Never Won a Major Prize
The Secret Garden
by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Summary
Sickly, unloved Mary Lennox is sent from colonial India to her uncle's bleak Yorkshire estate after her parents die, where she discovers a locked, neglected garden and a hidden invalid cousin confined to his bed. Burnett follows Mary as she coaxes both the garden and her cousin back to life, using fresh air, friendship, and hard work as a kind of quiet magic. The novel has endured as one of the most beloved stories about healing and the restorative power of nature.
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Historical Context & Significance
The Newbery Medal did not yet exist when the novel appeared in 1911, and the Carnegie Medal was still decades away. Burnett had already found fame with Little Lord Fauntleroy, but neither book ever won a formal children's literature prize.