ACL

Association of Children's Librarians

Read-Alike

The Borrowers Read-Alikes

BorrowersRead-alikes for The Borrowers by Mary Norton, adapted into the film The Secret World of Arrietty

The newest film adaptation of Mary Norton’s The Borrowers was originally made in Japan in 2010. The version with U.S. voiceover actors speaking in English was released on Feb. 17, 2012, so librarians may see a demand for Norton’s original book, the four sequels, as well as similar stories of little people. This new film version is animated and set in Japan. A previous live-action film The Borrowers was released in 1997, starring John Goodman and Jim Broadbent. If you have children asking for more books like Mary Norton’s The Borrowers (Harcourt, 1953), you can recommend the following:

  • Besson, Luc.
    • Arthur and the Minimoys. 
    • Arthur and the Forbidden City.
  • Bodecker, N.M. The Mushroom Center Disaster.
  • Bond, Michael. A Bear Called Paddington (series).
  • Booraem, Ellen. Small Persons with Wings.
  • Boston, L.M. The Children of Green Knowe.
  • Crocker, Carter. The Last of the Gullivers.
  • Dahl, Roald. The Minpins.
  • DeFombelle, Timothee.
    • Toby Alone.
    • Toby and the Secrets of Trees.
  • Enright, Elizabeth. Gone-Away Lake.
  • Gilliland, Judith Heide. Strange Birds.
  • Jocelyn, Marthe. Earthly Astonishments.
  • Jone, Elizabeth Orton. Big Susan.
  • Jones, Elizabeth Orton. Twig.
  • LeGuin, Ursula K. Jane on her Own.
  • MacDonald, Betty. Mrs. Piggle Wiggle.
  • Martin, Ann.
    • The Doll People.
    • The Meanest Doll in the World.
    • The Runaway Dolls.
  • Nesbit, E. Five Children and It.
  • Norton, Mary.
    • The Borrowers (#1 in series).
    • The Borrowers Afield (#2)
    • The Borrowers Afloat (#3)
    • The Borrowers Aloft (#4)
    • The Borrowers Avenged (#5)
  • Peterson, John. The Littles (series).
  • Selden, George. The Cricket in Times Square.
  • Travers, P.L. Mary Poppins (series).
  • Ullman, Barb Bentler. Fairies of Nutfolk Wood.
  • White, E.B. Stuart Little.
  • Winthrop, Elizabeth. The Castle in the Attic.
  • Woodruff, Elizabeth. Awfully Short for the Fourth Grade.

See also The Borrowers Read-Alikes from February, 2012.

From Erica Siskind and Penny Peck May, 2012