The Complete Adventures of the Borrowers: 5-Book Paperback Box Set

I really loved these books as a child! The author really captures your imagination, and the stories are very descriptive and well thought out! I plan to share these with my grandchildren!

While reading reviews, I was dismayed to see how many people complained about The Borrowers books being 'outdated', as if they want the books to be re-written with current pop-culture lingo. These charming stories are a glimpse into the past and history. This is a wonderful way for a child to learn about it how people lived in that time. One review complained about outdated words like mustard spoon (still used in high society at formal parties), cogwheel (look inside a vintage clock), blotting paper (still used by some when writing calligraphy); wainscot (still used as a term for paneling a lower wall). Good Gods man, your wanting the book to be updated so you won't have to explain what something means?? We should be encouraging children to look up words they don't understand. Or better yet, look them up with the children and learn something new. Every child today seems to have their eyes glued to a tablet or phone - they certainly have the means to find the words. What better way to learn about how people lived than to read a charming story about the past and discover new things that you didn't know before?? Would you want the works of Shakespeare to be re-written so children don't have to deal with iambic pentameter?? Should all of Tolkien re-written because Hobbits wore Waistcoats? You truly cannot see the word 'button hook' and know that it was used to fasten shoes and gloves? It is still used today by some who need help with buttoning their shirt. Have we become a society of people that want the phone and computer to think for us? So far gone that we don't want to tax our brains to figure something out? That my friend is just sad. When a child is reading and they ask you what a word means, it is a chance to open their eyes to something new... add more flavor to the book. Yes, they might have trouble reading it the first time. But if you are engaged with them and excited to learn, they will be as well and they will re-read the books.. perhaps to their children. If you find yourself looking at a chance to connect with a child and, instead of embracing that chance, you get frustrated and want them. Would you actually prefer the books be dumbed down so much that a child can read it all without it sparking curiosity.. just so they won't be bothering you... oh my friend, how far you've fallen.

This is a childhood must. Must. Absolute must. Something about the incredible creativity and wholesomeness of this book puts it on my most dear classics shelf next to Narnia, Pooh, Paddington, Betsy Tacy, Stuart Little, Five Children and It and Cowboy Small. The Borrowers is magical and creative and full of wonder and awe. My 3, 5 & 7 year olds sat listening to me read with rapt attention and genuine affection for this treasure. In many stories we talk about the power or genius coming from specific characters, events or actions. In Narnia we love Aslan and the story arc and values that inspire greatness in the characters. In Pooh we revel in the simple wholesome attitudes of friendship and love that permeate all of the decisions. In the Borrowers, we do not look to the book for the genius but the author. A bit like Tolkien in Middle Earth, we celebrate not what happens in the book but the actual landscape that Norton has created. It isn't that we particularly love Homily or Pod or that we can really relate to Arrietty that prompts us to keep reading. It is more of our own curiosity about HOW they live that propels us forward. Before there is any doll furniture in the house, these little people "borrow" everyday items from the rest of us that they use in totally different ways for their everyday existence... postage stamps as wall art... blotting paper as rugs... carpet fibers turned into brushes... safety pins used as grappling hooks. These little Borrowers teach us much about creative ingenuity and stewardship of resources all while we are having incredible fun! I am so very glad that this is only the first in a series of books and that many have said that the others are equally good.

These are low quality books, physically, not the stories. Thin covers and paper etc. The stories are fantastic and readable at any age level. I did not get these as a "collector" set or etc. I just wanted to read all of them and it was cheaper and easier to get the box set. If you are looking for quality bindings and acid-free paper that will last for years, pass on this set. But if you just want ones to read and pass along to a friend etc. these are perfect. The stories themselves all build off of the previous book so though they could be read individually, each having a start and finish, they are really meant to be read in sequence. They are fantasy stories about the fictional "little people" of English/Irish/Scottish lore who call themselves Borrowers because they live hidden in 'humans' houses and "borrow" scraps of food, and household items to furnish their dwelling... usually inside a wall or under floorboards etc. where they stay hidden from the humans... or try to! When they are discovered, the peril, drama and adventure ensues.

I read these as a kid and loved them. Bought them for my 7 year old granddaughter for Christmas.

The life adventures of the Clock family. They are borrowers who live under the floor behind the grandfather clock. They borrow your stuff. Imaginative and entertaining.

My 10 year old granddaughter is enjoying it as much as I remember enjoying it! It's nice to find a topic that can be fictional and somewhat fantasy without witches, sorcery or magic.

Cute books. Great for my 8 great old! Well done!

Reading

The product itself speaks. Very disappointed.

Una exelente obra, un clasico que encanta y entretiene, con un encanto especial.

読む気にさせる点がよい。 (解りやすいのと、筋の展開が興味を引く点)

Ik heb het eerste boek gelezen. Ik vond het wel leuk om te lezen. De andere boeken heb ik niet gelezen, misschien omdat ik denk dat het meer van hetzelfde is. En er zijn nog zoveel andere boeken om te lezen ...