Underneath the floorboards...

live the Borrowers. Did anyone else read The Borrowers when they were a kid? I loved the idea of little people beneath the floorboards. I used to 'borrow' things to make my own little Borrowers den and imagine a family using it when I wasn't looking.


I just bought the 50th Anniversary Edition from Amazon and I'm so glad to finally have a copy of it. It's cuter than the normal children's version at the bookstore - if they even have this classic, which most don't. I think my favorite bit is when the are describing the different Borrowers that used to live in the big house before it got so abandoned and they had to scatter. The Overmantles, Harpsichords, Bell-Pulls and Stove-Pipes with their last names corresponding with where they lived. Arrietty and her parents aren't all that interesting, really, but the idea behind the story still fascinates me and as a child I read lots of stories that were similar in theme - like the Ralph S. Mouse stories by Beverly Cleary or the Beatrix Potter story of Two Bad Mice, etc. I also vaguely remember watching the cartoon The Littles' which was a lot like the Borrowers only they had tails for some reason.

So whenever you are missing a pin, a scrap of fabric, or a spool of thread from your sewing basket, just remember - it might be a Borrower.