I have seen the film. I have seen the musical.
Now I have read the book, and to make things better, my kids read it with me.
I don't really know what this book would be like for an adult to read on their own - unless they choose to read it aloud doing their best Yorkshire accent. That was half the fun.
The book is sweet. It teaches lessons, it tells about the world and life from the eyes of children. It teaches us about change, about friendship, and about how often we become exactly what others think we will.
It shows why it is so important to see people: not as they are, but as they may become.
The beginning of the final chapter is the most powerful, and it is the only moment when the author stops to really just drive home the message.
"Thoughts - just mere thoughts - are as powerful as electric batteries - as good for one as sunlight is, or as bad for one as poison. To let a sad thought or a bad one get into your mind is as dangerous as letting a scarlet fever germ get into your body. If you let it stay there after it has got in you may never get over it as long as you live."
"Surprising things can happen to anyone who, when a disagreeable or discouraged thought comes in to his mind, just has the sense to remember in time and push it out by putting in an agreeable determinedly courageous one. Two things cannot be in one place. Where you tend a rose my lad, a thistle cannot grow."
The book is wonderful. I recommend it to all. It is meaningful because you can feel that the author knows how it feels to go through those same changes.
The author was speaking from personal experience: Read more about her own life here.
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