The Borrowers

Written by Mary Norton
Illustrated by Beth and Joe Krush
Harcourt Brace & Company, 1952
Ages 8-12
3.5/5

Pod, Homily, and Arrietty Clock are Borrowers, little people who "borrow" things from larger "human beans" to feed themselves and furnish their tiny home under the kitchen floor. When the Borrowers are "seen" they must escape, and the only person who can help them is a human boy.

I tried reading this book several times when I was younger and was never able to finish it. For some reason, I found the Borrowers far less interesting than the Littles. Although I finished the novel, it still took a while to become absorbed in the predicament of the Clock family. The writing is high-quality, particularly the descriptions of Arrietty's feelings of confinement and her longing to go outside. I think perhaps part of my problem with the book is my confusion over the time period in which events occur: the first narrator is Kate, and I assume she must be an adult when she is telling the story. Next Mrs. May begins to tell her story about the Borrowers, and her story took place when she was a child. This means that the Clock family lived a long time ago and makes it harder for me to imagine all the little things that would have been used to make their home comfortable.

A great novel, but perhaps ultimately more appreciated by older readers than young ones.