The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Transcription

1 The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett Name: 1. Before reading Worksheet a. Have you ever had a secret no one was allowed to know about? b. What can you find in a garden? Is there something a garden cannot do without according to you? c. Why do you think the book is called the secret garden? Why would a garden be secret? d. Mary, the main character, lives in a big mansion, would you like to live in a big house? Explain your answers. 2. Reading Read the extract and answer the questions. Mary skipped round all the gardens and round the orchard, resting every few minutes. At length she went to her own special walk and made up her mind to try if she could skip the whole length of it. It was a good long skip and she began slowly, but before she had gone half-way down the path she was so hot and breathless that she was obliged to stop. She did not mind much, because she had already counted up to thirty. She stopped with a little laugh of pleasure, and there, lo and behold, was the robin swaying on a long branch of ivy. He had followed her and he greeted her with a chirp. As Mary had skipped toward him she felt something heavy in her pocket strike against her at each jump, and when she saw the robin she laughed again. "You showed me where the key was yesterday," she said. "You ought to show me the door today; but I don't believe you know!" The robin flew from his swinging spray of ivy on to the top of the wall and he opened his beak and sang a loud, lovely trill, merely to show off. Nothing in the world is quite as adorably lovely as a robin when he shows off--and they are nearly always doing it. Mary Lennox had heard a great deal about Magic in her Ayah's stories, and she always said that what happened almost at that moment was Magic.

2 One of the nice little gusts of wind rushed down the walk, and it was a stronger one than the rest. It was strong enough to wave the branches of the trees, and it was more than strong enough to sway the trailing sprays of untrimmed ivy hanging from the wall. Mary had stepped close to the robin, and suddenly the gust of wind swung aside some loose ivy trails, and more suddenly still she jumped toward it and caught it in her hand. This she did because she had seen something under it--a round knob which had been covered by the leaves hanging over it. It was the knob of a door. She put her hands under the leaves and began to pull and push them aside. Thick as the ivy hung, it nearly all was a loose and swinging curtain, though some had crept over wood and iron. Mary's heart began to thump and her hands to shake a little in her delight and excitement. The robin kept singing and twittering away and tilting his head on one side, as if he were as excited as she was. What was this under her hands which was square and made of iron and which her fingers found a hole in? It was the lock of the door which had been closed ten years and she put her hand in her pocket, drew out the key and found it fitted the keyhole. She put the key in and turned it. It took two hands to do it, but it did turn. And then she took a long breath and looked behind her up the long walk to see if any one was coming. No one was coming. No one ever did come, it seemed, and she took another long breath, because she could not help it, and she held back the swinging curtain of ivy and pushed back the door which opened slowly--slowly. Then she slipped through it, and shut it behind her, and stood with her back against it, looking about her and breathing quite fast with excitement, and wonder, and delight. She was standing inside the secret garden. (The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, chapter 8) a. Why does Mary believe the garden is a secret garden? b. Why does Mary say what happened almost at that moment was Magic? c. Why does the text say no one ever did come, it seemed? d. In what way does Mary try to get the robin to help her?

3 e. What do you think of Mary s friendship with the robin, does he really help her? Have you ever had this kind of relationship with an animal? f. At the end of the chapter (and the extract) Mary is standing in the secret garden, what do you think she sees? 3. Discussion a. Mary and Colin believe Dickon and the garden have something to do with Magic. What do you think? b. Do you think Mary and Colin are alike? Explain your answer. c. Why do you think Colin asks Mary to come and see him every day? d. Why did Mr. Craven want to keep the garden a secret? e. Why do you think Colin is sick and why does being in the garden help him so much? f. How does Mary s character change throughout the story?..

4 g. What do you think is going to happen to Mary after the book is finished? 4. Exercises (Source: Penguin Readers) a. Put the right name in front of the right sentence. Dickon/ Mr and Mrs Crawford/ Mary/ Mrs Medlock/ Mr Craven/ Martha A are friends of Mary s parents. B is twelve years old and has got a young horse. C is a hunchback. D starts to talk on the long journey to Yorkshire. E is interested in Mr Craven s wife. F loves the moor in the spring and summer b. Put the story in the right order; write the number behind the sentence. A. Mr Craven goes back home. B. Mary hears somebody crying in the house. C. Mary finds the key to the secret garden. D. Mr and Mrs Lennox die and the servants run away. E. Colin runs out of the garden into his father s arms. F. Mrs Medlock goes on the train with Mary to Yorkshire. G. Martha tells Mary to write a letter to Dickon. H. Dickon goes to see Colin in his room. I. Mary meets Ben Weatherstaff in the gardens. J. Mary, Dickon and Colin work in the secret garden. c. Cross out the wrong word in the sentence. A. Mrs Medlock was angry / sad because Mary went to find the person who was crying. B. Ben Weatherstaff said robins were the friendliest animals / birds in the world. C. Mary thought Martha was a strange / funny servant. D. When Mary looked at Colin s back, she thought there was something / nothing wrong with it. E. There were rose-trees everywhere / nowhere in the secret garden. F. Mr Craven lived in a big / small house in the country. G. Mr Craven wanted Mary to wear black / white clothes. H. There were no flowers in the gardens in the winter / summer. I. Mrs Sowerby had a kind / ugly face. J. Mrs Medlock thought it was strange that Colin was getting thinner / fatter.

5 5. Write and draw a. Imagine you find the key to a garden to no knew about. You are going in and you want to find out why this garden was kept a secret. Write down what your garden looks like and why no one knew about it. Be as creative as possible, it is your garden!

6 b. Be the architect of your own garden. Use the space below to draw (an aerial view of) your garden. You can write words into it as well if you like. You can look up some pictures on the internet if that helps you.