In this story by Frances Hodgson Burnett, a young girl called Mary starts out as unloved and unlovable. She moves home and, through her contact with country life and people, she gradually changes. She discovers an abandoned garden which gives her a driving aim in life: to bring the garden back to life. Mary is a changed child, so changed that, when she finds someone similar to her former self, she decides to change him too. Underlying this story are valuable lessons about the importance of kindness, physical exercise and contact with the natural world.