The secret garden

In this reader you will find:

Tags

Friendship | Overcoming difficulties | Health and happiness

Audio Files

Look on the inside front cover to find out how to download the free audio files.

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The Secret Garden Illustrated by Gustavo Mazali

Young

- Games and language activities - An audio recording of the story and Mary’s poem - A picture dictionary

Downloadable

Stage 3 A1.1

In this story by Frances Hodgson Burnett, a young girl called Mary starts out as unloved and unlovable. She moves home and, through her contact with country life and people, she gradually changes. She discovers an abandoned garden which gives her a driving aim in life: to bring the garden back to life. Mary is a changed child, so changed that, when she finds someone similar to her former self, she decides to change him too.

Underlying this story are valuable lessons about the importance of kindness, physical exercise and contact with the natural world.

Frances Hodgson Burnett

Readers

Frances Hodgson Burnett The Secret Garden

Frances Hodgson Burnett The Secret Garden

Stage 3 A1.1

ELT A1.1

Starters Starters/Movers Movers Flyers

Classic

Young Downloadable

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Eli Readers is a beautifully illustrated series of timeless classic and original stories for learners of English.

The pleasure of Reading

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www.eligradedreaders.com

Audio Files

Young

Readers

Frances Hodgson Burnett

The Secret Garden Retold and activities by Jane Cadwallader Illustrated by Gustavo Mazali

CHAPTER 1: Mary goes to a new home

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2 Mary Lennox had a little grumpy face and a

little thin body. She was a difficult child. She lived in India with her parents. Her father was always busy. Her mother was beautiful but she was always at parties. They had no time to look after their daughter. Mary had all she wanted but no one loved her.

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3 One night there was a lot of noise and shouting.

The next day it was very quiet. Then two soldiers came into the house. One of them had a big curly moustache. He said, ‘Look, there’s a little girl here!’ ‘My name is Mary Lennox,’ said Mary.

‘Where are my parents?’ ‘I’m afraid they’re dead,’ said the soldier with the moustache.

‘There’s a cholera epidemic and many people are dead.’

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4 Mary went to live with her uncle, Mr Craven,

in a big house in England. Mrs Medlock, the housekeeper, said, ‘You must stay in your room and not walk around the house.’

What a boring place!

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5 There was a very friendly and talkative maid called

Martha. She told Mary, ‘The house has got one hundred rooms but most of them are closed. Mrs Craven is dead. She fell from a tree in her favourite garden ten years ago. Mr Craven closed the garden and buried the key in the ground. Now that garden is closed, too. Mr Craven is never at home.’

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Martha was so friendly that Mary started to be friendly too. ‘Can you tell me about the garden?’ she asked. ‘I don’t know where it is,’ said Martha. ‘It’s a secret garden!’

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CHAPTER 2: The secret garden 6 Mary talked to Ben, the old gardener. He had a

friend. It was a little red and brown bird called a robin. Mary wanted the robin to be her friend too.

One day she saw the robin sitting between two roses. She began to dig and... there was an old key!

Maybe this is the key to the secret garden!

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