{"id":4626,"date":"2026-03-26T12:27:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T12:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/?p=4626"},"modified":"2026-03-26T12:28:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T12:28:14","slug":"the-secret-garden-vs-little-house-on-the-prairie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/?p=4626","title":{"rendered":"The Secret Garden vs Little House on the Prairie"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>By Deirdre Liebman<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With the winter finally over, and spring just around the corner, it is the perfect time to explore two classic children\u2019s novels in which nature features prominently, \u2018The Secret Garden\u2019 and \u2018Little House on the Prairie\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2018The Secret Garden\u2019, which was published in 1911, is written by and loosely based on the life of Frances Hodgson Burnett, a British author who wrote primarily to support her family. The story\u2019s protagonist is a ten-year-old girl named Mary Lennox, who was raised in India. Upon the death of her parents, however, sour, hostile Mary is sent to live with her uncle, whom she has never met, in Yorkshire, a place she has never been. Once there, Mary becomes enthralled by tales of a mysterious garden on the property which has been locked up for ten years. She teams up with her invalid cousin, Colin, and a local boy named Dickon, to find it and bring it back to life. In the process, she experiences the healing power of nature and friendship and blossoms into a spirited, loving girl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"597\" height=\"939\" src=\"https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/image-3.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4627\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2018Little House on the Prairie\u2019, the second book in an autobiographical series written by Laura Ingalls Wilder, takes place in the 1870s. It begins with young Laura and her family moving across America in a covered wagon. When they settle on the Kansas Prairie, the Ingalls\u2019 nearest neighbour is miles away and they must build their cabin and furniture from scratch and grow or hunt all their food. The book chronicles the challenges the family faces, such as wildfires and a malaria outbreak, as well as the simple pleasures Laura finds comfort and happiness in, including playing with her sister, Mary, and her bulldog, Jack, naming the family\u2019s ponies and singing along to her father\u2019s fiddle at night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nature plays an important role in both novels, though it is presented in completely different ways. In \u2018The Secret Garden\u2019, nature is portrayed as beautiful, gentle and therapeutic. In \u2018Little House on the Prairie\u2019, however, nature is a wild and unpredictable enemy that the Ingalls must fight to survive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"939\" height=\"705\" src=\"https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/image-4.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4628\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The book\u2019s heroines are also completely different. Mary was neglected by her parents as a young child, and only experienced love and friendship after moving to Yorkshire. Laura, on the other hand, had a happy home life and shared a particularly close bond with her father. Mary\u2019s family was wealthy and she was accustomed to having servants do everything for her, from dressing her in the morning to putting her to bed at night, whereas Laura was expected to help her family with farm chores and help care for her baby sister from a young age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In my opinion, both books are beautifully written and feature memorable characters who will stay with you long after you finish the story. They both offer a glimpse into childhood in the late nineteenth to early twentieth century. I highly recommend both!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Deirdre Liebman With the winter finally over, and spring just around the corner, it is the perfect time to explore two classic children\u2019s novels in which nature features prominently, \u2018The Secret Garden\u2019 and \u2018Little House on the Prairie\u2019. \u2018The Secret Garden\u2019, which was published in 1911, is written by and loosely based on the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4628,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4626","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-artsculture","8":"category-news","10":"post-with-thumbnail","11":"post-with-thumbnail-large"},"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/image-4.png",939,705,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/image-4.png",939,705,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/image-4.png",939,705,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/image-4.png",150,113,false],"medium":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/image-4.png",300,225,false],"large":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/image-4.png",720,541,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/image-4.png",939,705,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/image-4.png",939,705,false],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/image-4.png",506,380,false],"vantage-thumbnail-no-sidebar":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/image-4.png",506,380,false],"vantage-slide":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/image-4.png",639,480,false],"vantage-carousel":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/image-4.png",242,182,false],"vantage-grid-loop":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/image-4.png",362,272,false],"menu-24x24":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/image-4.png",24,18,false],"menu-36x36":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/image-4.png",36,27,false],"menu-48x48":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/image-4.png",48,36,false]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Mr Charlton","author_link":false},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"<a href=\"https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/?cat=2\" rel=\"category\">Arts &amp; Culture<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/?cat=1\" rel=\"category\">News<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"By Deirdre Liebman With the winter finally over, and spring just around the corner, it is the perfect time to explore two classic children\u2019s novels in which nature features prominently, \u2018The Secret Garden\u2019 and \u2018Little House on the Prairie\u2019. \u2018The Secret Garden\u2019, which was published in 1911, is written by and loosely based on the&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4626"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4626"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4626\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4629,"href":"https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4626\/revisions\/4629"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}