Recently orphaned Mary Lennox has to move across the country from Silicon Valley to New York City to live with an uncle she’s never met. Mary is bored in the old townhouse and after finding out her uncle’s late husband used to have a rooftop garden, she becomes determined to find it and restore it to it’s former glory. She’s helped by the maid’s younger brother, Dickon, who has a passion for urban gardening. Mary also discovers her cousin, Colin, locked in an upstairs room due to crippling anxiety and panic attacks. The three come together to heal from their tragedies and sow not only a seeds, but a beautiful friendship.
I loved the movie in the ’90s, and read the book as a tween. This one transfers the action from India and the English countryside to Silicon Valley and a New York City townhouse. Instead of having an unspecified condition and in a wheelchair, Colin has anxiety and panic attacks. Which is something modern kids can relate to a whole lot better. It’s also much more defined and explained by Colin and his therapist. Another change is that Mary’s parents don’t die of cholera, but in an accident while out for the night. No one gets cholera anymore, and a car accident is a great modern alternative.
I liked how Colin’s disability was handled in this one. In the original, there really isn’t anything medically or mentally wrong with Colin. It’s very bad representation. It’s just assumed his sickly. Anxiety is very common among kids, and is a growing concern (pun intended 😉 ), so I really like this change for this retelling.
There’s also racial diversity as the Lennox and Craven families are black, Uncle Archie’s late husband is Japanese, Ben the bodega owner and fellow gardener is Latino, and Colin’s therapist has brown skin.
My only complaint is a wish it had been broken into chapters. It was hard to find a place to put a bookmark in when I had to put the book down since there was no type of breakdown. At least with Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy there were chapters.
Four Lightsabers. Now all I need to do is find the Anne of West Philly volume.
The Ramblings of a Jedi Librarian 