Mary Norton (1) (1903–1992)

A Book From Your Childhood

Although I have no specific memories of it, I know that I read The Borrowers when I was younger. I'm certain my younger self enjoyed this whimsical tale of miniature people living within the walls and under the floorboards of an English estate, borrowing food and clothing and brick-a-brac from the humans above. The people who exist for the Borrowers' convenience. What's interesting in rereading it as an adult is to see adult themes subtly introduced and know that many of the novel's finer points were probably lost on me. That the mild feminism displayed in Homily's admonition of her husband, Pod, that if he had a son he would have already taken him borrowing (after he refuses to consider taking his daughter) was lost on my adolescent innocence. That the personalities introduced, the shrewish Mrs Driver, the not-so-dotty Great Aunt Sophy, the Boy and especially the narrator's unnamed brother entertained me without necessarily causing me to think too hard about the way the world works.

Seventy-plus years afters its publication, The Borrowers is still a great book both for children to read and adults to revisit (or read for the first time, if you've never had the pleasure).… (more)

Pod, Homily, and Arrietty Clock - the family of tiny Borrowers - think they have at last found an ideal home. They've moved into a house in a miniature village built as a hobby by a retired railroad man. The village is just the perfect size for Borrowers, and after the hardships they've faced, the Clocks gratefully settle into the luxury of having a "proper" house. The easy life makes them careless.

Or rather, it makes Arrietty careless. She befriends a "human bean, " and the next thing Arrietty knows, she and her family have been kidnapped. Their captors are a greedy married couple, called the Platters, who have big plans for the little people. They have created their own miniature village in a glass case and plan to imprison the Borrowers within - like animals in a zoo - for the rest of their lives.… (more)