Tom's Midnight Garden facts for kids
Classic Einzig cover thought to be first edition
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| Author | Philippa Pearce |
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| Illustrator | Susan Einzig |
| Cover artist | Einzig |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's fantasy, adventure novel |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press |
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Publication date
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31 December 1958 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 229 pp (first edition) |
| ISBN | 0-19-271128-8 |
| OCLC | 13537516 |
| LC Class | PZ7.P3145 To2 |
Tom's Midnight Garden is a classic children's fantasy novel written by Philippa Pearce. It was first published in 1958. The book features beautiful illustrations by Susan Einzig. This story has been printed many times and even turned into radio shows, TV series, a movie, and plays. Philippa Pearce won the important Carnegie Medal for this book. This award celebrates the best children's book by a British subject each year. In 2007, people voted Tom's Midnight Garden as the second-favourite Carnegie Medal-winning book ever!
Contents
What the Story is About
The story follows a boy named Tom. He has to stay with his aunt and uncle in a city flat. This flat is part of an old building that used to be a big country house in the 1880s and 1890s. Every night, Tom finds himself slipping back in time. He discovers a secret, old garden. There, he meets a girl named Hatty, who becomes his playmate.
Tom's Amazing Adventure
Tom Long's brother, Peter, gets measles. So, Tom goes to stay with his Uncle Alan and Aunt Gwen. They live in an upstairs flat in a large house. The house does not have a garden, only a small yard for parking. The big garden that used to be there was sold for new houses.
Tom feels very lonely because he cannot go outside to play. He might be sick too. One night, he cannot sleep. He hears the grandfather clock in the hall strike 13 times. This is very strange! He gets up to see what is happening. He finds that the back door now opens into a huge, sunny garden.
Every night, the clock strikes 13. Tom then goes back in time to this amazing Victorian era garden. He meets another lonely child there, a girl named Hatty. They quickly become best friends and play together all the time. Tom sometimes sees Hatty's family, but only Hatty (and later, the gardener) can see him. Everyone else thinks Hatty is playing by herself.
Tom writes letters every day to his brother Peter. Peter follows all of Tom's exciting adventures. Tom even finds a way to stay longer with his aunt and uncle. As time passes, Hatty starts to grow up. She becomes older than Tom. He slowly realizes that he is visiting different moments in the past. Hatty grows up faster and faster. Soon, she is an adult and is dating a friend named Barty.
At this point in the story, the old garden is often covered in snow. Tom cleverly gets ice skates. He asks Hatty to hide her old pair in his room. The next night, he finds them and joins her skating on the ice.
On Tom's last night before going home, he tries to find the garden. But it is not there! He runs around, trying to find the door, but he crashes into some bins. This wakes up people in the building. Tom shouts Hatty's name because he is so sad. His Uncle Alan finds him and thinks Tom was just sleepwalking.
The next morning, Mrs. Bartholomew, the old lady who owns the house, asks to see Tom. She then tells him that she is Hatty! She realized it when she heard him call her name. The amazing adventures Tom had were real memories from Hatty's past. Tom had stepped into her dreams of those times. On that last night, Hatty had been dreaming of her wedding with Barty.
After Tom goes home, Aunt Gwen mentions something strange. Tom had hugged Mrs. Bartholomew goodbye as if she were a little girl.
Deeper Meanings of the Story
Tom's Midnight Garden is considered a truly special book. It makes you wonder about time and what is real. For a while, you are not sure who is the ghost in the story. In the end, we learn that the midnight garden is like a memory or dream from an old lady's mind. These ideas about time and space appear in other books by Philippa Pearce.
Many people say that the moment Tom, still a child, says goodbye to the elderly Hatty is one of the most touching parts in children's books.
A famous writer, John Rowe Townsend, said in 1965 that if he had to pick one masterpiece of English children's literature since World War II, it would be Tom's Midnight Garden. He still felt that way many years later.
The idea of "time slip" became very popular in British children's novels around this time. Other books where characters slip back in time include A Traveller in Time by Alison Uttley (1939) and Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer (1969).
Real-Life Connections
The old mansion in the book is much like the house where the author, Philippa Pearce, grew up. This house is called the Mill House in Great Shelford, near Cambridge, England. When she wrote the book, she was living very close to the Mill House again. The city of Cambridge is called Castleford in the book. The idea of time used in the novel comes from a book called An Experiment with Time by J. W. Dunne, written in 1927.
Movies, TV Shows, and Plays
- The BBC made TV shows of the book three times: in 1968, 1974, and 1988 (which aired in 1989).
- A full-length movie was made in 1999, starring Anthony Way.
- The story was made into a stage play by David Wood in 2001.
A Special Award in 2007
Since 1936, British librarians have given out the Carnegie Medal for the best new children's book. Philippa Pearce and Tom's Midnight Garden won the medal in 1958. In 2007, for the medal's 70th birthday, experts chose Tom's Midnight Garden as one of the top ten winning books ever. The public then voted for their favourite. Tom's Midnight Garden came in second place! It was voted between two books that were about 40 years newer.
Philip Pullman, who wrote the winning book Northern Lights, said that he thought Philippa Pearce's book should have won. Julia Eccleshare, a children's book editor, also noted that Tom's Midnight Garden has been loved for almost 60 years.
