|
''The Borrowers'' is a children's fantasy novel by the English author Mary Norton, published by Dent in 1952. It features a family of tiny people who live secretly in the walls and floors of an English house and "borrow" from the big people in order to survive. ''The Borrowers'' also refers to the series of five novels (''The Borrowers'' and four sequels) that feature the same family after they leave "their" house.〔 ''The Borrowers'' won the 1952 Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's outstanding children's book by a British subject.〔 In the 70th anniversary celebration of the medal in 2007 it was named one of the top ten Medal-winning works, selected by a panel to compose the ballot for a public election of the all-time favourite.〔 Harcourt, Brace and Company published it in the U.S. the next year with illustrations by Beth and Joe Krush.〔〔 ==Series== All five ''Borrowers'' novels feature a family surnamed Clock: Pod, Homily, Arrietty. In the first book they live in a house reportedly based on ''The Cedars'' where Norton was raised. The sequels are titled alliteratively and alphabetically: ''The Borrowers Afield'' (1955), ''The Borrowers Afloat'' (1959), ''The Borrowers Aloft'' (1961), and ''The Borrowers Avenged'' (1982). All were originally published by J. M. Dent in hardcover editions.〔 ("Mary Norton Bibliography: A Collectors Reference Guide: UK First Edition Books" ). Bookseller World. Retrieved 2012-07-10.〕 Puffin Books published a 700-page trade paperback omnibus edition in 1983, ''The Complete Borrowers Stories''〔ISBN 0-14-031666-3〕 with a short introduction by Norton.〔 The primary cause of trouble and source of plot is the interaction between the minuscule Borrowers and the "human beans", whether the human motives are kind or selfish. The main character is teenage Arrietty, who often begins relationships with Big People that have chaotic effects on the lives of herself and her family, causing her parents to react with fear and worry. As a result of Arrietty's curiosity and friendships with Big People, her family are forced to move their home several times from one place to another, making their lives more adventurous than the average Borrower would prefer. After escaping from their home under the kitchen floorboards of an old English manor they finally settle down in the home of a caretaker on the grounds of an old church. Along the way, they meet a cast of colourful characters: other Borrowers, including a young man around Arrietty's age who lives outdoors and whose only memory of his family is the descriptive phrase, "Dreadful Spiller", which he uses as a name (introduced in ''The Borrowers Afield''), the Harpsichord family who are relatives of the Clock family, and Peregrine ("Peagreen") Overmantel; and also Big People such as Mild Eye the gypsy, Tom Goodenough, the gardener's son, and Miss Menzies, a sweet but overly helpful woman. The short, separate book ''Poor Stainless'' (1966) was revised as a novelette and re-published posthumously with a short author's note in 1994.〔Viking UK, ISBN 0-670-85427-1〕 The narrative, told by Homily to Arrietty, occurs before the first of the full-length ''Borrower'' novels, and concerns a small adventure Stainless has when he gets lost. (Like most ''Borrower'' names "borrowed" from human objects, Stainless is named after items in the kitchen cutlery drawer.) 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Borrowers」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|