The Borrowers

By Mary Norton

Original copyright 1952

The Borrowers are a family of tiny people who live under the floorboards of an old house.  Pod and Homily Clock, with their 13-year-old daughter Arrietty, “borrow” items and food scraps from the human home owners for their own use.  Their lives are constantly fraught with danger and they must always be cautious to never be seen.  At the same time, the teenaged Arrietty desperately longs for freedom to explore the wider world.  One day, Pod is accidentally seen by a young boy and the family must deal with the potentially dangerous consequences.  We really come to know and love the Clock family and the family of human “beans” who live above the floorboards.  We come to understand Arrietty’s desire for freedom and her parents’ need to keep the family safe.  

What I loved most about this book was the imaginative ways in which “borrowed” items were used in the home of these small people.  Some of their useful finds were matchboxes they transformed into a set of drawers, a thimble now used as a soup pot, and postage stamps which became wall art.

Perhaps this is the book that is responsible for my desire to repurpose items for use in my home.  Sure, it’s a cabbage slicer – but can’t it also be a shelf?  And that old washboard makes for a nice little chalkboard.  One of my favorites is a recent find – a steel barrel from the Department of Civil Defense.  It was once meant to hold an emergency water supply in a fall-out shelter.  It now serves nicely as a small table.  

The Borrowers is a wonderful children’s book for so many reasons.  For me personally, it inspires imaginative ways of looking at the world – ways of using objects for something other than their originally intended purpose. 

Baby’s Journal

Started in 1993

Since today is the day of my youngest daughter’s college graduation, I decided to take a little sentimental journey and look through her baby book.  What has struck me is that although she has of course changed in many ways over the past 22 years, there are so many aspects of her relationships and personality that have remained the same.  There are also events and happenings I forgot about, so I’m glad I wrote them down.

 1.  “Cousin Mackenzie was so excited to hear her cousin a girl that she jumped up and down for joy.”  This made me laugh because now, Michelle is so excited about Cousin Mackenzie’s brand new baby!

2.  “Laura gave her a teddy bear with blue pajamas.”  So Michelle’s favorite childhood stuffed animal was actually a gift from her big sister.  I didn’t know that!

3.  “At 18 months, Michelle likes to close the door of the playroom sometimes and stay in there by herself.”  Yep, that’s Michelle all right.  She still likes to close her door and be by herself. 

 

4.  “For Michelle’s first Christmas:  In the evening we went to Grandma Marilyn’s and Grandpa Claus’s for a noisy fun party with cousins, aunts, and uncles.  Michelle enjoyed watching everyone sing along with Disney’s Christmas video.”  I’ve wondered how old the annual Disney sing-along is.  Now I know it’s been at least 21 years.

5.  “At nine months, her favorite food is American cheese.”  Yes, CHEESE!

6.  “At fifteen months, Michelle likes to listen to music and sing.  She dances and claps to the music and tries to sing too.”  At 22 years, Michelle likes to listen to music and sing.  And yes, she still dances and claps.  But now she actually can sing – and even play it. 

Those who are reading this who don’t know Michelle will not be able to relate to these particular similarities.  They do provide food for thought, though.  Where we’ve come from and the relationships we had as children really shape who we are today.

Downy Dilly and the Monster Trick

An Upsy Downsy Storybook by Mattel

Copyright 1969

 

Considering how long I’ve owned this book, I’m really surprised that it doesn’t have my name amateurishly printed inside.  I’m not sure how it escaped my pencil.  This was a well-loved picture book of mine.  I remember the little plastic toy that came with it.  The half I still own is pictured here.  At some point, Downy Dilly’s purple Foot Mobile broke and was discarded.  

Everyone in Upsy Downsy Land knew that little Downy Dilly loved to play tricks.  After a very mischievous morning, Downy wanted to go to the beach to relax.  Unfortunately, the beach was crowded with all of her neighbors enjoying the sunny weather.  But Downy Dilly had an idea.  If she could play a prank and convince everyone else that a sea monster was coming, they would be scared, leaving the beach for her alone.  By digging giant footprints in the sand and floating an inner-tube monster out in the water, she achieved her goal.  

