Historical Fiction- The Secret Garden By: Frances Hodgson Burnett

       Spoiled rotten and mean-tempered, newly orphaned Mary Lennox is uprooted from India and sent to England to live in the mansion of her uncle, Archibald Craven. On his estate in Yorkshire, she discovers a hidden garden, long  abandoned and locked up. With help of Dickon, a local boy Mary begins to tend the garden, determined to bring it back into full bloom. The Secret Garden, in turn, transforms her and everyone else who enters it. 

       I have read this book multiple times growing up. Something that I had a hard time understanding when I read it was how come she was white and lived in India. I didn't understand this because I had no historical frame of reference for what was going on in India during the time this book was written. During this time, India wasn't and independent country. It was over British rule. Which meant that people from England ran the important industries for the country. This is why Mary grew up there. I would have my children do a side project on the history of India during this time period, and what it meant that India was under British rule. This is how I would bring historical context to the literature being covered in my classroom.