Borrowers Aloft: With the Short Tale Poor Stainless

Pod, Homily, and Arrietty Clock's huge adventures have been thrilling children young and old for fifty years—and their appeal is as strong as ever in these handsome new paperback packages. While the original beloved interior illustrations by Beth and Joe Krush have been retained, Marla Frazee's striking cover illustrations capture these little people with a larger-than-life appeal.

Children's Literature

There are two model villages, one called Little Fordham, created by Mr. Pott and another created by Mr. Platter, called Ballyhoggin. A family of tiny people called borrowers discover Little Fordham and move in. Everything goes along fine until Mr. Pott's tiny people are discovered by Mr. Platter. At this point the competition between the two men to have the best village becomes tense. Mr. Platter has to have the little people for his village. He and his wife kidnap Pod, Homily and Little Arrietty and hide them in the attic of their home. After overcoming shock and fright they plan an escape to return to their dream home. They succeed but the next decision they make about their dream home to protect their future is heart wrenching. The sequel is The Borrowers Avenged, "An Odyssey Classic."

MARY NORTON (1903-1992) lived in England, where she was an actress playwright, and award-winning author. As a child she created a make-believe world in which tiny people inhabited the hedgerows, living their lives out of the sight of humans. It is from this private fantasy that her most well-known books, those about the Borrowers, came about.