70 things from this book went into her brain. Here are the first 6.
In The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett shows how a child who is never loved or attended to can grow sour and selfish, and how much attention can change her.
In The Secret Garden, Burnett observes that people in a crisis tend to think only of themselves, so a child nobody loves is easily forgotten.
In The Secret Garden, Burnett shows a child who sees unpleasantness in everyone else but not in herself, a blind spot most people share at some point.
In The Secret Garden, Mary's pity for her gloomy uncle turns to disdain the moment she decides he deserves his troubles, which shows how quickly we harden against people we have not met.
In The Secret Garden, Martha loves the moor that Mary finds bare, which shows that a place looks empty or full depending on how well you have come to know it.
In The Secret Garden, Martha insists that doing things for yourself does you good, and that a child waited on hand and foot never learns to look after herself.
In The Secret Garden, Mary's first interest in someone other than herself is the start of a better nature, and Burnett calls it a healthy sentiment, which is how real change tends to begin.
In The Secret Garden, Mary only recognises that loneliness makes her sour when she says it aloud to the robin, which shows that naming a feeling can be the first step to changing it.
In The Secret Garden, Ben Weatherstaff gives Mary the plain truth about her temper, and it unsettles her because nobody has been that frank with her before.
In The Secret Garden, Mary counts feeling sorry for someone among her good things, which shows how compassion can grow quietly out of ordinary days.
In The Secret Garden, Dickon goes out in the rain because he says wet days show things that fair weather hides, a reminder that the dull or difficult days can teach you the most.
In The Secret Garden, Mary wants to take a nest of mice home because they are frightened, a small early sign of the tenderness she has not yet shown to people.
In The Secret Garden, Mary decides she will find out what the crying was, and Burnett uses that stubborn curiosity to carry the story forward.
In The Secret Garden, Martha's mother asks her daughter how she likes herself, a question that brings a person to their senses faster than any scolding would.
In The Secret Garden, Ben Weatherstaff says that real growth comes a little at a time, so you have to watch closely and be patient, since things do not grow up in a night.
In The Secret Garden, Martha's mother asks her to picture how she would feel alone in a big place, a simple route to empathy that anyone can practise.
In The Secret Garden, Mary admits she is not used to thanking people, and her stiff thank you is the first small sign that she is starting to notice what others do for her.
In The Secret Garden, Mary hopes the roses that look dead might still put out leaves, and that quiet hope about something that seems lost is what drives the story forward.
In The Secret Garden, Mary decides the garden is not dead because other things are alive, a useful habit when a whole project looks lost: look for what is still growing.
In The Secret Garden, Mary forgets the time while she weeds, which shows how absorbing work can bring a happiness that idleness never does.
In The Secret Garden, Martha says bulbs help themselves and spread for years when left alone, a reminder that some growth needs patience more than meddling.
In The Secret Garden, Ben Weatherstaff warms to Mary once she becomes more civil, which shows that the way we speak to people shapes how they answer us.
In The Secret Garden, Ben Weatherstaff says you cannot judge a rose by its bare grey twigs, and you must wait for spring to see whether it lives, a reminder not to write off what looks dead too early.
In The Secret Garden, Mary finds the world seems to get nicer once she has something to care about, which shows how a purpose can lift a low spirit.
In The Secret Garden, Mary finally tells Dickon her secret and bursts into tears, showing how carrying something alone can wear a person down until sharing it brings relief.
In The Secret Garden, Dickon praises Mary for clearing space around the little plants without knowing much about gardening, a reminder that close attention often does more than expertise.
In The Secret Garden, Dickon suggests there is little need to be contrary when there are flowers and friendly creatures about, a gentle reminder that good work and fine surroundings soften a sour mood.
In The Secret Garden, the grieving Mr Craven gives Mary leave to make neglected ground come alive, showing that real kindness can come from someone who is himself badly hurt.
In The Secret Garden, Dickon keeps Mary's secret by sending her a silent picture, showing that a promise of trust can be kept without a single word being spoken.
In The Secret Garden, Colin has been obeyed all his life and never asked to do anything he dislikes, and Burnett shows that a child never expected to do for others grows sad rather than strong.
In The Secret Garden, Colin tells Mary that if you stay in a room you never really see things, a reminder that a narrow life misses what going out into the world shows.
In The Secret Garden, Colin blames his mother for dying and turns away from her portrait, showing how grief can harden into blame when it has nowhere else to go.
