The Secret Garden
by Frances Hodgson Burnett
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Assigned across 1 curriculum list
Grade placement varies by school — the median assigned book spans 4 grade levels (83% span three or more, across 13,258 source-cited assignments).
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett is assigned in US schools at grades 4–5. It appears across 1 curriculum reference, sourced from state DOE pages and AP/IB/Common Core syllabi. Every citation below links to the primary source.
This page shows where The Secret Garden is assigned in US schools — curricula, states, grades, and the primary-source citations behind each placement. Not a summary or study guide.
- Grade range
- Grades 4–5
- Age range
- Ages 9–10
- Pages
- 256
- Reading time
- about 4h 40m (est.)
- First published
- 1911
- Genre
- Fantasy
- ISBN-13
- 9780140366662
New to these terms? Reading levels by grade
More formats & details
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About this book
A ten-year-old orphan comes to live in a lonely house on the Yorkshire moors where she discovers an invalid cousin and the mysteries of a locked garden.
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See all books like The Secret Garden→ — matched on theme + reading level.
Why widely assigned
This Fantasy title, typically at grades 4–5. Written in the 1910s; pairs with curriculum units on friendship, fiction and people with disabilities, fiction; cited across 1 curriculum framework.
Themes
friendship, fiction · people with disabilities, fiction · great britain, fiction · child and youth fiction
Where this book is assigned
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Common questions
- What grade level is The Secret Garden?
- The Secret Garden is most commonly assigned in US schools in grades 4–5. Specific grade placement varies by curriculum — AP Literature and IB English Literature typically use it in grades 11-12.
- How long does it take to read The Secret Garden?
- It takes about 4h 40m to read The Secret Garden (256 pages) at an average adult reading pace of about 250 words per minute — roughly 280 minutes. Faster or slower readers will vary; the estimate is a planning guide for assigning the book.
- What curricula assign The Secret Garden?
- The Secret Garden appears on reading lists for Common Core State Standards (ELA). Each assignment on this site links to its primary-source citation.
- Is The Secret Garden banned in schools?
- The Secret Garden does not appear in PEN America's Index of School Book Bans 2022-2024. No documented multi-district removals on record, but individual districts may challenge titles locally.
- What themes does The Secret Garden explore?
- Central themes in The Secret Garden include friendship, fiction, people with disabilities, fiction, great britain, fiction, child and youth fiction. These themes match how the book is discussed in most curriculum guides and AP Literature prompts.
Why this book is on this list
How we classifyHide
Each dimension below is sourced from a public reference. The full framework is documented on the classification standard page.
- Lexile measure
- Not classified — this book has no published Lexile measure.
- Grade band
- Grades 4–5 — drawn from state ELA frameworks and AP/IB syllabi citing this book.
- Curriculum alignment
- Cited in 1 curriculum on this site (see “Where assigned” above for primary-source links).
- State-level evidence
- Not yet documented in a state-level framework on this site.
- Removal / banning records
- No tracked removal or challenge records in cited sources.
- Seasonal / contextual tags
- No seasonal or program-specific tags on this book.