I read this aloud to my 12-year-old daughter after we finished The Secret Garden by the same author. She enjoyed this book, though slightly less than the previous. She had unfortunately already seen a movie version of this book, which has the father alive at the end. The book is clear that he died. I think she was disappointed by this. Although I much prefer the book over the movie. We occasionally had to pause to look up a meaning of a word, but I consider this a good thing. I think it’s important to build a child’s vocabulary and too often books meant for children are dumbed down. Burnett does not make this mistake. But it is not a difficult book to read, and it was easily comprehended by my daughter.