The Borrowers, by Mary Norton

I have a confession to make. I never read The Borrowers growing up. Apparently I'm one of the few who never did (and I'm not totally sure why that didn't happen) but I have now rectified the situation. But only because I was pressed - by a library find - to do so.

Jonathan had mentioned that he was interested in seeing the new Disney movie, based on The Borrowers - The Secret World of Arrietty - but I couldn't watch it, of course, until I had read the book. (Jonathan, being a good reader of classics growing up, had already done so.) On a recent (whim-like) trip to the library, I found The Secret World of Arrietty sitting on the shelf and snatched it up! What a great way to determine whether or not we wanted to own this one. I quickly whipped the book off the shelf and sat down to read it so that we could have a family movie night. (We did watch the movie and I'll tell share our opinion on it tomorrow.)

The Borrowers if you are unfamiliar, like I was, with this story, was originally published in 1952. The book tells the story of a family of little people who live under the kitchen floorboards in an old Victorian house in England. The family consists of Pod (the father), Homily (the mother) and Arriety (the daughter). Borrowers are tiny people, much like The Littles, who live in the homes of big people (aka "human beans") and "borrow" things which they need to survive. In the mind of the Borrowers, the "beans" exist solely for the purpose of the Borrowers - to meet needs. Where The Littles seem to be a more friendly sort, watching over the house when the Biggs leave town for instance, the Borrowers are eternally suspicious of these larger humans. The worst thing in existence for a Borrower is to be seen by a "bean". Once you have been seen, there is a great need to emigrate so as to escape further detection and exposure.

In The Borrowers, Pod is the Borrower who leaves the family home in the evenings to gather supplies while the "beans" are sleeping. Arrietty is feeling lonely and confined in their home under the kitchen and longs to go out borrowing herself. Better still, she'd like to explore the great outdoors, run through the grass, gather flowers, etc. Her father finally permits her to join him on a borrowing where she is accidentally seen by a boy who is visiting the house. The rest of the story tells of the Borrowers dilemma in having been seen and determining how they are going to make their escape from the house.

Between The Littles and The Borrowers, I have to say I like The Littles more. (If it's up for a vote, that is.) Not to say that I didn't like The Borrowers, because I did! It was a fun, diverting story. But I found it more darker in tone than The Littles because there were only three Borrowers (as opposed to a few generations of Littles living with one another) and I could feel Arrietty's loneliness. Who would want to feel so very alone? I would want to get out of that house under the kitchen as well! Then too, I didn't really care for the way that Pod and Homily related to one another. Pod seemed so very dark and depressed to me - sort of a dyed-in-the-wool Borrower who couldn't see a reason to change anything. (Which is expected of him and not wrong for his character. I just found it frustrating.) Homily shrieked and worried too much. (Again, I think her reactions to the situations were perfectly reasonable and I probably would shriek and worry a bit by having been seen when that posed so great a danger. I just found them both ...wearisome.) By contrast, the The Littles also lead predictable lives but they are more prone to adventure or are up for trying new things when situations are proving to be in need of a fresh new idea.

I started reading this one to Bookworm1 but it didn't grab him either. We'll definitely try it again (with plans to read the whole series) and I'm glad to have read it. I just think that we're more suited for The Littles at the present moment.

Bit of family history to note: apparently this was my mother's favorite book in third grade. So you know that means we have to read the whole series at some point!