Her relaxation did not last long, for soon after she closed her eyes she was startled by big drops of water landing on her.  Opening her eyes, she saw a very real, very big, very pink sea monster, weeping great big tears.  Downy Dilly talks to young Splasha Lotta and finds out she has lost her mamma.  Fortunately, the baby sea monster is soon happily reunited with her mamma and both swim away.

By this time, Downy’s neighbors return, realizing she has played yet another prank on them.  Of course, no amount of arguing can convince Downy’s friends that she really did see a sea monster. 

Downy Dilly and the other residents of Upsy Downsy thought a sea monster would be terribly frightening.  So frightening, they ran away and hid.  In actuality, though, the sea monster turned out to be quite harmless.  There was no need to run away screaming.  I think that is how it goes with many of our fears.  What we imagine is usually much worse than the reality.  If we face our fears head-on, they just might turn out to be harmless. 

Five Children and It

By E. Nesbit

First published in 1902

A set of young siblings who are loving yet also love to tease each other stumble upon something magical while playing one day, leading them on a series of adventures.  That sounds a lot like The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, doesn’t it?  This book was written almost half a century prior to C.S. Lewis’ well-loved story.  Instead of transporting the reader to a magical world, in Five Children and It, the magic comes into our world.

Robert, Anthea, Cyril, and Jane, with their baby brother the Lamb in tow, stumble upon a sand fairy while digging in a gravel pit behind their home.  Lucky for them, the sand fairy is forced to grant its finders one wish per day.  The catch is that each wish will come undone at sunset.  This actually turns out to be a very good thing for the children, since they have a string of disastrous wishes.  With each foolish wish, the children have to spend the rest of the day surviving the consequences. 

Sometimes they wish for something most people would want, such as beauty (no one recognized them) or riches (given in the form of ancient gold guineas).  Sometimes the wish is accidental, such as when Cyril blurts out that he wishes his baby brother would just grow up.  They thought the Lamb was bothersome as a baby – just imagine what happens when that baby is suddenly a grown man.

One of my favorites is when the children wished for wings.  They had a wonderful day, soaring above the countryside.  After having a picnic atop a church bell tower, they dozed off.  When they awoke after sunset, their magic wings had disappeared, and they had to yell for help to get down from the top of the tower.  Needless to say, they had a lot of explaining to do! 

Be careful what you wish for is the obvious message of this book.  Through trial and error the children finally learn their lesson and end up wishing for the exhausted sand fairy to have a good long sleep in his gravel pit.

Question for the day:  If you had one wish, what would you wish for?  Be careful, though.  The consequences might be more than you expect.

The Land of Health

How children may become citizens of the Land of Health by learning and obeying its laws

By Grace T. Hallock and C.E.A. Winslow

Copyright 1922

“Once upon a time, Fresh Air lived at the end of the world with her stepsister, Stale Air, and her stepmother, Shut Windows. “

So begins one of the stories in The Land of Health, a book for young children meant to teach health lessons creatively.  Tom and Sally are two young children who wish to become citizens of the Land of Health.  But first, they must learn its laws.  Fortunately, they have Wind and Rain and Sun to teach them through stories.

When Stale Air set out to seek her fortune, she came to a town where the people were in great distress over the poor health of their little princess.  Stale Air went to the palace and was taken to the bedroom of the princess where she found the environment much to her liking.  Heavy curtains hung about the bed and not a window was open.  Fresh Air also set out to seek her fortune and came upon the same town.  After hearing of the princess’ distress, she went to the palace to offer her services.  Fresh Air saw her stepsister sitting by the princess, immediately threw open the window and asked Mr. Wind to rush in.  Stale Air was hustled out of the room; the princess revived, and lived happily ever after. 

“As for Stale Air, I should like nothing more than to shut her up forever with her stepmother, Shut Windows, in the house at the end of the world.”

Tom and Sally have now learned the first law of the Land of Health:

“I must always breathe fresh air in rainy weather and in fair.”