Tom's Midnight Garden Review

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Tom's Midnight Garden ReviewDo you remember those old textbooks they used to hand out in fourth grade English class back in the 1980s? How they'd contain a section or a snippet out of some of the great works of children's fiction in the hopes of whetting our elementary appetites and interests so that we'd seek out the books on our own? No? Well, I do. I remember reading one of these textbooks one day and coming across a section in which a boy lives in a house where the clock strikes thirteen one night. Then he stumbles onto a magnificent eerie garden that only appears at this time. For years I carried the images from this single slight little passage with me, not knowing where they came from. It was only when I became a children's librarian that I decided to rediscover my mystery book. It didn't take long either. "Tom's Midnight Garden" is a true literary classic. Combining a British love of gardens with a bit of ghostly hauntings, time travel, and magical hours that don't exist in the regular world, the book has remained a classic, even if it has slipped out of the public eye a jot.
Tom and Peter are uncommonly close brothers. For them, summer is the time when they can play endless games in their backyard for hours at a time. Imagine Tom's sorrow then when Peter comes down with the measles right at the beginning of the warm months AND Tom has been quarantined to his stuffy old aunt and uncle's home. The boy is, needless to say, less than delighted with this chain of events. His relatives occupy the second floor flat in an old building that is separated into apartments. To top it all off, Tom has insomnia every night and finds himself wandering the building. One night the grandfather clock on the first floor starts chiming an unheard of thirteen chimes. Drawn by this peculiar number, Tom goes to the first floor, opens the back door, and finds himself facing a beautiful gigantic garden and woodsy area. This is especially odd when you consider that during the day this place is a paved over alleyway replete with garbage cans and a high fence. At night, however, it transforms into a magnificent wonderland for Tom and the girl he meets there, Hatty. Hatty and Tom become inseparable, in spite of their mutual confusion over what exactly is going on. Only when Tom is threatened with having to leave his aunt and uncle's (and thereby the garden) does he discover the source of the magic and the modern-day tie that pulls him there.
Comparisons of this book to "The Children of Green Knowe" make perfect sense. As I read this title, it didn't take much urging to be reminded of that other great fantasy in which a boy makes friends with otherworldly children. "The Secret Garden" also pops into the brain, due to its eerie ghostlike wailings and magnificent hidden garden. "Tom's Midnight Garden" is a little more methodical and (dare I say?) modern than these other books, though. Though Tom and Hatty don't initially question why a garden mysteriously appears in his backyard every night, eventually Tom must solve the mystery with a little detective work of his own. It's to the author's credit that by the tale's end, everything has been explained in a believable way. Some fantasy authors are far too willing to show something spectacular and then explain it away with the lame excuse of "it's magic!". Philippa Pearce is no such hack. This is a well-thought through book that justifies its fantasy and still remains fun.
I can't help but wish that reissues of "Tom's Midnight Garden" might consider giving it a bit of an updated cover. The original illustrations by Susan Einzig are inoffensive enough, but wouldn't this book benefit from lush full-page color illustrations from someone like Tasha Tudor, Tony DiTerlizzi, or (as long as I'm indulging myself in pure fantasy) Dave McKean? Slap a post-1958 cover on this puppy (possibly showing Tom getting his head stuck midway through the shed door) and you've got yourself a book that kids would be dying to get their hands on. Instead, you've a title that savvy adult, parents, librarians, and schoolteachers will have to coyly promote. Once the right kind of kid discovers it, however, you'll have a dickens of a time prying it from their hands. A fantasy that deserves more attention.
Tom's Midnight Garden OverviewTom is furious. His brother, Peter, has measles, so now Tom is being shipped off to stay with Aunt Gwen and Uncle Alan in their boring old apartment. There'll be nothing to do there and no one to play with. Tom just counts the days till he can return home to Peter.Then one night the landlady's antique grandfather clock strikes thirteen times leading Tom to a wonderful, magical discovery and marking the beginning of a secret that's almost too amazing to be true. But it is true, and in the new world that Tom discovers is a special friend named Hatty and more than a summer's worth of adventure for both of them. Now Tom wishes he could stay with his relativesand Hatty -- forever...


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