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Summary: Novelization of novels?
Review: A couple of comments. One, the screenwriters did indeed read Mary Norton's wonderful novels. Elements of them all show up in the movie. Second, this novelization is aimed at a slightly younger reading group, but the idea is to hook them on the real stories. At the end of the book is information about Mary Norton's work.
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Summary: Enduring Classic- The Beginning of a Wonderful Series!
Review: A must read for all early and middle grade readers. A charming and delightful story of "imaginary little people" who live under the floorboards of big people's homes. Adventures and delightful escapades enjoyable to children! Highly recommended.
Evelyn Horan -
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Summary: Makes you believe!
Review: Arrietty Clock and her parents, Pod and Homily, are tiny people who live beneath the floor of an old house and `borrow' the things they need from the humans who live in the house above. At one point, many borrowers lived in the house, but the others emigrated for various reasons and only the Clocks live in the house. While her parents seem happy, Arrietty longs to see the world outside. Her mother finally persuades Pod to take her borrowing and her first time out, she meets the boy upstairs. The boy is as curious about Arrietty as she is about him, and they become friends, with the boy bringing the family all kinds of gifts, furniture, food, jewelry, etc. Unfortunately, the boy takes too much and the housekeeper notices things are missing. Soon the Clocks are forced to flee.
This is a terrific book on many levels. It is a book about friendship, different cultures, greediness and fear. The book is so well written that you really do believe the Borrowers exist. After all, who hasn't lost a pencil, safety pins, needles, etc.?
Now that I've finished this book, I want to read the rest of the books in the series!
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Summary: We are all Borrowers. . .
Review: Beneath the cracks and crannies of quiet country houses, dwell the unimposing Borrowers. They take what they need from the natural world, simbiants with their human caretakers. Pod and Homily raise their daughter to believe nothing exists but the floorboards of Firbank Hall. She is bound under by gates and hazards, much the same way the modern human is restrained by the "gates" of society. Borrowers, some say, were once small human beings, who grew smaller more afraid as their lives became more secretive and hidden. Arriety is faced with a classic existential dilemma--she is curious about the life beyond, the universal, that is forbidden to her by physical and moral limitations. In the end, she is forced to commit the ultimate crime. She steps outside her niche as a Borrower, defies her own security, and talks to a human being. The outside world comes like a tidal wave into the lives of the Borrowers, and though their intentions are pure, it leads to their destruction. As for Arrietty's human friend, he too is misunderstood and falls to tragedy. In trying to exceed their own boundaries, Arrietty and the young boy are both severely punished by the intolerance of their respective worlds. Mary Norton has made a bold statement about relative truth in what seems to be, on the surface, a mere children's story.
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Summary: A Family Tradition
Review: Every family has certain traditions which are passed down lovingly from generation to generation. For our family, THE BORROWERS is one such tradition. My mother first enjoyed this book as a young girl in the 1950's, reading away rainy winter afternoons in the hayloft. In the 1970's she shared this book, as well as it's sequels, THE BORROWERS AFIELD, THE BORROWERS AFLOAT,and THE BORROWERS ALOFT, with me. I loved it so much I spent hours building miniature villages out of odds and ends just in case any Borrowers should decide to move in with me. Every time someone in our house lost some small item like a pin or a key we'd say, "The Borrowers took it!" Now, with the premier of the movie version, a third generation of our family has had the opportunity to meet the tiny Clock family. My son and I enjoyed the movie so much we rushed right out and bought a copy of the book to read together. It was wonderful to see him transported to that same exciting miniature world I had enjoyed as a child. He was enthralled as Arietty and the human boy encountered one mishap after another in their quest to keep the Borrowers home a secret from unfriendly adults. Traditions are the glue which bonds the generations together in a family. Pick up a copy of this timeless classic and start a family tradition with your child today!
