EDUCATOR RESOURCE GUIDE

The BorrowersBased on the books by Mary NortonAdapted for the stage by Charles Way

SEPT 30 - OCT 31, 2010AGES 8+ Grades 3+

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For Children & Young Adults:

Indian in the Cupboard (series)Lynne Reid Banks

The LambkinsEve Bunting

The Adventures of Tom Thumb Marianna Mayer

ThumbelinaJ. Brian Pinkney

The Wee Free MenTerry Pratchett

The Castle in the AtticElizabeth Winthrop

The Dollhouse MurdersBetty Ren Wright

Rumpelstiltskin Paul O. Zelinsky

The Borrowers AfloatMary Norton Read more about the Borrowers as they sail along in a teakettle and are swept away in a flood.

For Adults Working with Children:

The Little People: Stories of Fairies, Pixies and Other Small FolkNeil Philip

Japanese Children’s Favorite StoriesFlorence Sakade and Yoshisuke KurosakiAn updated edition of traditional Japanese folk tales, which includes two favorite stories about miniature children, Peach Boy and Little One Inch.

Prepared by Judy Nelson from Pierce County Library System

BIOGRAPHY

Mary Pearson Norton (1903-1992)Born in 1903, Mary was the only girl among her four siblings. Though born in London, she was brought up in a manor in Bedfordshire, which would later serve as the setting for The Borrowers. Mary got her early education at convent schools, after which she spent a short time working as a secretary before turning to the stage as an actress. In fact, she always considered herself more of an actress than a writer. During her time on stage, she worked at the Old Vic Theatre Company, counting her time there as some of the most exciting of her life. When she married, she gave up life on the stage and moved with her husband to Portugal, where she had four children and began her writing career.

With the outbreak of World War II, Mary’s husband joined the Royal Navy and she moved herself and her children back to England. In 1943, she returned to the stage and nine years later The Borrowers was published, winning the prestigious Carnegie Medal. The Borrowers was inspired by fantasies she created in her childhood spent in the country. Though she was to work as a writer until 1982, she published only eight novels, including the five sequels to The Borrowers and the famous The Magic Bed Knob and Bonfires and Broomsticks. Mary Pearson Norton died in 1992, a beloved author of children’s fiction whose work is given fresh life through stage, television, and film adaptations to this day.

BOOKLIST

SYNOPSISUnder the floor boards, as cozy as you please, Arrietty Clock and her parents, Homily and Pod, live a quiet little life. Why, they just borrow whatever they may need, like a teacup from the dollhouse that is just the right size for them. Arrietty longs to go upstairs, helping her father with the borrowing, but after what happened to her cousin Eggletina (an incident with a cat that no one speaks of), it is forbidden. Until the Boy who lives upstairs, so big and so lonely, sees her father. “And that’s how the whole world changes shape.”

Now, to keep Arrietty safe, and ensure they don’t have to emigrate, Pod will teach his daughter how to borrow. The world above the floor is amazing! It almost overwhelms poor Arrietty, who just isn’t used to so much space. No sooner has Pod moved off in search of brush fibers than

Arrietty is spotted by a “human bean.” As if that isn’t bad enough, she and the Boy even have a conversation. Now what are the Clocks to do? Boy, however, means them no harm, even if he does pry up the floorboards (their roof!) in order to find their home. He just wants to help, to give them presents. Yes, this might just be a wonderful friendship. Before they have time to get to know each other, however, Mrs. Driver, the cook, stumbles across the Clock home, thinking it is a mouse nest. In her horrible agitation and fear, she

asks the gardener to smoke out “the mice.” Luckily, the Clocks manage to escape the poisonous gases by jumping out the air vent. They must keep their wits about them as they venture across the orchard in search of where Eggletina’s parents live.

As Homily frets over spending the night in an old boot, Arrietty wonders at the vastness of the world in front of her. Here it is—the adventure she has always dreamt of. And wouldn’t you know it, but here’s another something straight out of her dreams—another Borrower! Dreadful Spiller. He may be filthy and a little rough, but he’s a Borrower just like her. Spiller helps keep the Clocks safe, and fed, and helps the days pass. All summer, Pod goes in search of the other Borrowers and every evening he returns, more exhausted, having found nothing, until one day, he collapses. Spiller sets off to find the Clocks a proper home where they can rest and be safe. As they wait for his return, snow begins to fall signaling that winter is truly upon them. Once Spiller returns, he leads the Clocks to their relatives, safe and snug behind a fireplace in a nearby cottage, where Arrietty is free to go out in the sun and rain and whole wide world.

TIMING IS EVERYTHING

Though The Borrowers is set in Victorian-era England and was published in the midst of the Cold War, Mary Norton began her writing career during the end stages of World War II. Each of these three distinct time periods play a part in the fiction that Mary Norton created.

VICTORIAN ERA (1837-1901)Named for England’s Queen Victoria, who reigned at the time, the Victorian Era was marked by the changes in the way people lived and thought about their world. Europe’s population more than doubled during this era, putting a great strain on the resources available. The need to meet the growing demands on the world’s resources helped give rise to the Industrial Revolution, seeing cities and industry boom as globally people began to shift from living and working on the land to living in cities and searching for work in factories. Not just men were looking for these industrial jobs; women and children, anyone who could contribute to the family’s income, sought work.

These jobs were low paying, with children getting the lowest wages of all, and the conditions were deplorable. The poor who were lucky enough to find employment worked long hours almost every day in poorly lit or ventilated rooms that were often crowded with laborers. Generally, people lived to work and worked to live.

