Rainbow Garden

11-year-old Elaine is sent from London to the countryside while her mother takes a job in Europe. At first, Elaine resents her situation, especially being foisted off on a boisterous family with six other children who don't seem to want her there, but then she finds an abandoned garden that she decides to make into her own special place.

If this sounds a bit like a cut-rate Secret Garden, you're not entirely wrong, though the garden is only really important in the first half of the story. The main plot centers on Elaine's discovery of Christianity and the development of her newfound faith. It's all terribly earnest, as is typical of mid-century religious writing for children, though there's some adventure by way of a mountain holiday and show more a desperate robber toward the end of the book. I can see this book finding a place in a church library. My edition says it's been revised with more modern language, but I'm not familiar with the original, so I can't tell you what's been changed. show less

When she is sent from her London home to live in the Welsh countryside with the large, boisterous Owen family, eleven-year-old Elaine feels miserable and resentful until she discovers an abandoned garden and determines to make it her secret sanctuary.

Somewhat like a Christian version of the Secret Garden. Elaine is a spoiled, troubled child who finds the love of a family and of Christ. The garden is really a minor part of the story and in my opinion didn't work as well as it could have. I did not enjoy this much as a child, but as an adult I did enjoy the book, once I got over the desire for more of the garden.

This is a great Christian children's book. Elaine moves from the city to the country determined to despise everything and everyone but she slowly learns that it is in helping others that she finds her true happiness.

Recommended for children and teens.

When Elaine leaves her home in London to stay with the Owen family in Wales, she feels miserable and left out. It's only the little secret garden that she finds at the end of the rainbow that makes staying there seem worthwhile. And then something happens that changes everything.

I won this book more than 35 years ago in a Bible verse contest and I still re-read the story of the spoiled, lonely, only child and her search for happiness.