Friday, May 09, 2008

The Borrowers (book review)

This book is for the Book Awards Challenge.

The Borrowers, by Mary Norton, is the story of a family of three tiny people, Pod, Homily, and Arietty. They live a peaceful life, borrowing things from the "human beans", as they call humans. Then, everything changes when Arietty is seen by a young boy and develops a friendship with him. In a way, you could say that the boy is "taming" Arietty, who has been taught all her life to fear the humans and stay away from them. When the mean-hearted cook discovers the Borrowers' home, they have to make a run for it. Help comes from a most unexpected place--the human boy! Using his cover, they escape into the fields to start a new life there, without the constant threat of humans.

This book was cute, but it wasn't one of the best I ever read. My favorite character was Arietty, whose intrepid nature added a lot to the story. Though I may read other books by this author in the future, I don't see myself running out to buy any right away.

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