don't know if I'm just used to longer books, but I felt that there wasn't really any middle to the story. I would have liked to see more of why Mimi and Rick were who they were - ever cheerful, ready to befriend two outwardly unpleasant children - and Maria bonding with Lyndsay. I found Maria's perfect understanding of English a little unrealistic, but I was willing to suspend my disbelief.
-I was dying to know Maria age? Maybe I overlooked it but that was a little strange to me for it to never be brought up. I also wish her name would have been spelled as it way pronounced - perhaps Mariya? English speakers are going to default to the Spanish Maria.
-I think the Muslim rep was good, though I can't speak for the cultural intricacies. Maria wears hijab, prays, and makes (sometimes humorous) duas. I do wish the name Allah would have been used as opposed to the generic "God".
All in all, a solid, sweet middle grade retelling.

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy. I appreciate that this book is clean, and I can have copies on my classroom shelf. The themes of grief, family, friendship, and gardening/life cycle can all be discussed. The back and forth emotions of orphaned children and all the manifestations of their feelings are shown beautifully. Thank you for a happy ending!