Tilly's Moonlight Garden

December 3, 2012
Green's lovely story about escaping into the imagination (and deciding when it's time to return) pays homage to classics like The Secret Garden and Anne of Green Gables. Eleven-year-old Tilly is separated from her best friend and everything she knows after her family moves into a beautiful old mansion in the English countryside. While her mother struggles through a difficult pregnancy and her writer father remains distant, Tilly spends most of her time alone, working on crafts and exploring the outdoors. At night, while carrying her stuffed fox, she follows a real fox through a gate and into a hidden garden, where she finds solace in a new friend that no one else can see. Tilly's uncertainties about her new school and fear of losing her mother are echoed through the enigmatic environment, rather than being overtly expressed in the narrative. Green (Hunter's Heart) masterfully fashions characters out of nature, the seasons, and the house, creating an atmosphere tinged with melancholy and a wisp of the supernatural, which is further accentuated by Howard's smoky b&w scenes. Ages 9âup.

September 15, 2012
If Tilly's world seems surreal, it is because it has been upended: Her mother is absent, bedridden with a difficult pregnancy, the family has moved, and Tilly's best friend is miles away. Starting school where the girls seem cliquish is hard without her mom to talk to. But there are some things about the new house and grounds that lend Tilly courage, such as the fox that enchants her nightly. In parallel to her mother's condition, the fox is expecting a litter. Then there is the girl, Helen, whom Tilly meets in the garden in the moonlight. Whether Helen is real, a ghost, or a product of Tilly's dreams will tease children into spirited debate. What is sure is that Helen serves as a stand-in for a companion until Tilly makes friends with Susila. Briticisms and an unusual syntax may put off some readers. Others will be lulled by the slow-moving, dreamlike quality of the writing until they, like Tilly, will be barely aware of how the real world begins to reassert itself as the pieces come together: Mom feels better after giving birth, Tilly looks forward to teaching her baby brother everything she knows, and Susila shows promise as a friend who will enjoy stories about the fox in the garden. Nuanced and gently-paced, share this with imaginative young readers dealing with change. (Magical realism. 8-12)

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January 1, 2013

Gr 3-6-Tilly's family has just moved, and she is lonely. Her father, a writer, does not seem to know how to communicate with her, and her mother is having a difficult pregnancy. Then the child discovers a magic garden and makes a new friend, who helps her appreciate the wonderful things in her own life and to accept the changes taking place. This is a sweet and quiet book that thoughtful readers will enjoy. Kids undergoing big changes themselves will appreciate the difficulty Tilly experiences while trying to adapt and will relate to her. The story draws the obvious comparison to The Secret Garden. A pleasant, gentle book for larger collections.-Elizabeth Swistock, Orange County Public Library, VA

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2012
Grades 4-6 A move to a new house proves stressful for Tilly and her parents: Mom develops headaches and is sent to bed for the duration of her pregnancy; Dad is preoccupied with Mom; and Tilly feels ignored, scared, and lonely. She seeks solace nearly every night in a wild, secret garden inhabited by a fox and an elusive girl named Helen. Tilly's situation improves somewhat after Granny comes to stay, but it is only after Mom and the new baby are safe that Tilly is able to begin making friends and accept that the garden's magic most likely exists only in her imagination. Green's portrayal of Tilly's anxiety is well handled, and the narrative's somber tone allows readers to accept the fantasyor a more realistic explanation of sleepwalkingas they wish. Although numerous Britishisms (lorry, jumper) and a languid pace may deter some readers, fans of Philippa Pearce's Tom's Midnight Garden (1958) or Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden (1911) will enjoy this. Howard's spot art adds a charming dimension.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2013
Tilly's family has moved, and her mom, having a difficult pregnancy, is always sleeping. Fortunately, Tilly stumbles upon a secret garden, meets a fox about to have a litter, and makes a friend named Helen, who dresses in old-fashioned clothing. Set in England, the Philippa Pearcelike, gently mysterious story has been Americanized, though a few stray Briticisms remain.

(Copyright 2013 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)