Bess’s Magical Garden
by M.E. Hembroff
It’s been a terrible time for Bess lately. Her father died in a car crash, she is in the final stages of polio and now her mother has moved her to a new town, Pineview, away from her best friend, Megan.
Not long after Bess and her mother move into their new home Bess begins to hear whispering voices in her garden. One time she even sees a ghostly figure. Bess writes to Megan and tells her of all the things she hears and sees.
During the summer, Bess’s mom gets a woman to watch Bess, her name is Mrs. O’Toole and she starts helping Bess get stronger and stronger to overcome the polio. Bess also makes two new friends, a neighbor girl named Josie and an orange and white cat that Bess names Pumpkin.
Josie and Megan know about the magic garden and they both try to help Bess find out all the secrets. Megan tells Bess what to do through letters. Together, with her friend’s help, Bess finds more and more secrets. She finds secret items all in the garden and one is a map, but the map confuses Bess more than help her with the secrets. As Bess seeks out the secrets she is also becoming more and more stronger mentally and physically.
I think this is a great book for children ages 8-12. It helps children understand how they can overcome loss and how important friends are. I also love how the girls write letters back and forth. This was such an important part of my childhood because I moved all across the states and left best friends behind and it really hurt, so we wrote letters constantly to stay in touch. Writing letters is a thing of the past because of so much technology today and it is sad because I wouldn’t have traded my days of receiving a letter in the mail for anything.
This book also teaches children to never give up no matter what they have been through because life has many mysteries ahead. I loved it and highly recommend it.
“Bess Magical Garden” is a short book with only 81 pages and easy to read words. You can purchase this book on Amazon for around $12.00 in paperback and it is also available to read on a Kindle.
*I received this book free of charge in exchange for a written review. I was not monetarily compensated and the opinions are 100% my own.
M.E. Hembroff says she writes to escape, entertain and to trigger the reader’s imagination. She has always felt compelled to write and to share with others. She hopes her stories will help readers to explore new worlds around them and stimulate their imagination. Writing helps to release her imagination and emotions and is therapeutic.
Visits: 247
