Borrowers by Mary Norton

The Borrowers—the Clock family: Homily, Pod, and their fourteen-year-old daughter, Arrietty, to be precise—are tiny people who live underneath the kitchen floor of an old English country manor. All their minuscule home furnishings, from postage stamp paintings to champagne cork chairs, are “borrowed” from the “human beans” who tromp around loudly above them. All is well until Pod is spotted upstairs by a human boy! Can the Clocks stay nested safely in their beloved hidden home, or will they be forced to flee? The British author Mary Norton won the Carnegie Medal for The Borrowers in 1952, the year it was first published in England.

Fascinating world building, but unlikable characters for me.

We have this edition [b:The Borrowers 348573 The Borrowers (The Borrowers, #1) Mary Norton https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1308945559l/348573.SX50.jpg 802336] in paperback and [b:The Borrowers 2176736 The Borrowers (The Borrowers #1) Mary Norton https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327893422l/2176736.SY75.jpg 802336] is also on the shelf as my daughter cannot decide which cover image she likes better. The later is mass market paperback vs. the standard paperback of the former. We have also been known to borrow it via Libby to read on the Kindle. This is a current, in progress read-aloud for the 2019-2010 read aloud year. [bc:The Borrowers 348573 The Borrowers (The Borrowers, #1) Mary Norton https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1308945559l/348573.SX50.jpg 802336][bc:The Borrowers 2176736 The Borrowers (The Borrowers #1) Mary Norton https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327893422l/2176736.SY75.jpg 802336]

I remember reading this when I was a little girl. I was captivated. Little people living in your house? Who wouldn't love that?

This read was just as good. I kept thinking that this should be a must-read for kids, and that more teachers should choose this for their read aloud book after lunch. It's the story of the people who call themselves Borrowers, and they exist by borrowing things from the human people in the house. It's delightfully fun.