The Borrowers Afloat by Mary Norton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Description:
Pod, Homily, and Arrietty are off on new adventures when the threat of famine drives them from their home in the wall of an old cottage. Their escape down the drain of the washhouse, under the guidance of the wild Borrower boy Spiller, is harrowing enough. But when the leaky teakettle in which they are resting on the riverbank is swept away downstream, then their peril is even greater. This is the story of their strange voyage in search of a home.
Review:
This is the third book in the series. The biggest let down was that the beginning of the second chapter was almost word for word of the last chapter of the previous book. I found it distracting and a bit annoying…and even alarming, to some degree, as I don’t agree that an author should do this. It’s fine to ‘remind’ the reader of what’s gone before, but to literally copy and paste such a large section of text is not acceptable (in my opinion). However, once I got passed that bit I was happy to settle back into the story of the Borrower family.
Spiller has become a main character now. He is only young but he is worldly and knows how to survive out of doors. The Clock family learn a lot from him. And he saves them time and time again—from one thing or another.
The point of view jumps from one person to another, which I’ve gotten used to, but I did notice in this book that the point of view was mainly with the mother, Homily. She can be a bit annoying, but we were also shown the strong side of her, which I found endearing so I didn’t mind seeing things through her eyes.
The adventures continue. The story and the characters are delightful. And I’m still enjoying the books.