01/11/2026
Book recommendation: The Secret Garden
This book recommendation has been written by one of the City of Ballarat’s volunteer Youth Ambassadors as part of their 2026 project on family and domestic violence. The Youth Ambassadors are working to encourage young readers to consider books with ‘Green Flag’ characters and behaviours, and to stop the romanticising and normalising of ‘Red Flag’ behaviours.
📚 The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett 📚
A spoiled orphan girl who eventually overcomes her doubts and heals herself by restoring a hidden, locked garden.
A major green flag in The Secret Garden is its powerful emphasis on emotional healing through nature, self-care and positive thinking, showing how growth occurs from the characters supporting each other. At first, the book presents a major red flag in Mary Lennox’s hostile, entitled behaviour, mirroring the overgrown, lifeless state of the locked garden. However, as Mary tends to it, these red flags steadily turn to green flags as her health, empathy and joy bloom alongside the garden. This transformation highlights how a toxic mindset can yield to positive emotional healing when nourished by nature, selfcare and meaningful connection.
The Secret Garden is a heartwarming, timeless story about transformation, hope and the ‘magical’ ways connecting with nature repaired the broken spirits of these popular characters.
By Yug, Youth Ambassador
If you are interested in chatting about green flags vs red flags in literature and are aged between 12 and 25, book yourself into one of the Youth Ambassadors’ Book Chat events during this year’s 16 Days Campaign. Find out more information here: https://linktr.ee/BallaratYouthServices
