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Mar 19, 2009

Jennifer rated it:

More than just loving the story in this book I liked the idea of it. You had people that were smaller than a child being intelligent and resourceful and they were taken seriously. What child wouldn't love that? Plus little people who make furniture out of buttons and thimbles - it's just too cute.

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Jan 31, 2012

Emily rated it:

I like little people who steal. I'm not discussing vertically challenged folks here--(too political); I'm talking about fairy-sized kleptos who live under the floorboards and steal your whiskey and put it in thimbles to get drunk and see things that aren't there. Aunt Martha?? Is that you?? Ah...the stuff of legend. And dreams. Sigh.
My adoring worship of little people began with the movie "Willow", in which the little people aka "brownies" fall into a tub of beer whil More...

17 comments like (13 people liked it)

Feb 03, 2012

Kathryn rated it:

4.5 STARS

I feel quite certain my mom read this to me when I was little, and that it made a big impression on me. I even remember naming one of my Barbies Egglatina! The story has has many wonderful aspects that many children will enjoy, such as the Borrowers being little people that live, hidden away, in our homes and "borrow" (steal? that is open to interpretation) things from us. If you miss a pencil, or postage stamp, and you feel quite sure you really *did* leave it *r More...

5 comments like (4 people liked it)

Oct 06, 2011

Nishita rated it:

As I love my classics, and I remember giving this book a read a few years ago, I thought it'd be quite repetitive and i'd know what would happen very well. But unfortunately, I missed out a few key points. And after reading the book again, I absolutely enjoyed reading the book. The idea of the 'little people' and how they 'borrow' just makes the book more exciting, and allows the reader to dissolve in the fantasy. The way the story unfolds of how the fear of the 'big people' and how they manage More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 23, 2011

Joel rated it:

Day 17 of my Facebook 30 Day Book Challenge asks me to list the shortest book I've read, so here it is. I almost went with the Hobbit, but then I remembered The Borrowers. This is a book about a family of tiny people who live under the floorboards of a normal human home, surviving by pilfering stuff from the giants who inhabit it. I'd guess they are a few inches tall, so that's pretty short.

Certainly they weren't looking for the shortest book I have read in terms of number of pages, More...

18 comments like (18 people liked it)

Jun 17, 2008

Theresa rated it:

I regarded The Borrowers with merciless scorn when I was actually at the age where reading The Borrowers was appropriate--I found it boring. However, I have since come to love the adventures of Homily, Pod, Arriety, Spiller, and the Hendrearies. There are several Borrower books I believe--The Borrowers, The Borrowers Afield, The Borrowers Afloat, the Borrowers Aloft, and the Borrowers Avenged. The stories are as whimsical as can be, but Norton writes with Victorian edge and can make the mood dar More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Dec 09, 2011

Katelyn rated it:

1. Fantasy

2. The Clock family are borrowers, a rare and tiny people, that live at the bottom of a grandfather clock. They must borrow things from average size humans, which makes things difficult for them. The struggles they face are large and life threatening, but they are determined to persevere.

3. A- This is an accurate example of a fantasy, but the real life setting makes it relatable for readers.

B- I love this story because of the details and thought p More...

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May 16, 2011

Jeremy rated it:

This book is basically about little people "borrowing" things from human "beans" and MUST avoid being "seen" or else they are forced to emigrate. This book talks about one family in particular. The Clocks. The Clocks are your basic every day borrowers but when Pod has been "seen" by a boy who is a guest of the house, Homily persuades Pod into taking Arrietty borrowing but on her first day on the job, she has already been "seen" by the boy. After More...

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Dec 02, 2010

Trish rated it:

The narrator was quite good. The kids loved imitating the English accent and the different silly inflections that Homily was given. They found her totally ridiculous. Hearing the story added a new dimension for me. I remember reading Borrower books as a kid, but I had no idea they were so British. Of course, I didn't know much about the UK when I was a kid. I liked the innovative world of little people living in hidden places of a house that no one really thinks about, and it's so true that some More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 27, 2010

Renee rated it:

There are a number of books in this series, I have only read the 1st one, but I am positive the rest of the series is as wonderful!

