Customer Reviews

Poor Stainless: A New Story About the Borrowers

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This is a short story of a young borrower, Stainless, who was asked to go 'borrow' a bit of parsley from the human beings. Borrowing a bit of parsley is a simple job for any borrower, even young ones. Maybe a 5-minute job. But little Stainless was gone for a whole day and night. His mother was very worried about his safety, so the borrower grandfathers, passed an order that all borrowers, no matter male or female (except the very young ones), form search parties to look for Stainless. You have to read the rest to find out what happened because if I go on with the review, you'll know what happened in the end as it is really a very short story. Happy reading!

While Arrietty and Homily sit and sew on a piece of cloth, Arrietty asks for a story. Homily reaches back and tells of an adventure from her younger days. When she was young, there was a mischievous boy Borrower named Stainless Knife Machines (a Borrower's last name is always drawn from where they live). When Stainless disappears one day, everyone goes looking for "poor Stainless."

Written in 1966, this book shows how Mary Norton might have gone on writing charming Borrower short stories. Ah, what might have been... Anyway, this short little story (32 pages, including illustrations) is quite interesting and fun to read. Please introduce your children to the Borrowers!