Burnett, Frances Hodgson: The Secret Garden, v1. 01-11-2008

[cathyWeeks]

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

My favorite children's classic. Reformatted for the Kindle and anything else that reads .prc files.

Update: I fixed the title, plus the verse problem, as well as re-formatted the TOC (still not happy with it, but it's better than before).

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[HarryT]

A few comments, Cathy:

First and foremost, I really must object in the strongest possible terms to your completely arbitrary change to the book's title. The book is called "The Secret Garden", not "A Secret Garden". Why did you change it? I believe that one should always respect the author's choice of the title of a book.

Secondly, why all the blank lines? Some people like blank lines between paragraphs; I don't personally, but that's reasonable enough. But why the blanks between every line of verse? I've never seen verse printed like that - have you?

[Patricia]

Cathy: would you consider changing the title, in the interests of accuracy? Also the verses, if this was an unintentional slip?

(It is very easy to make these errors, especially in one's early attempts, so please don't feel discouraged at our comments. We are aiming to be constructive.)

If you open your post and click on 'edit' at the bottom right corner then you could take down the original attachment and post a revised version with the correct title. These changes would only take a few minutes and would result in a substantially more accurate version.

As you have said, this is a very popular children's book and a lot of people will be glad to have a version. However, as Harry point out, the error in the title is rather irritating in a favourite book.

[cathyWeeks]

Originally Posted by HarryT

A few comments, Cathy:

First and foremost, I really must object in the strongest possible terms to your completely arbitrary change to the book's title. The book is called "The Secret Garden", not "A Secret Garden". Why did you change it? I believe that one should always respect the author's choice of the title of a book.

Secondly, why all the blank lines? Some people like blank lines between paragraphs; I don't personally, but that's reasonable enough. But why the blanks between every line of verse? I've never seen verse printed like that - have you?

The change in title was a mistake on my part, and quite unintentional. My apologies. I will fix it right away. I was working with A Little Princess and The Secret Garden at the same time, and got the A and The mixed up.

As for the verse, I'll fix that too. I set up a "normal" style, which has the blank line after a paragraph break, and since those lines force a break, they got the blank lines too. Easy to fix.

[Laurel]

Nice work, Cathy. You're a fast learner!

Laurel

[Patricia]

Thanks, Cathy. As I said, this is a very popular book and many people will appreciate your efforts to make a nicely-formatted version available. I'm looking forward to seeing it.

[cathyWeeks]

Originally Posted by Patricia

Thanks, Cathy. As I said, this is a very popular book and many people will appreciate your efforts to make a nicely-formatted version available. I'm looking forward to seeing it.

Not a problem. Right now, I'm delayed because I just CANNOT get the table of contents to format properly The title has been fixed, as has the verse. But that TOC is just all over the place. It looks great in mobipocket reader, but lousy on the Kindle

[cathyWeeks]

Originally Posted by Laurel

Nice work, Cathy. You're a fast learner! Laurel

Hi Laurel - are you the same one as over on the yahoo group?

And yes, I am a fast learner, but I do have some advantages for this sort of thing - I was a newsletter editor/webmaster/ad designer/tech writer for a very long time, so much of this is just re-learning what I used to know. It's MUCH easier to relearn than to learn from scratch.

I've also got to say that HTML and web design in general is FAR more complex than when I first learned it (back in the early 1990s). If I had to tackle web design NOW from scratch, I think I'd run away kicking and screaming!

[cathyWeeks]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Secondly, why all the blank lines? Some people like blank lines between paragraphs; I don't personally, but that's reasonable enough. But why the blanks between every line of verse? I've never seen verse printed like that - have you?

I've fixed the issues, as you requested. The name is now changed, on both the file name, the cover image, and the metadata. In answer to your question, I prefer to have slight blank lines between paragraphs, but I changed the formatting, so the blank line is much narrower. (6 point instead of 12).

[Laurel]

Originally Posted by cathyWeeks

Hi Laurel - are you the same one as over on the yahoo group?

One and the same. It really looks good now. I agree with you on having a little extra space between paragraphs--it makes reading a little easier for children.

Laurel

[Patricia]

Thanks for being so patient, Cathy. The new version is much appreciated.

[HarryT]

Excellent job. Thank you very much indeed. Apologies for assuming that it was a deliberate change, but when one has the title page immediately followed by "The Secret Garden" at least a dozen times in the PG blurb, I thought that it must have been deliberate on your part . Thanks for putting it right.