A new abridged version of the timeless classic

When we told friends that we were following our illustrated abridgements of “A Christmas Carol” and “Black Beauty” with “The Secret Garden,” we were stunned by the reaction. This turns out to be the favorite book of not just one generation, but of many. Every reader remembered the characters as if they were old friends: Mary, the frightened orphan sent from India to an ancient mansion in the English moors; Dickon, who can talk to the birds and make plants grow anywhere; and Colin, the physically challenged boy who’s spent his childhood in his bed. And everyone remembered cheering and weeping when Colin got out of his wheelchair and stood tall in the locked garden where his mother died and his endlessly sad father returns from yet another flight from his decade-long mourning and literally bumps into his son --- yes, “The Secret Garden” delivers an enormous emotional release.