Lazy days, rainy afternoons, and very cold days, when you are kept inside with nothing of importance to do, are perfect days to spin a tale. Mrs. May, the narrator in this story takes the opportunity that little Kate unwittingly gives her, and tells a story that in the end, nobody can tell if it’s true.
Kate loses her crochet hook and Mrs. May gra More...

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Mar 18, 2010

Kirei rated it:

This was a marvelous book. It is about little people who live in a large house and "borrow" things from humans.

I read it out loud to my seven year old son, and the problem is that I think he is way too immature for it. There are probably some seven year old's who can handle it--but my son isn't one of them. First of all, the vocabulary is very advanced for a kids' book, and very British. ("wainscot" "parquet" "baize" "scullery" More...

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Mar 07, 2010

Judy rated it:

This was absolutely one of my favorite books when I was growing up. I don't remember how old I was when I first read it but I do know I read it many times.

Borrowers are little, tiny people about the size of mice who live between the walls and under the floors of houses. They furnish their rooms and get their food and objects by "borrowing" from the house. The biggest danger is being "seen."

Arrietty Clock, the nine-year-old daughter of Pod and Homily, who s More...

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Jun 22, 2009

Drebbles rated it:

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 More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Aug 27, 2010

Nikki rated it:

Oh, how I adored this book, as a child. It's not my favourite of the series, or it wasn't then, but it's the point where everything begins, and I love it for that. The books were published in the fifties, so they sometimes have a somewhat old-fashioned turn of phrase, and somewhat old-fashioned ideas. I suppose it's a book that couldn't really be written set in the modern day, either: we're too sceptical, for one thing, and all the rules that governed a big house in the Borrowers' days no longer More...

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 08, 2007

Jackie "the Librarian" rated it:

I was fascinated by this book as a kid - I think I could relate to feeling small in a world dominated by giants. I liked the sneaking around through a secret passage under the clock, to come out and explore the house at night. My favorite part was the description of Arriety's room, with its accompanying illustration. I wasn't so pleased with the sulky boy, who ended up ruining everything for Arriety's family.
A quirky Victorian classic!

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 07, 2007

Wealhtheow rated it:

Tiny people live in your house! A tiny little girl and her parents live out their daily lives under the baseboards of an old house. They furnish their home with items "borrowed" from the larger home (the girl sleeps in a bed made from a cigar box). Although years ago there were many "Borrowers," there is only one family left. This is an odd story, with that dark sort of whimsey that has fallen out of favor since the second world war.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 19, 2012

Phillip rated it:

This classic fantasy about the wee residents in the space below the kitchen floorboards of a Victorian country home contains some surprising elements that I missed while reading it as a boy. In the midst of the culture clash between them that borrows and them that provides, as well as between them that believe and them that don't, we find concerns about survival as individuals, as family and as a species, the challenges of prosperity, and dealing with facing the unknown.

Mary Norto More...

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Aug 05, 2010

Erin rated it:

Relatively short, this story seemed very simple. Sure, the concept of little people coexisting in the large world of "human beans" is fascinating, especially combined with the origin of the idea in the author's short-sightedness as a girl. Somehow it seems too directly moralistic as a lesson about greed or maybe the ending wraps up too quickly. In any case, while it was enjoyable, something seemed to rub me slightly wrong.On the other hand, simple, warm-hearted stories such as this More...

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Jun 29, 2008

Jackie rated it:

These books SOOOO appealed to me as a young girl, especially the alternative uses for all of their "borrowed" objects. I was forever creating little towns with their own stories in the vacant lot next door and I think that in Norton I found a kindred spirit who fed the fire of my already very active imagination. I may just have to go back and read these again for old times sake.

1 comment like (5 people liked it)

Feb 23, 2010

Sarai rated it:

The Borrowers live under the floorboards in the kitchen and make use of things the humans leave about the house. Pod and Homily Clock are the parents of 13-year old Arriety, a Borrower who is not content to stay hidden from the rest of the world. Though told by her parents that it is forbidden, she becomes acquainted with the Boy, a human. This leads to much danger for the Clock family!

I recognized this title as a book that had been around for a while and thought I should give it a r More...