As is common, it was easy to tell the rich children from the poor in those days. Rich kids went to school, had enough to eat, and wore warm clothes. Poor kids had to find work instead of attend school, were thin and hungry, and looked ragtag. At five years old, these children would start looking for work feeding chick-ens, washing clothes, sewing, making brushes, working as servants, going to sea, or cleaning the roadways. In 1870, Parliament decreed that every town and village must have a school. Though this was an improvement, it still proved a hardship for many families because parents had to pay for their children to attend. In 1880, the law stated that every child must receive a primary education (elementary school) and “ragged schools” (schools for the poor) were created so those who could not afford to send their children to primary school had an alternative. Also, in 1883, factory owners were supposed to ensure each child laborer received at least two hours of schooling each day, though most did not abide by this stricture.

The world in which the Borrowers live is one of toil and change, a time when great thoughts and inventions flourish while people have a difficult time making ends meet each day.

WWII (1939-1945)Still reeling from the effects of World War I and the Great Depression, the world was weary and looking to avoid further conflict. However, Germany was unwilling to accept defeat and sought to increase its land and power. With Germany’s invasion of Poland in 1939, the world was thrust into another armed military campaign. Great Britain, Mary Norton’s native land, not only sent troops to fight on the front lines but also faced deprivation (living without things like enough food or shelter) and the terror of bombings by the Nazis. This war waged on through the years and was fought on many fronts: Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, Northern Africa, Asia, and the Pacific Islands. After six years and millions of both military and civilian deaths, the Allies (Great Britain, France, Soviet Union, China, United States) finally defeated the Axis (Germany, Japan, Italy) in 1945 and the war was over.

COLD WAR (1945-1991)After the victory in WWII, the Soviet Union installed communist regimes in Eastern European nations, wanting to ensure that these countries could not invade their land again. The United States and its allies wanted to stop the spread of this “Iron Curtain” of communism and open Europe to democratic rule. Despite this clash of ideals, neither side wanted to engage in a “hot war” (an open armed conflict), which would assumedly escalate to the use of nuclear weapons, so the “cold war” began. Threats and innuendo were tossed back and forth and the world became divided into three camps: West (democratic nations), East (communist nations), and those not wanting to be tied to either party. In the 1950’s, people were, for the first time, presented with the reality that governments had the ability to demolish humankind at the press of a button. Bomb shelters were built, drills were conducted in schools, and fear of the unknown kept people close to home and closed off from

the world around them. When this Cold War officially ended is a matter of some debate. Some believe it was marked by the softening of US/Soviet relations in the late 60’s or early 70’s, others believe it ended in the late 80’s with the Berlin wall being torn down, and still others mark the end of the Cold War by the collapse of the Soviet government in the early 90’s. Regardless of the incident that marked the end, the social and political effects of the Cold War remain imprinted on the world as indelibly as the World Wars that preceded it.

ACTIVITY/DISCUSSION:After seeing the show, discuss which time period seems to make the biggest impact on the story? If the story was set in today’s world, how would the ending change? Have your students write their own endings to the story, if the Borrowers had lived in their homes.

As a class, create a timeline of the Victorian Era, include the inventions, laws, and events you think had the greatest influence on society. Next, create a timeline of important events from the last 60 years. Compare the timelines, discussing which has the most far-reaching listings. How do you quantify that? For example, is the invention of the pasteurization process as impactful as the invention of the internet? Have your students pick one thing from each timeline and research the relative impact of each on its society.

INNOVATIONS FROM THE VICTORIAN ERA:

1826: permanent photograph 1839: pedal bicycle 1839: paddle steamship 1840: postage stamp1843: Christmas cards 1844: Morse code1845: rubber tires and tarmac roads 1846: sewing machine 1849: concrete1850: petrol 1851: ice cream1852: public flushing toilet 1854: steel1856: pasteurization of food 1863: underground railroad1873: typewriter 1875: chocolate Easter eggs1876: telephone 1877: phonograph of human voice1879: electric light bulb 1883: electric railway1884: motorcar 1894: moving pictures1895: x-rays and wireless radio

FAMOUS AUTHORS OF THE TIME:

Charles Dickens The Brontë sisters

Alfred Lord TennysonLewis Carroll George Eliot

Robert Louis StevensonArthur Conan Doyle

Oscar WildeBram Stoker

IT HAPPENED IN VICTORIAN TIMES: Marx and Engels wrote their Communist Manifesto in 1848Charles Darwin wrote his Origin of the Species in 1859Encyclopedia Britannica was finished and published in 1871Jack the Ripper went on his murdering spree in 1888

FUN STUFF TO DO AND THINK ABOUT WITH THE BORROWERS

A BIG DIFFERENCE IN A LITTLE WAY - RECYCLINGThe Borrowers are big on repurposing (to use or convert something to be used in another format or product). Every little thing they use in their home has a different use in the big world. If we acted more like those little people, we could make a big difference in our own world.

Create a recycling plan/chart for your class, identifying things that can be recycled, things that should be composted, and what needs to be in the garbage.

LETTERS FOR COMPASSION

The Borrowers live in fear because the big people who live in the house above don’t understand them. It takes the compassion of the Boy and Arrietty to start to change all that.

Compassion (kuh m-pash-uh n) a feeling of sympathy for anotherSympathy (sim-puh-thee) the fact or power of sharing the feelings of another

As a class, decide on a city, state, or country about which you’d like to learn more. Research what life is like in that place, how it is similar and how it is different from where you live. Have your students write letters to someone, either another class you find online or someone in the government. Once you hear back, you can discuss how your opinions did or did not change and if you gained a new sense of compassion for the people there.

IT PAYS TO BE ADAPTABLE

Our play was adapted from Mary Norton’s classic children’s books. Adaptation is a wonderful means of sharing stories in different ways and with a variety of audiences.

Choose a favorite poem and have your students adapt it as a short story with illustrations. You can create a library of all of the stories to share among the class.