The Borrowers

The Borrowers Though this image is subject to copyright, its use is covered by international ‘fair use laws’ because: It illustrates an educational article about the book from which the cover illustration was taken. The United Kingdom’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. A registered charity: 209131 (England and Wales) SC037733 (Scotland). 1. 10 Tips for Learning Success √ Explore a variety of multimodal and authentic materials √ Do some research using reliable sources of information √ Carry out activities that are challenging and require thinking √ Use graphic organizers to show ideas √ Use visual input to make hypotheses and develop ideas √ Work individually and collaboratively in pairs and in groups √ Agree on how to work effectively √ See the importance of community knowledge √ Take greater responsibility for learning, by assessing own and peers’ work √ Complete a self-reflection activity to reflect on learning in the unit. Page 2 of 11 2. Reading The Borrowers – Introduction 1. Look at the book cover for ‘The Borrowers’ at the front of this unit. Discuss with your partner: Where are these people? Can you describe how they feel? What is their house like? Are they ‘normal’ people? Why / why not? Now look at the second book cover, below. What similarities and differences can you find between the two images? What do you imagine the book will be about? 2. The Borrowers – A book review The Borrowers are actually a race of little people. They believed that the human 'beans' lived to provide for them. The Borrowers loved houses that were very organised. The residents of the house always had to follow a pattern of behavior so that the Borrowers could 'borrow' things from the house without being 'seen'. "The Borrowers" tells the story of a Borrower family - the Clocks. They were Pod and Homily Clock and their 13 year old daughter, Arrietty. Why were they called the Clocks? The reason was simple enough. It's because this particular Borrower family lived under the kitchen floor but the entrance to their home was behind the old grandfather clock. So the last name of a Borrower could be anything, depending on where they lived. Arrietty was a curious girl who dreamed of going out to see the world other than the world under the kitchen. One day, her father agreed to let her go 'borrowing' with him. On that day, she was 'seen' by a boy (a human 'bean' boy) who had gone to live in that house because he was unwell and needed time to recover. The boy helped the Clocks with their 'borrowings' later on. But good things are always not meant to be forever... Things started to happen, creating chaos in the lives of the Clocks. When I read this book last time, I was sad that the boy didn't see the Borrowers again and I wanted to know what happened after this book. I didn't know that there were sequels to this book then. A couple of days ago, I found the sequels to "The Borrowers" and I can't wait to read them. I really feel that "The Borrowers" has an interesting and orginal storyline that can be enjoyed by all. Contributed by: jyosefin, Singapore Taken from: http://www.amazon.com/The-Borrowers-Mary-Norton/product-reviews/0152047379 Image: http://www.penguin.com.au/jpg-large/9780141333328.jpg Though this image is subject to copyright, its use is covered by international ‘fair use laws’ because: It illustrates an educational article about the book from which the cover illustration was taken. Page 3 of 11 Read the book review about The Borrowers, and answer the questions: Stage 1 Explicit Questions Read the text, and answer the following questions: 1. Who are the ‘Borrowers’? 2. Who are the members of the ‘Clock’ family? 3. Why are they called the ‘Clock’ family? 4. Why was Arrietty ‘curious’? 5. How did the human ‘bean’ boy help the Clocks? 6. Why does the writer enjoy this book? Stage 2: Implicit Questions 7. What problems would the Borrowers have, if they lived in a ‘house’ with ‘disorganised’ residents? 8. What kind of relationship did the boy have with the ‘Clocks’? 9. Why does the writer say: ‘But good things are not always meant to be forever’? 10. Why was the writer excited to find that there were ‘sequels’ to the book? Stage 3: Reflective / Evaluative Questions 11. Would you like to read ‘The Borrowers’? Why / Why not? 12. If you were the human ‘bean’ who discovered the Borrowers, would you tell an adult about them? Why / why not? 13. If you were a Borrower, what things would you ‘borrow’ from your house, and why? (eg. I would borrow a piece of bread, to use it as a mattress) Page 4 of 11 .

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