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Jun 30, 2009

McNeil rated it:

Fun little book. I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys fantasies or adventure stories--anything from Runaway Ralph to Swiss Family Robinson. These little people, the Borrowers, live in people's houses (and fields, etc.) and borrowing all sorts of things for survival and enjoyment. Unconventional uses of common objects --a coin for a plate, for example--is loads of fun, as is the whole mystery of whether they exist at all--perhaps they are an old woman's wine-induced hallucination, or maybe a lit More...

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May 10, 2009

Dusty rated it:

I've heard it said that the mysteries inside our homes are far more interesting than those of the world outside our homes. Thus come Mary Norton's Borrowers, a "race" of little people who live under the floorboards of an old English house and "borrow" from the house's human owners their food, their furniture, even their books and blotting paper.

The Borrowers series is five-books long (I think), and when I was in elementary school, back in the early 1990s, I read More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 18, 2007

Ivy's Mom rated it:

I really believed that little people existed when I was in 4th or 5th grade. This was another book I shared with my grandmother and she never tried to convince me that it wasn't real. I think she believed too.

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Feb 01, 2011

Joe rated it:

There was a copy of this book in our house growing up, but I don't remember reading it. I might have attempted it once or twice but was probably put off by the language. I can see how this would be a hard book for a kid to get into. Anyway, many years pass, and now I have a daughter. I decide to read it to her, she is 4. I really enjoyed this first book. As we approached the final chapters it became clear that this story would not be resolved in this book. Enjoyed plowing right into the second o More...

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Jul 11, 2011

Lisa rated it:

In anticipation of the English release of Arrietty I decided to re-read an old favorite.

Honestly, for me, this book isn't about the characters or the story (although I still panicked at the end), it's about all the little details. I want to live in a room made of a cigar box and make tiny shoes out of old gloves and dozens of other up-cycling for little people. Loved imagining repurposing all the big people things for smaller people when I was a kid, and apparently, I still love it More...

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Jul 13, 2010

Denise rated it:

I love the idea of this story and the kids really got caught up in the idea of borrowers living in a house. They have been talking about it and playing an imaginary game about it. The diffucult part of this book is some of the language being a bit awkward .. and some of the things mentioned in the book I was not sure what they were. It was not going to hold the kids interest to stop and look them up. Nor were they central to the story. In any case, they are interested in seeking out the next boo More...

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Dec 01, 2009

Ericka rated it:

3rd-8th grade
Krush had the most detailed drawings in his illustrations for the borrowers. The sketches are not shadowed but left completely empty like they could be colored in, yet there is amazing detail and lines in each picture. The text was small writing and about 200 pages long. The students would need to read careful if reading the book since they may miss important details if not read slowly. Students can relate to this story because everyone knows someone who has the habit to be a More...

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Jan 23, 2012

Melissa T rated it:

Oh yes, this was a good one. Besides the delightful characters and lively story, I appreciated the deeper message - especially the naively selfish view of the Borrowers that all big people are there to "provide" for little people. I seem to encounter that same philosophy on a daily basis! But, also, I remember being just that self absorbed, taking for granted auto insurance and canned peaches and a plethora of other things that my parents continued to provide for me, long after I ha More...

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Jan 14, 2012

Syrdarya rated it:

I loved this series as a child and rereading them was delightful. We meet nervous Homily, gruff Pod, and adventurous Arrietty in their first adventure. The Clock family is the last Borrower family living in elderly Sophy-Ann's country house. Her great-nephew has come to recuperate from illness, and he encounters Arrietty and they become friends. The boy is eager to help the Borrowers, but the housekeeper becomes suspicious and the Borrowers are endangered.

This book was as much fu More...

0 comments like

Mar 01, 2010

Sapote3 rated it:

It's hard to read this as an adult because I can't get over how much The Borrowers (in which the plucky daughter isn't happy with the life downstairs, I mean under the floor, and wants to emigrate and become a self-made woman, but she's held back by the dreary pretensions of her working-class, illiterate parents) is a social parable in which Mary Norton worked out her feelings about social change in Great Britain. Phooey. Still worth a re-read for sure - this book was possibly my favorite thing More...

1 comment like

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