The Secret Garden: The Hidden Door

What this book practices

A shortened adaptation, in new words, of the first part of Frances Hodgson Burnett's 1911 novel: Mary's arrival at Misselthwaite Manor, her meetings with Martha, Ben Weatherstaff and the robin, and the finding of the key and the door.

Level

Chapter book: Six chapters, about 150 words on a page

Themes

Classic, Nature, Friends, Kindness

After the story

A short activity checks understanding, then a prompt to tell a grown-up about the book.

Levels are PlayOwl's own design guidelines for each grade, not a certified reading level. In I'll Read, PlayOwl records that a child turned every page; it cannot hear whether the words were read.

Credit and rights

Adapted and shortened by PlayOwl from The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (1911). Source: The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (1911).

The words are new PlayOwl writing that follows a story in the public domain. PlayOwl claims no rights in the underlying story.

Adaptation

Follows the events of the first part (Mary's arrival at Misselthwaite Manor to her first morning inside the garden) of The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, first published in 1911. The story is shortened and told in new sentences. No edition, abridgement, film or illustrated version was copied; only the events, the characters and their names come from the original. Public domain. In the United States, copyright in works published before 1929 has expired, and this work was first published in 1911. In countries where copyright lasts for the author's life plus 70 years, the term ended on 31 December 1994, because Frances Hodgson Burnett died in 1924. PlayOwl claims no rights in the underlying story.

Cover

Drawn in code for PlayOwl in 2026 with the Read with Olly illustration kit. An original design, not based on the cover or pictures of any edition or film. Original work owned by PlayOwl.

Illustrations

Drawn in code for PlayOwl in 2026 with the Read with Olly illustration kit, from the picture briefs in this file (a Yorkshire manor and its gardens in the 1910s). Original designs, not based on the pictures of any edition or film. Original work owned by PlayOwl.

Narration

Spoken by the reader's own device voice. PlayOwl ships no recording. No recorded work exists.

Text

Written for PlayOwl in 2026 as a new, shortened adaptation of the first part (Mary's arrival at Misselthwaite Manor to her first morning inside the garden) of The Secret Garden. Every sentence is new PlayOwl wording. The text was checked against Burnett's original and reworded so that no sentence follows it. No phrase of the original is kept; only the events, the characters and their names, and place names such as Misselthwaite Manor, come from it. Original wording owned by PlayOwl. The underlying story is in the public domain (see the adaptation record).