The Borrowers [Paperback]

Mary Norton (Author), Beth Krush (Illustrator), Joe Krush (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2003 | Age Range: 9 and up | Series: Borrowers

The Borrowers—the Clock family: Homily, Pod, and their fourteen-year-old daughter, Arrietty, to be precise—are tiny people who live underneath the kitchen floor of an old English country manor. All their minuscule home furnishings, from postage stamp paintings to champagne cork chairs, are “borrowed” from the “human beans” who tromp around loudly above them. All is well until Pod is spotted upstairs by a human boy! Can the Clocks stay nested safely in their beloved hidden home, or will they be forced to flee? The British author Mary Norton won the Carnegie Medal for The Borrowers in 1952, the year it was first published in England. This repackaged paperback edition still has the delightful original black-and-white illustrations by Beth and Joe Krush inside. A charmer!

Awards: 1952 Carnegie Medal, a Lewis Carroll Shelf Award Book

Don’t miss the other classics in the Borrowers series: The Borrowers Afield, The Borrowers Afloat, The Borrowers Aloft, and The Borrowers Avenged.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Anyone who has ever entertained the notion of "little people" living furtively among us will adore this artfully spun classic. The Borrowers--a Carnegie Medal winner, a Lewis Carroll Shelf Award book, and an ALA Distinguished Book--has stolen the hearts of thousands of readers since its 1953 publication. Mary Norton (1903-1993) creates a make-believe world in which tiny people live hidden from humankind beneath the floorboards of a quiet country house in England.

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) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Praise for Mary Norton's The Borrowers:
"A book that begs to be shared."--The Horn Book

"The magic and charm of the writing convince children and grown-ups, too, that Borrowers really do exist."--School Library Journal

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Age Range: 9 and up
  
• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Sandpiper; 1 edition (April 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0152047379
• ISBN-13: 978-0152047375
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (119 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,711 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #70 in Books > Children's Books > Classics

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

178 of 185 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book, but check out the age level June 14, 2000

By Quaker Annie

Format:Hardcover

When I was a child of 12 or 13, I loved the Borrowers books. The idea of a family of tiny people, living in my own house and taking, for the most practical of purposes, things we'd thought we'd lost was quite enjoyable. The best part of the books, for me, were the descriptions of what they did with the buttons and baubles they risked their lives to 'borrow' - (imagine bumping into our family cat late one night while you're trying to lug a teacup back home).

Because I was a young girl who thought girls could do anything, I didn't really appreciate Arrietty's spunkiness. As the only child of the last Borrowers in this household, she's allowed to do many things her own mother hadn't done as a child. And perhaps because she can do some things her mother couldn't, she moves a step further and does whatever any boy could do.

I thought I could read these books to my 8 year old, who loves the Harry Potter series and The Wrinkle in Time books, but these books are too difficult for little kids (even those reading at an advanced level).

The language is very British and there are side explanations that are much too lengthy. Evidently I missed, as a pre-teen reader, the notion that the Borrowers might have been fabricated by the boy who was narrating the stories. (It is rather absurd to think that they were made up - I've lost too many socks and earrings in my lifetime, so I know Borrowers exist.)

Before the John Goodman version of the movie, we watched British video of The Borrowers and The Return of the Borrowers (great for younger kids). It was excellent, even though the special effects aren't where they were in the American version, the British version was excellent.

For those 11 and up (to 111) this is a great series to read.

41 of 43 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A story that I'll always remember... and love... July 27, 2000

By jyosefin

Format:Hardcover

I first read this book 10 years ago when I was still in Primary School and I instantly became a fan. I still remember that it was my home tutor , Ms Sim, who introduced me to this book. Now 10 years later, I re-read this book and still love it. I feel that anyone and everyone can enjoy this book, not only the kids.

The Borrowers are actually a race of little people. They believed that the human 'beans' lived to provide for them. The Borrowers loved houses that were very organised. The residents of the house must always follow a pattern of behavior so that the Borrowers could 'borrow' things from the house without being 'seen'.

"The Borrowers" tells the story of a Borrower family - the Clocks. They were Pod and Homily Clock and their 13 years old daughter, Arrietty. Why were they called the Clocks? The reason was simple enough. It's because this particular Borrower family lived under the kitchen floor but the entrance to their home was behind the old grandfather clock. So the last name of a Borrower could be anything, depending on where they lived. There were the Overmantels, the Rain-Barrels, the Bell-Pulls, the John Studdingtons (they lived behind the picture of John Studdington), the Boot-Racks and so on... The Borrowers loved to live a long way off from the entrance to their home.

Arrietty was a curious girl who had dreamed of going out to see the world other than the world under the kitchen. One day, her father agreed to let her go 'borrowing' with him. One that day, she was 'seen' by a boy (a human 'bean' boy) who had gone to lived in that house because he was unwell and needed time to recover. The boy has assisted the Clocks with their 'borrowings' later on. But good things are always not meant to be forever... Things started to happen, creating chaos in the lives of the Clocks.

When I read this book last time, I was sad that the boy didn't see the Borrowers again and I wanted to know what happened after this book. I didn't know that there were sequels to this book then. A couple of days ago, I found the sequels to "The Borrowers" and I can't wait to read them. I really feel that "The Borrowers" has an interesting and orginal storyline that can be enjoyed by all.

75 of 84 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Rating is for the Kindle version, not the book itself January 2, 2012

By Serge van Neck

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

If I'm to pay $4.50 for this Kindle book -- no doubt about the same I'd pay for the paperback -- I would expect not to have to run into common OCR errors that take so much away from the reading enjoyment. Is it too much to ask to have the scan proofread? If it had been free I would not complain, but it bothers me to no end that a Kindle edition can be sold as an equivalent of the printed version, but not be subjected to the same scrutiny before publication. Shame.