This book is a re-telling of the story The Secret Garden. The characters are given different names and the setting is a bit more modern and there are some parts of the story that are a bit more magical and others that are darker. I think that if a child has not read The Secret Garden, they may enjoy The Humming Room. In this re-telling of the story, Roo Fanshaw, a diminuative 12 year old girl whose parents apparantly were drug dealers and were killed, winds up in a foster home for a while, then is taken to live with a rich uncle that she had not known existed who lives on an island in a building that was once a children's hospital. Like The Secret Garden, there is a servant girl, Violet who is friendly but mysterious, and a boy who takes care of animals, Jack, who in this story is either an orphan or a magical creature, and her uncle has a sick, unpleasant son, Phillip, who is hidden away. There is also a neglected hidden garden that the children care for as they all grow stronger and develop their friendship.
Personally, I think the original story is much much better, but this one is well written and a shorter book that will be easier for children to read.
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