Tom's Midnight Garden [Hardcover]

Philippa Pearce (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1984

The well-known children's classic story and winner of the Carnegie Medal about a boy who discovers a midnight garden and goes back in time when the clock strikes 13.

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

`This is a rare, moving story, beautifully written, and true in every way that matters.'' The Guardian

`a timeless favourite' Good Housekeeping

`...haunting and lyrical children's story.' The Daily Telegraph

`...a story that came to be loved by children, parents and teachers everywhere.' The Times

`masterpiece of English children's literature.' The Independent --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Carnegie Medal for 'Tom's Midnight Garden' Other books include: 'Minnow on the Say', 'The Way to Sattin Shore', 'The Children of Charlecote' (with Brian Fairfax-Lucy), 'The Little Gentleman', 'A Dog So Small', 'The Battle of Bubble and Squeak'. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: J.P. Lippincott (July 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0397304757
• ISBN-13: 978-0397304752
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,329,196 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The thirteenth hour, August 22, 2005

By 

E. R. Bird "Ramseelbird" (Manhattan, NY) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tom's Midnight Garden (Paperback)

Do 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.

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Haven't read it? You've lost a lot., July 28, 2000

By 

Elsie Wilson (Aberystwyth, Cymru) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tom's Midnight Garden (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition) (School & Library Binding)

With the possible exception of Falkner's "Moonfleet" this is my all-time favourite children's book. I loved it as a child, read it as an adolescent, enjoyed it as an adult, & read it aloud to my children as a father. The story here is how a boy finds his way into the past of a house he is visiting, and his growing fascination with the life of a little girl in that past. The style of writing is so matter of fact, i think i truly believed as a child because there is no sense of "look how cute this idea is" you often get in books of the sort. The reader is invited to fully participate in and identify with both Tom and Hattie, and their growing friendship. The climax of the book, as Tom discovers what has truly been happening, never fails to move me to tears; just thinking about Mrs. Bartholomew's line right now is tightening my throat. Read this book.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books ever, April 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Tom's Midnight Garden (Paperback)

"Tom's Midnight Garden" belongs on any "Best Novels of the 20th Century" list. I came to "Midnight Garden" through Pearce's other books. Read her ghost stories (many about animals), and tales of English urban and suburban children's lives. Ms. Pearce never talks down to children, treating her readers and creations with respect. Also, the adult insights and regrets that we may have forgotten experiencing when we were young, abound in her work. She is very wise. A quick example: A boy dreads a family get together for great grandmother's 100th birthday celebration because of a vicious, bullying cousin. Nevertheless, the terrible reunion day arrives. During a game of hide and seek, as the bully chases our hero, he happens to duck into a quiet room only to find that the 100 year old grandmother has been warehoused there, wheeled out of the way at her own party. Even though age and infirmity have rendered her hardly able to speak, it seems that she senses the boy's fear as the door handle turns and the bully comes inside. As the bully advances into the room, it's silence is broken by a hideous, ghostly wail. Bully runs terrified from the hellish moan, and great-grandmother's face has a slight smile on it, the only (other) physical action she can manifest. She has moaned and (do I remember correctly?) popped her teeth out and protected the boy the only way she can. But that's not all. Our boy gets away, but thinking back on the incident, wishes he had properly thanked great grandmother for her help. (And here is the greatness of Pearce's art) The obligations not met, connections never made, the friend in need never thanked, the other-aged comrade with whom we now know we should have connected, the good words not spoken, Pearce always has woven into the cloth of the story. The immensity of life and our day-late-dollar-short performance in the world is there to be recognized along with the humor and action of the story. This is bittersweet, profound fiction but no moral is grafted on to her tales. It is there to be seen for he (or she) who has eyes with which to see it. Philippa Pearce, who was a BBC radio dramatist before becoming a children's author, is one of the very fine writers of our century.