By
Kelly Bridgewater
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| From Barnes and Nobles website |
Continuing
with my theme of authors that have helped shape who I am today as a writer and
an avid reader, today I’m going to discuss Frances Hodgson Burnett. If you
missed any of the other five entries that encompass 2015, please visit my past
posts. I have talked about C.S. Lewis, J.R. R. Tolkien, J. K. Rowling, Arthur
Conan Doyle, and Alexandre Dumas.
Frances
Hodgson Burnett is an English writer who wrote books for young adults. The Lost Prince, The Secret Garden, and The Little Princess are among the three
most popular ones, and the ones I loved as a little child.
The
stories appeared simple on the surface, but as you delve deeper, they were
masterfully written with lessons for the young readers to unbury.
While
reading The Secret Garden, I love
traveling around the Misselthwaite Manor with Mary as she uncovered a hidden
key in an abandoned part of the huge house. She used the key to open and bring
life back to a hidden garden. Along the way, she learned to love and be loved
by her cousin, Colin, and her uncle, Mr. Craven.
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| From the Barnes and Nobles Website |
The Little Princess showed the
hardship of the lower class among the wealthy. Poor Sarah believed in stories
such much that even when her father was announced dead, she still captivated
the servant girl, Becky, with stories to pass the horrible, cold nights while
they were both trapped in the attic as a curiosity from Ms. Minchin.
I
loved these stories as a child and still read them to my boys and my niece. My
father also purchased the leather bound editions from Barnes and Nobles for me.
They sit next to my edition of Sherlock
Holmes and The Count of Monte Cristo.
Frances
Hodgson Burnett taught me that if a child’s story is written well then it can
be read by any age. Like C. S. Lewis states, “A children’s story that can only
be enjoyed by children is not a good children’s story in the slightest.” This
is proven by J. K. Rowling with her Harry Potter masterpieces that have been
enjoyed by young adults and adults alike. I completely agree with C.S. Lewis,
if an adult can’t return to the books they enjoyed as a child, then the story
wasn’t well-written to begin with. Being a parent of three small boys, I want
my children to return to the stories that have captured their heart when they
were innocent and young. A simple written story can capture the imagination and
steal the hearts of the readers, which any great story should do.
Have
you ever read any of the books mentioned by Frances Hodgson Burnett? What books
do you return to that you read as a child?
Good article, Kelly.
ReplyDeleteI never read Frances. There is one book I read (or more technically, was read) from grade school called Follow My Leader by James Garfield, about a boy who was blinded by an accident and acquired a guide dog. I found that book as a young adult, and read it, and learned a lot from that story.
If you count teenage years, there is one author I read a lot of that I've read several of as an adult as well, and that's Agatha Christy, but I don't know if that counts. I will say, though, that there's a TV series I watched as a kid that I still enjoy seeing, and that's Batman with Adam West and Burt Ward. (And that probably explains why I turned out the way I did.)
Sorry Jeff that it took me so long to reply. Life has been CRAZY this summer at my house. Is this the same Batman series with the word Pow and Zap? My almost seven year old is obsessed with Batman, so we bought him the complete first season, which he watches all the time. Thank you for commenting, Jeff!
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