The Borrowers: Fiftieth-Anniversary Gift Edition

Pod, Homily, and daughter Arrietty of the diminutive Clock family outfit their subterranean quarters with the tidbits and trinkets they've "borrowed" from "human beans," employing matchboxes for storage and postage stamps for paintings. Readers will delight in the resourceful way the Borrowers recycle household objects. For example, "Homily had made her a small pair of Turkish bloomers from two glove fingers for 'knocking about in the mornings.'"

The persistent pilfering goes undetected until a boy (with a ferret!) comes to live in the country house. Curiosity drives Arrietty to commit the worst mistake a Borrower can make: she allows herself to be seen. This engaging, sometimes hair-raisingly suspenseful adventure is recounted in the kind, eloquent voice of narrator Mrs. May, whose brother might--just might--have seen an actual Borrower in the country house many years ago. (Ages 9 to 12)

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All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

The Borrowers by M. Norton, 2008-04-02
Whoosh! You see a hat pin sail across the room, much like a javelin, and pin onto the lace curtain. Then, a small man no more than six inches tall scurries across the room.

Welcome to the world of the Borrowers; Pod, Homily, and Arrietty Clock. They live under the floorboards and borrow anything from potatoes to blotting paper. The tiny people live in an old country house, inhabited by `human beans'.
All goes well for the small family until Arrietty is `seen' by a boy. The Borrowers think that `human beans' are always vicious and bad, but this boy turns out to be friendly.
The boy befriends the Clocks and even helps them borrow.
Then, Pod makes the mistake of borrowing precious knick-knacks from the mistress.
Mrs. Driver, the housekeeper, is getting suspicious. Who could be stealing these things?
She sprouts a plan to trap the thieves.
Will the Clocks be caught? Will they have to emigrate?

I thought this book was funny. The Borrowers have limited knowledge on the outside world making the way they act and think seem silly. The book is entertaining, and it is not action packed all the way. It gives you time to think about what you just read, and doesn't zoom through everything. This book is good for all ages. Mary Norton did a great job writing this book.



0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

great book, 2008-02-21
A classic from my childhood, I enjoy giving this to pre-teen girls and all of them have said they enjoy it, too.


0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

The Borrowers: Fiftieth Anniversary, 2007-12-07
I love this book - I got it for my granddaughter, who will love it as well.


0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

Not Free SF Reader, 2007-09-03
The Borrowers are tiny little guys, but otherwise people. They get along by using junk that is lying around and adapting it for their own use. This book is about what happens when a human boy actually discovers them, after moving into their area.

Not a particularly uncommon theme, and this one is pretty dull.





0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

What would they "borrow" from your home?, 2007-08-18
Have you ever pondered where your hairclips, bobby pins and thimbles have gotten to? Do you wonder why small quantities of your father's tobacco and Madeira seem to smoke themselves or evaporate? Did your wooden knight ever ride off the chessboard never to be seen again?

You don't even know what I'm talking about, do you? OK, so have you ever lost your iPod Nano? Maybe the Borrowers needed a stereo for their home entertainment system. The same thing happened to your Nintendo Gameboy.

Mary Norton's "The Borrowers" published in 1952 is about a race of little people living beside a rain pipe, over the mantel, behind the harpsichord and in all the nooks and crannies of the house. These little people "borrow" from us, the big people. They use blotting paper for their carpets, a single onion ring for their cooking and postage stamps for wall portraits.

In the book, Pod, Homily and Arriety are the last Borrowers left in Aunt Sophy's house. They lived in the floorboards under the kitchen ad entered and exited their home from a hole behind the grandfather clock. They weren't rich but they had everything they needed - potatoes for their supper, a gas pipe leak for their cooking, a foie gras dish for their bath. Pod, the father, ventures into the house every now and then for supplies.

This is the story of how Arriety, after being allowed to go borrowing with her father, befriended a nine-year old boy who was a visitor in the house. Then their lives change forever: They discover news about their Borrower relatives, gain new riches and then lose everything they own.

This is a good story to read in a big house on a rainy afternoon. Perhaps you can explore the house for little corners where a Borrower may be living. Or you can guess which of the little things lying around the house are useful for them.

Even if you live in an apartment in the big city with the most modern furniture and high tech gadgets, it would still be fun to imagine what a Borrower family would be using these days. What would a Borrower your age be playing with? What would they use for furniture? Where would they be living?

I bought a package of IKEA tealight candles once and some of them have disappeared. Perhaps a family of Borrowers illuminate their cozy little home with them. Well, they can buy their own iPhone if they need to surf the internet; I'm not letting mine out of my sight.

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