In The Secret Garden, Mary sings a frightened boy to sleep simply because she is sorry for him, showing that kindness often starts with noticing that someone else is unhappy.
In The Secret Garden, Mary turns a gloomy talk about dying into talk about living and loved things, and the change of subject lifts them both.
In The Secret Garden, Colin says Mary makes him forget his troubles, which is why he wants her near, showing that good company can lighten a heavy mind more than constant fussing.
In The Secret Garden, Mary decides to find out whether Colin can keep a secret before trusting him with one, a sensible way to extend trust gradually rather than all at once.
In The Secret Garden, Colin screams and bites at the stares and whispers of people who pity him as a dying child. Burnett shows how being constantly looked at can make a person close up.
In The Secret Garden, Dickon teaches that shy wild things only come close when you stop watching them so hard and keep still. Patience lets the robin come to trust you.
In The Secret Garden, Dickon warns that you can lose a friend by being too curious and meddling with their ways. Respecting how another person works is part of caring for them.
In The Secret Garden, Dickon's mother lets her son keep his own secrets and trusts him to know what is right. Trust given freely helps a young person grow steady.
In The Secret Garden, Dickon sees that a worried mind fixes on the wrong things, and that turning attention to growing things lifts a person. Where we put our attention shapes how we feel.
In The Secret Garden, Mary realises that people who have been ill and nervous can learn to master their tempers, rather than pass their misery on to everyone around them.
In The Secret Garden, Mary's blunt honesty stings Colin, but it gives him a real argument for the first time. Burnett shows that a frank friend can do more good than soft pity.
In The Secret Garden, Colin's fears grow larger because he lies alone for years thinking only about himself. Burnett shows how isolation and self-focus can feed a person's worries.
In The Secret Garden, Colin and Mary make up after their quarrel by each reaching half way. Burnett shows that making peace often takes just one small gesture from each side.
In The Secret Garden, Mary calms Colin not by ordering him to sleep but by describing a hopeful place for him to imagine. A gentle picture of something good can settle a frightened mind.
In The Secret Garden, Mary admits she disliked people until she met the robin and Dickon. Burnett suggests that kind company and living things can soften even a sour temper.
In The Secret Garden, Dr Craven privately fears that a healthy Colin would cost him an inheritance. Burnett shows how self-interest can quietly shape a person's choices, even when they are not cruel.
In The Secret Garden, Susan Sowerby says nobody owns the whole orange, and that grabbing at all of it leaves only the bitter pips. Burnett's point is that greed defeats itself.
In The Secret Garden, Dickon goes round and round the moor until he finds a lost lamb that is crying for its mother. Burnett shows that patient searching for something small and helpless is a form of care.
In The Secret Garden, Dr Craven says he would trust Dickon with a new-born child, because of how Dickon treats animals. Burnett suggests you can judge a person by how gently they handle the helpless.
In The Secret Garden, Burnett says that wonder at a sunrise or in the stillness of a wood can make a person feel, for a moment, that life is endless. Such moments are worth noticing.
In The Secret Garden, Colin resolves to watch everything grow and to grow alongside it. Burnett shows that a person comes alive again by taking an active part in something that is growing.
In The Secret Garden, Dickon tells Colin that the magic he feels is the same magic that brings crocuses up out of the earth. Burnett suggests that wonder is found in the ordinary work of things growing.
In The Secret Garden, old Ben keeps tending a dead woman's roses for years out of loyalty to her. Burnett shows that love can carry on through small, faithful acts long after the person is gone.
In The Secret Garden, Mary notices that Colin is rude because nobody has ever dared to contradict him. Burnett shows how people who are always deferred to lose sight of how they treat others.
In The Secret Garden, Colin finds that if you watch long enough you can see buds open and insects going about their work. Burnett shows that patient attention turns an ordinary day into a wide world of small wonders.
In The Secret Garden, Colin says that scientific people are simply curious, asking "what is it?" about things they do not yet understand. Burnett presents curiosity as the real start of learning.
In The Secret Garden, Colin believes that words repeated every day, like a soldier's drill, will sink in until they become part of you. Burnett shows the power of steady practice, even when the reasons are mistaken.
In The Secret Garden, Dickon says the way to make plants thrive is to be their friend and give them what they need, because they want to live as we do. Burnett shows that patient, caring attention is the real secret of good gardening.
