The Borrowers is a children's fantasy novel by the English author Mary Norton, published by Dent in 1952. It is the first of five books in The Borrowers series. It features a family of tiny people who live secretly in the walls and floors of an English house and "borrow" from the big people in order to survive. The Borrowers won the 1952 Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's outstanding children's book by a British author. In the 70th anniversary celebration of the medal in 2007, it was named one of the top ten Medal-winning works, selected by a panel to compose the ballot for a public election of the all-time favourite. Harcourt, Brace and Company published it in the U.S. in 1953 with illustrations by Beth and Joe Krush.
Adaptations (5)
The Borrowers has been adapted 5 times, across television film, television series, and film, from 1973 to 2011.
The Borrowers1973 · television film · 81 min · dir. Walter C. Miller · IMDb ↗IMDb5.5An eight-year-old boy discovers a family of tiny people, only a few inches tall, living beneath the floorboards of a Victorian country home.
The Borrowers1992 · television series · 164 min · IMDb ↗IMDb6.9The Borrowers are small, 15cm high humans who live in the English hinterland. They live out their lives in mouse-hole sized nooks in human homes, and survive by 'borrowing' all they need from the house and its inhabitants. This series follows young girl Arriety, and her parents Pod and Homily, as they are displaced from their home and try to find a new home, with the help of a human boy, George.
The Borrowers1997 · film · 89 min · dir. Peter Hewitt · IMDb ↗IMDb5.973%The four-inch-tall Clock family secretly share a house with the normal-sized Lender family, "borrowing" such items as thread, safety pins, batteries and scraps of food. However, their peaceful co-existence is disturbed when evil lawyer Ocious P. Potter steals the will granting title to the house, which he plans to demolish in order to build apartments. The Lenders are forced to move, and the Clocks face the risk of being exposed to the normal-sized world.
Arrietty2010 · film · 94 min · dir. Hiromasa Yonebayashi · IMDb ↗14-year-old Arrietty and the rest of the Clock family live in peaceful anonymity as they make their own home from items "borrowed" from the house's human inhabitants. However, life changes for the Clocks when a human boy discovers Arrietty.
The Borrowers2011 · television film · 90 min · dir. Tom Harper · IMDb ↗IMDb6.2Family adventure based on Mary Norton's classic children's books about a race of tiny people who live under the floorboards, resourcefully surviving by borrowing bits and pieces from the large residents who dwell above. After being discovered by 'human beans', borrower Arrietty and her parents are forced to leave their home while attempting to evade the clutches of obsessive scientist Professor Mildeye.
