The Borrowers (Puffin Modern Classics) - Softcover

Norton, Mary; Bailey, Sian; Elkin, Judith

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0141333324 ISBN 13: 9780141333328

Publisher: Puffin Classics, 2011

Synopsis

The Borrowers by Mary Norton is an English classic - and now a favourite BBC TV series too!

The Borrowers live in the secret places of quiet old houses; behind the mantelpiece, inside the harpsichord, under the kitchen clock. They own nothing, borrow everything, and think that human beings were invented just to do the dirty work. Arrietty's father, Pod, was an expert Borrower. He could scale curtains using a hatpin, and bring back a doll's teacup without breaking it. Girls weren't supposed to go borrowing but as Arrietty was an only child her father broke the rule, and then something happened which changed their lives. She made friends with the human boy living in the house...

'Beautifully written, poetic and almost always alarming, the Borrowers have something very mysterious, sad and exciting about them' - Sunday Times

Mary Norton was born in 1903 and brought up in a house in Bedfordshire, which was to become the setting for The Borrowers. First published in 1952, The Borrowers was an immediate success, winning the Library Association's Carnegie Medal. There followed four more Borrowers books: The Borrowers Afield (1955), The Borrowers Afloat (1959), The Borrowers Aloft (1961) and The Borrowers Avenged (1982). Poor Stainless was the last Borrowers story Mary Norton wrote. She died in 1992.
Starring Robert Sheehan, Aisling Loftus, Christopher Ecclestone, Stephen Fry and Victoria Wood, a brand-new film for the BBC of The Borrowers will be a must-watch Christmas Day special.
Film directed by Tom Harper and screenplay written by Ben Vanstone.

About this title

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 fit out their subterranean quarters with the titbits 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)

Review:

Beautifully written, poetic and almost always alarming, the Borrowers have something very mysterious, sad and exciting about them (Sunday Times)

About this edition

• Publisher: Puffin Classics
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0141333324
• ISBN 13: 9780141333328
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256