The Borrowers Afield

1955, 1983 Odyssey Classic edition
Mary Norton
Illustrated by Beth and Joe Krush
The Borrowers Afield
Original price $3.95, purchase price unknown
Worn paperback
B-

I read the Borrowers series, as well as The Littles, as a child, but I checked the books out from the library.  I bought this copy in the past decade and I don't remember reading it more than once before this.  So, unlike Charlotte's Web for example, it's not a big part of my life.  Consuming the second book in the series, I could still follow well enough, although the frame device, of a story told to someone who was told by Arrietty (the girl Borrower), is clumsy and unnecessary.  The writing and illustrations are pretty good, roughly halfway between those of Hidden Valley of Oz and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.  I like the descriptions of nature and the ways that the personalities of the Clock family (Arrietty and her parents, Pod and Homily) play off each other.

There have been several screen adaptations of The Borrowers, including a 2011 version with Stephen Fry, but I've never seen any.