One of my goals in 2020 is to read more. See other books I've read or listened to here.
I loved this book series as a child, but my husband had never heard of The Borrowers by Mary Norton. Talking about it with him made me want to revisit it.
Arriety Clock is a typical teenager, she longs to adventure and explore and do other grown up things. Except Arriety is only 3 inches tall.
Told in a flashback story from an aunt to her niece, we are introduced to the borrowers as if no one believed that they exist. When our narrator’s brother gets sick, he is sent to a relatives house to rest and recoup. Telling his story the reader, like the niece, is not sure at first that the events happened or were imagined. But we soon get the perspective from the borrowers themselves. What I remembered most before rereading this story was the pictures and the world building. You are immediately immersed in a rich and interesting world, which is pretty awesome for such a short book. I loved hearing about how the borrowers used everyday objects for their own means and needs. I remember wanting to appropriate every little object in the house and create a borrowers type world for my dollhouse as a child. This book gets a child’s creative mind moving but it also deals with themes of intolerance, xenophobia, and classism. I think this is a great book for sparking young imaginations, and that, along with the gorgeous illustrations, should make this a classic and must read for all children, parents, and the young at heart. In short, I would highly recommend this book.
Have you read The Borrowers or it’s sequels?