Saturday, January 14, 2012

The Borrowers Afield

  • ISBN13: 9780152047320
  • Condition: New
  • Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
The classic story of tiny Pod, Homily, and Arrietty Clock, who live under the kitchen floorboards and borrow from "human beans," has charmed readers for fifty years.

To celebrate the golden anniversary of Mary Norton's timelessly popular tale, Harcourt presents this handsome gift edition. Features include a new foreword by renowned children's book author, historian, and critic Leonard S. Marcus; Diana Stanley's heartwarming illustrations from the original British edition; a letter by Mary Norton describing the origins of the Borrowers; and a never-before-published sketch of Homily and Arrietty drawn by Mary Norton herself.
Anyone who has ever entertained the notion of "little peop! le" living furtively among us will adore this artfully spun classic. The Borrowers--a Carnegie Medal winner, a Lewis Carroll Shelf Award book, and an ALA Distinguished Book--has stolen the hearts of thousands of readers since its 1953 publication. Mary Norton (1903-1993) creates a make-believe world in which tiny people live hidden from humankind beneath the floorboards of a quiet country house in England.

Pod, Homily, and daughter Arrietty of the diminutive Clock family outfit their subterranean quarters with the tidbits and trinkets they've "borrowed" from "human beans," employing matchboxes for storage and postage stamps for paintings. Readers will delight in the resourceful way the Borrowers recycle household objects. For example, "Homily had made her a small pair of Turkish bloomers from two glove fingers for 'knocking about in the mornings.'"

The persistent pilfering goes undetected until a boy (with a ferret!) comes to live in the countr! y house. Curiosity drives Arrietty to commit the worst mistak! e a Bor rower can make: she allows herself to be seen. This engaging, sometimes hair-raisingly suspenseful adventure is recounted in the kind, eloquent voice of narrator Mrs. May, whose brother might--just might--have seen an actual Borrower in the country house many years ago. (Ages 9 to 12)

A BIG box for three tiny heroes . . .

Mary Norton’s beloved, best-selling books about the tiny, stouthearted Borrowers are now available together in one gorgeous package, perfect for gift giving. Put this boxed set into the hands of little peopleâ€"or of any reader who delights in classic adventure. Includes paperback editions of The Borrowers, The Borrowers Afield, The Borrowers Afloat, The Borrowers Aloft, and The Borrowers Avenged.

In this delightful, funny, and moving first novel, a librarian and a young boy obsessed with reading take to the road.

Lucy Hull, a young children's librarian in Hannibal, Missouri, finds herself b! oth a kidnapper and kidnapped when her favorite patron, ten- year-old Ian Drake, runs away from home. The precocious Ian is addicted to reading, but needs Lucy's help to smuggle books past his overbearing mother, who has enrolled Ian in weekly antigay classes with celebrity Pastor Bob. Lucy stumbles into a moral dilemma when she finds Ian camped out in the library after hours with a knapsack of provisions and an escape plan. Desperate to save him from Pastor Bob and the Drakes, Lucy allows herself to be hijacked by Ian. The odd pair embarks on a crazy road trip from Missouri to Vermont, with ferrets, an inconvenient boyfriend, and upsetting family history thrown in their path. But is it just Ian who is running away? Who is the man who seems to be on their tail? And should Lucy be trying to save a boy from his own parents?

Pod, Homily, and Arrietty Clock's huge adventures have been thrilling children young and old for fifty years--and their appeal is as strong a! s ever in these handsome new paperback packages. While the ori! ginal be loved 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.