The Borrowers

In my heavy book buying decades, I actively avoided best sellers and being a classic carried little weight. I bought a book either because it was by a favorite author, or because I liked the opening paragraph. This was one of those. "It was Mrs May who first told me about them. No, not me. How could it have been me -- a wild, untidy, self-willed little girl who stared with angry eyes and was said to crunch her teeth? Kate, she should have been called. Yes, that was it -- Kate. Not that the name matters much either way: she barely comes into the story."

That meta-opening hooked my into buying the boxed set, but then it took 40 years to get around to reading the rest of the book. My loss. This is a splendid children's book. A tale within a show more tale, as the author tells who Mrs May told "Kate" a story Mrs May heard from her brother. And that tale of the miniature Borrowers is surprisingly more science fiction than fantasy. There is no magic, no fairies. The Borrowers were small people who evolved to be even smaller to avoid capture. In their world view, humans exist to support them. But, as the child Borrower Arrietty learns from the child human, Borrowers may be a vanishing race. Dark stuff for a kids book. Even the ending is both very meta, a la The Princess Bride, and ambiguous.

I never try to evaluate how well a book might work for young readers, but as an adult, I loved it. show less

There's an old house where a little family of little people live under the kitchen floor: Pod and Homily Clock, and their daughter Arrietty. At thirteen, Arrietty longs to see what the world is like outside of her home, but Pod is the only one who ever ventures out to "borrow" what they need from the house. The danger of being "seen" by a "human bean" is too great—but a human boy who comes to stay at the house changes everything in The Borrowers by Mary Norton.

My, what a cozy and delightful adventure this classic children's fantasy story is! I first discovered and read it nearly thirty years ago, then I found the sequel, and then I saw two movies based on the books. Of course, that means the books' and movies' dialogue and happenings show more got a little jumbled in my memory...

So it was great to go back and reread the first novel. Even as much as I loved the story as a kid, it resonates with me on an even deeper level now, especially the differences between the two generations under the floor, the nature of Arrietty's longings, Pod's uneasiness with his wife's excited doings, and the impending need for greater change.

The climax is poignant and incredible, and goodness—now I wish I could remember just how well I understood the book's last line those decades ago. I don't recall its irony, its mystery, hitting me quite like this!

I'm looking forward to revisiting the sequel sooner than later. show less

I absolutely adored this book. I have always been fascinated with down-sized objects being made into new items (such as seen in this story but also in Jerry's mouse hole in the popular T.V. show "Tom & Jerry"). This story brought that childhood fascination back to life. "The Borrowers" is a story of tiny people coexisting beneath the floorboards of a humans home. They "borrow" common items to refurbish them in a way that meets their needs, taking something so common as thread and turning it into rope - for example. It details the borrowers story as a family and how they come to know and trust the human nephew of the homeowner. This book kept me in on edge with their secret life and hope of them never getting caught. I would recommend show more this book to anyone of any age, but it would best resonate with a child who is open to seeing the world in a whole new way for the first time. This book is a great opening into the Fantasy genre as it really gets you thinking "what if". show less

I read this as a test to see if it would be a good book to read aloud to my five-year-old. I remember adoring it as a kid, but hadn't read it since about age 8 or 9. It's still a little too advanced for my daughter (I don't feel like stopping every five words to explain what a night-nursery is, or a hairpin, or a mantle, or a...you get the idea), but this is still a winner. It's really a lovely little story with enough world-building details to enchant a certain kind of kid, one with a bent to the old-fashioned. I clearly was, and still am, that kind of kid.

A visit to the Cockington Green miniature village in Canberra has rekindled my memories of Mary Norton's lovely Borrowers series. So I'm re-reading and reacquainting myself with the tiny family of Pod, Homily and of course, Arrietty. My copy of this book has my name and address in my mother's handwriting and "Grade III" written in the front page, so I read it the year I turned 8. Re reading it as an adult brings back all the memories of delight (particularly in the quirky adaptations of the items borrowed from we "human beans") but adds a darker layer as I realise how human and flawed all the characters are and how precarious is the Borrowers' existence. I couldn't help paralleling their lives with those of contemporary human refugees, show more eking out a precarious existence and always living under the threat of forced emigration... Unlike my 8 year old self I also enjoyed the role of the decanter of Madeira! Highly recommended for children, but also very enjoyable for adults. show less

“...Borrower's don't steal."
"Except from human beings," said the boy.
Arrietty burst out laughing; she laughed so much that she had to hide her face in the primrose. "Oh dear," she gasped with tears in her eyes, "you are funny!" She stared upward at his puzzled face. "Human beans are for Borrowers - like bread's for butter!”

Well that's a wonderful, fun book. Tiny people that live under the floor and steal Borrow whatever they need to survive/thrive from the 'human beans' that live in the house above.

It's a cute story. I love the characters, especially the Borrowers (a tiny teen is still a teen, and the mother's fear for her daughter and father's providing for the family hit home), although the full sized people are great to love show more and hate and get in the way as well.

The writing and world building is solid as well. There are constant mentions of things being reused in ways we'd never intend by people far far smaller than us. It really does feel like a real giant tiny world.

I think my favorite moment in the entire book was when Arietty meets the boy for the first time. Two children, living at once in the same and far far different worlds.

Well worth the read. I look forward to the sequels.

“Mrs. May looked back at her. "Kate," she said after a moment, "stories never really end. They can go on and on and on. It's just that sometimes, at a certain point, one stops telling them.”

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I watched the Ghibli movie a while back but this book is so tiny I thought I could read it anyway. I think I almost like the story within the story device better than the Borrowers themselves, well, almost :p Although a bit sexist at times, it is also surprisingly mature about some things. Arriett´s worldview is so very much her own than it is impossible to believe she was a fragment of the boy´s imagination. Furthermore, we see Kate herself being created as a character on the very first page (and we know the whole book to be a piece of fiction), so who is real anyway? Really cool worldbuilding, might even read more of the series.

'Oh," said the boy again. He seemed to find it a safe sound, as lawyers do. "Are there many people like show more you?"
"No," said Arrietty. "None. We're all different."
"I mean as small as you?"
Arrietty laughed. "Oh, don't be silly!" she said. "Surely you don't think there are many people in the world your size?"
"There are more my size than yours," he retorted. show less