The Borrowers Afloat

This is Mary Norton's third installment in The Borrowers series. Pod, Homily, and Arrietty Clock have found their missing relatives and made a new home inside the house of another family of "human beans". Unfortunately (or in the adventurous Arrietty's eyes fortunately) difficulties arise and once again the Clocks have to flee. This story features some of Mary Norton's most ingenious imaginings about the borrowers and how they deal with life as tiny creatures in a world of giants. Once again, the small family triumphs and avoids possible discovery and imprisonment, hoping to make a new life in new surroundings. Unfortunately, Norton sometimes failed to correct contradictory plotlines and tie up some loose ends that more observant children will spot and puzzle over. But that may be a good thing, as it helps readers understand more about the evolving world of the borrowers as its creator saw it. Also unfortunately, Norton framed the main story line with material about more modern human beans learning about the borrowers, but this does not intrude on the fantasy too heavily.

I love all the books in this set. They are wonderful. I do believe in the "borrowers". I bought the whole set for my 11 year old granddaughter. Hopes she loves them as much as I do.

Long before there were Littles or anyone shrunk their children, Mary Norton had written this warm and wonderful series about a race of tiny people who live hidden in quiet country houses and "borrow" their livings from the human inhabitants. Their lives depend on remaining unseen and unsuspected. But little Arietty Clock, who lives with her parents (Pod and Homily) is a naturally curious girl and lonely besides. When, on her very first trip out to Borrow ("The Borrowers," 1952), she is "seen" by a little human boy, she becomes friends with him and sets off a chain of events that will threaten her family's very existence -- and make staying in their home beneath the kitchen floorboards impossible. In this third tale (1959), Pod, Homily and Arietty are forced once more to move when their new home, the gamekeeper's cottage, is closed. They begin the search for Little Fordham, a mythical miniature village where they can live in safety under the noses of human tourists. Their journey takes them first down a drainhole with tidal waves of bathwater; then downstream in a rusted-out kettle and in Spiller's "boat" (a knifebox with a butter-knife paddle). It is a dangerous journey for such tiny people, and the crisis comes when their boat sinks and a human discovers them stranded on a heap of flotsam in the middle of the river. Once more, they must adapt and overcome if they are to survive long enough to begin a new life in Little Fordham. With her "Borrowers" series, Mary Norton accomplished what few writers are able to do: she created a group of characters that become real through her words; and a fantasy world that is so realistic that readers young and old will be lost in it, and will look at their own world differently forever after. Though each stands alone, the first four tales read as fluidly as if they are all parts of one larger book -- indeed, they have been published as a single volume in the past -- and can be read consecutively without excessive and tiresome rehashing of the previous plots. The books are billed by booksellers as written for 8-10 year olds, but they are ideal for reading aloud to younger children; and adults too will enjoy the sheer fun they contain. I first read them when I was ten -- long before "Avenged" was written and answered my longstanding questions about the Borrowers' fate. All five books remain in my reading cycle, to be reread every few years in their entirety. By stages funny, thrilling, and poignant, these lovely books will capture your imagination and keep you turning pages all the way to the end.

In this book, "The borrowers afloat" the Clocks once again venture out of a their brand new (rundown) house. This is their 3rd house in the 3rd book. This book tells how they manage "afloat" to get away from the empty cotttage, and "SPECIAL" relatives. Will they get to their dream house?

In this, the third book in the Borrowers series (after The Borrowers, and The Borrowers Afield), the Clocks (Pod, Homily and Arrietty) find that they must leave the safety of their new house and venture forth once again into the great big world. Setting their sights on Little Fordham, a miniature model town, the Clocks follow young Spiller out. But the world is a dangerous place for someone as small as a Borrower, and their voyage is filled with excitement.Once again, Marty Norton has produced a story that is a lot of fun. Containing both plenty of adventure with a heartwarming story. My children and I loved this story, and you and yours will too.