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Summary: Household Mysteries Solved
Review: Every house is filled with mysteries: What is that noise at night? Why is the living room always so cold? And where do all those second socks and extra paperclips go? Well, this book may not explain the first two phenomena (although it might), but the last will certainly be solved! The Borrowers are a race of tiny people who live in various places around the house. They might live under the sink, behind the cupboard, above the mantle, or in any number of other places. They live off of humans (or "beings"), much in the way mice do. Except that Borrowers don't take food and the staples of an affluent life - they borrow them! No, this does not mean that you'll get them back - but doesn't it sound better than stealing? The Borrowers is about a family of these little people, the Clocks by name, who are the only remaining Borrowers in a great house. The borrowings are getting slimmer, and life is getting duller. Poor 13 year old Arrietty is bored to tears. Her parents are overprotective and will not let her out of their "house". So Arrietty sets off to make her own fun - and ends up endangering the family's very exsistence. While nominally a children's book, The Borrowers holds great appeal for just about everyone. Its fascinating premise draws us in, and makes us aware that we may very well share our home with such creatures as Borrowers - and that maybe all of those lost socks are being put to a good use.
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Summary: A wonderful story to share with a child!
Review: I am 24 years old, and I cannot count the number of times I have read this book (and the sequels). It is my second favorite book of all time (next to Gone With the Wind) and I think it is superb! Mary Norton makes the characters very believable through her accurate descriptions of how things must look to the Borrower family. I cried at the end of this book because I did not want it to end...imagine my delight when I discovered the sequels!!!! I went to the new Borrowers movie a few weeks ago, DO NOT go see it if you are a true Borrowers fan, it was NOT the same storyline AT ALL! Just a warning. I was disappointed. READ THIS BOOK, YOU WILL LOVE IT. I re-read it every single summer!
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Summary: Best Children's story Ever!
Review: I cannot think of any children's book more delightful to read to one's children than this book. Actually, the whole series is wonderful. When my son was small, probably 7 or 8 years old, (he is 35 now, in fact had his 35th birthday today!) I read the whole series to him, and it took several weeks, reading to him at bedtime each night, to read all of them, but it was a wonderful "bonding time" for us, though that term had not been invented then, but I knew that it helped forge a special bond between my son and myself. It conveyed my love of books and of reading to him, a past time that he enjoys to the present. We could not wait for bedtime each night to see what new adventure Pod and Arrietty would undertake, with poor Homily waiting nervously at home for them. In a later edition Spiller appears, then it really gets interesting, as Spiller is definitely a free spirit, and a perfect friend for Arrietty. Their adventures are really "edge of the seat" suspense! This may seem tame next to Star Wars or Harry Potter, but believe me, you get so engrossed in the every day struggles of these tiny people just trying to survive, and who are so much like the human "beans" they are so in fear and awe of, it is not tame or boring at all. I would give it a "10" in great adventure stories! I am a great grand mother now, but I still love "The Borrowers" and all the sequels."The Borrowers Afield" is the second in the series, and even better than the first! "The Borrowers Afloat" comes next, and it is just as wonderful and gets the tiny family into even more shenanigans out of doors, this time floating down the river in Spiller's "boat." These books are for everyone, child and adult alike. There are a couple of more in the series, the fourth is "Borrowers Aloft," so called because they are held prisoner in an attic and have no one but themselves to rely on to escape, so have to be very inventive and clever to devise a means of escape. The solution they come up with will boggle your mind and amaze you at the ingenuity of the human spirit and what it can accomplish when it has to, because these "little people" embody the pioneer spirit of our ancestors. It may be the best of all the books, but they are each so unique and so wonderful, it is hard to say one is better than another. Each one has it's own charm, and each adventure is different. Mary Norton had a very magical way of looking at things and a unique imagination evidently, to write these wonderful stories. A must for all children, and best if read with a parent, as all books are when you are young. It was a special time for my son and I, and the memory will be with him all his life, long after I am no longer with him. These books are heirlooms in my home!
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Summary: A very interesting book that makes you read on.
Review: I enjoyed this book all the way through. The Book Club me and my friends joined in Stettler Elementery picked this book to read. All of us thought this was a great book. I thought it was funny the way they call us human-beans.
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Summary: A story that I'll always remember... and love...
Review: 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.
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