When I was little, I had a lot of favorite books: Laura Ingalls Wilder, Nancy Drew, all of the Judy Blume books, Ramona Quimby. Most of them were popular series, and if you read one book, you read them all, but my sophisticated preteen palate didn’t know any better.

However, there were also books that showed up as gifts, or in boxes of hand-me-downs that didn’t get picked up and devoured right away. Sometimes these books would sit on my bookshelf for months, or even years.

Although I shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, the maudlin mauve color that showcased “Anne of Green Gables” didn’t exactly draw me in. The homely Hummel-esque faces on the cover of “Eight Cousins” seemed trite and boring. And, although I devoured “A Little Princess,” by Frances Hodgson Burnett, a delicate pink volume with shy princess drawing on the cover, the sister volume “The Secret Garden,” in green, failed to draw me in with the opening scenes of a spoiled, bratty, lonely child and raging deaths from the cholera epidemic.

The funny thing is when I was finally driven, probably by boredom, to finally dig into these novels, they quickly became my new favorites. Louisa May Alcott’s “Eight Cousins” is 10 times the book that “Little Women” is, at least by my measure. Rose Campbell and Anne Shirley are heroines for the ages. And Mary Lennox? A whole other ball of wax.

But between the three orphans (I do have a type) and their adventures, I had hours of reading entertainment. So what has me thinking about my childhood literary favorites? The Tamaqua Community Art Center is staging “The Secret Garden” beginning on Nov. 12 and running through Nov. 15.

After COVID-19 put an untimely end to the drama club’s production of “Newsies” in the spring and with the uncertainty of what the fall would bring, the club’s adviser was determined to keep the spirit of the theater alive and well, despite the challenges.

This summer, she gave the graduating members of the club one last chance to shine on stage with a production of “Almost, Maine,” a series of vignettes that allowed for a bare-bones cast and was just perfect to debut for online viewing.

While I had my doubts about how effective watching a high school production over the internet was going to be, I was pleasantly surprised at what a professional experience it was. The sound was excellent. The picture was clear. And, I got the added benefit of watching it from the comfort and safety of my own home.

While the safety requirement is hopefully short-lived and pandemic-related, the comfort factor is definitely something to consider for the long term. Another benefit to this format is that we can extend the invitation to the play to many of our out-of-town and out-of-state relatives who wouldn’t normally have the opportunity to see the production.

A was enthusiastic about the opportunity to pursue a semi-normal activity, but I had my reservations. With an airborne disease like COVID, having him in a room full of people singing, wasn’t ideal. Leaps of faith aren’t always my thing, but I decided that some of the parallels between the supposed invalid, Colin, in the play and A weren’t lines that I wanted to draw. Keeping him locked up and hidden from the world wasn’t necessarily the healthiest thing we could do.

I was also incredibly moved by the commitment of the rest of the cast and crew to maintain precautions and take as much care as possible, although having gotten to know this group over the past two years, I’m not at all surprised.

I don’t want to give away too much of the plot, although it does deviate from the original text in many significant ways, but it really is a perfect play for the pandemic. These past few months, I feel like our family has really gotten back to nature. We’ve rediscovered home gardening, planting flowers, growing everything from herbs and flowers to giant pumpkins and tomatoes. For the first time ever, I had lush pots full of bright red geraniums all over the porch.

G worked on completing his plant science merit badge and planted a multitude of shrubs, perennials and annuals. We managed to have blooms of some sort until just about this week, when the frost finished off the last of the mums. We still have a few decorative cabbages hanging on, though. While none of our garden experiences were quite a secret, I do think that our green thumbs were certainly a surprise to all of us. The play is also a reminder of the restorative and healing power of nature, something we all could use a little bit of right now.

I have been so lucky for the last few weeks. On the one hand, I’ve had both boys rehearsing endlessly for marching band. On the other hand, I’ve had A practicing his songs for this play, and also preparing his auditions for upcoming shows. Every day, I am reminded of how important the arts are to our lives. While there have been several cacophonous moments, particularly when Duncan decides to chime in, overall, I usually end up humming along or singing to myself later in the day.

While E doesn’t have the class requirements that the boys do, she still practices her flute and has been able to return to dance classes, so she is almost always twirling around practicing. While we haven’t had the outlets that we typically have, my kids have still found their ways to bring art into our lives every day.

So, how do you get a piece of this art action? The great news is that it’s being performed over four days, Nov. 12-15, and livestream tickets are available for all shows. You can purchase a virtual ticket to view the livestream by contacting The Tamaqua Community Art Center at 570-668-1192 for ticket information or visiting https://tamaquaarts.thundertix.com/events/175497. The past few months have been chaotic and we’re heading into what promises to be an equally chaotic holiday season. Winter is coming. Why not spend a few more moments in the garden?

Liz Pinkey is a contributing writer to the Times News. Her column appears weekly in our Saturday feature section.