"Up and up, she went. She found an old bird's nest; the moss inside was straw-dry. She climbed into it and lay for a while and, leaning over the edge, dropped crumbled pieces of dried moss through the tangled branches below her; to watch them plummet between the boughs gave her, she found, an increased sense of height, a delicious giddiness which, safely in the nest, she enjoyed. But having felt this safety, climbing out and on and up seemed far more dangerous... "One more pull and her head and shoulders were outside the hedge; the sun fell hot on her hair, and dazzled by the brightness, she screwed her eyes up as she gazed about her. "Hills and dales, valleys, fields and woods—dreaming in the sunshine. She saw there were cows in the next field but one. Approaching the wood, from a field on the lower side, she saw a man with a gun—very far away, he looked, very harmless. She saw the roof of Aunt Sophy's house and the kitchen chimney smoking. On the turn of a distant road, as it wound between the hedges, she saw a milk-cart: the sunlight flashed on the metal churn and she heard the faint fairylike tinkle of the harness brasses. "What a world—mile upon mile, thing after thing, layer upon layer of unimagined richness—and she might never have seen it! She might have lived and died, as so many of her relations had done, in dusty twilight—hidden behind a wainscot." --Excerpt from Borrowers Afield, by Mary Norton ----- I grew up with the Borrowers by Mary Norton, and I know the story well, but how on Earth did I manage to miss the memo that it's a series with FIVE BOOKS? One I realized the treasure trove I had discovered, I've been savoring them, working my way slowly through them as ebooks from the library. However, book two, Borrowers Afield, I had in hardcopy. I decided to share my favorite part here, along with the charming illustration of Arrietty in a bird's nest in a hedge, where she has her first real glimpse of the world beyond the home where she and her ancestors had lived for generations. All the books are full of these sweet and thoughtfully crafted drawings. I adore Studio Ghibli's The Secret World of Arrietty as much as the next sizeshifter, but for me the Borrowers began when I was a kid and my mom rented all six episodes of the 1992 BBC version. It seemed old even then, and I have no idea if it ages well, since all the DVDs I can find now online are set for UK only. But even as young as I was then, I can still close my eyes now and see Ian Holm as Pod and Penelope Wilton as Homily, both as perfectly cast as I could ever imagine. (He makes a FAR better Borrower as Pod than he does a Hobbit as Bilbo, though he was well cast in both roles. As I've read the books, both the actors' voices and mannerisms have come back to me, and it's almost too much nostalgia to handle. The books themselves are excellent, well-written, rich with description. I love Arrietty's unwavering enthusiasm and determination, and that she is a very spirited young female character, especially given that it was written in the 1950's. Her intelligence and confidence seem ahead of her time in the best way, as does her scientific explorer's mind and penchant for engineering. As a character she has aged very well, indeed. Best of all, the books make me feel tiny, which should come as no surprise. But they are so effective at triggering a sizeshift that I even intentionally kept book four, Borrowers Aloft, with me on an airplane trip where I struggle with claustrophobia. (The irony of reading about Borrowers engineering a hot air balloon while flying on a plane wasn't lost on me.) Does anyone else have trouble flying as a sizeshifter? One look out the plane window at all the tiny cars and houses, and I tend to feel instantly enormous--but it clashes awfully with the feeling of being crammed in a tin can with strangers taking over the armrest and brushing shoulders with me. I often mentally beg my brain to let me feel small in those situations, but it's often hard to maintain. Reading Mary Norton's vision of the world through the eyes of the Borrowers, though, I felt perfectly tiny and perfectly at ease. Not all parts of the books age well, of course. There are some blatantly racist elements surrounding an antagonist the Borrowers call Mild Eye, who is a gypsy and depicted in both text and illustration as an ignorant brute and criminal, with some other cringe-worthy stereotypes layered on top. Problematic themes aside, the world building and perspectives are what really mean the most to me. Sometimes I wonder if I would have size dysmorphia if I had never encountered The Borrowers at such an impressionable age. I don't mind, if so. I'm grateful to be able to see the world from such vastly different viewpoints. I still have one book left to go, and may post more images if anyone else seems interested. A link to the full book set: The Complete Adventures of the Borrowers https://www.amazon.com/dp/0152049150/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_M4CdBbPDGN2P7