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The
B Burlington Books

Borrowers
Mary Norton

T E A C H E R ’ S M AT E R I A L

CONTENTS

To the Teacher 2

Before Reading 3

After Reading 4

Final Test 5

Answers to Final Test 6

Answers to Activities in the Reader 6

Answers to Cross-Curricular Focus 8

Before using the following teacher’s material, we recommend that you visit the Teacher’s Zone
at www.burlingtonbooks.es and consult the Burlington Activity Reader Series general
information leaflet. The Final Test in this teacher’s material is also available in editable
Word format from the website. The Student’s Zone on the site offers additional activities.
 The Borrowers
to the teacher
List of Main Chara cters
Pod Clock: the father. Sophie: an old woman.
Homily Clock: the mother. Boy: Sophie’s 10-year-old guest,
Arietty Clock: Pod and Homily’s 13-year-old daughter. visiting from India.
Uncle Hendreary and Aunt Lupy: A
 rietty’s uncle and aunt. Mrs Driver: Sophie’s cook.
Eggletina: Uncle Hendreary and Aunt Lupy’s daughter. Crampfurl: Sophie’s gardener.

plot summary
The Clocks are a family of “Borrowers”. Borrowers are very small people and they live in homes under
the floor. The Clock family lives under an old grandfather clock in Sophie’s house. Like all Borrowers, the
Clocks are afraid of humans and animals but sometimes they need to go upstairs and “borrow” things. At
first, only Pod borrows. Arietty wants to borrow too, but Homily won’t let her because it’s dangerous.
One day, Pod discovers a boy upstairs. The boy sees Pod and thinks he is a gnome. Pod explains to Arietty
about this new danger and also tells her about Uncle Hendreary. A human saw him upstairs and bought a cat
to catch him, but the cat caught Eggletina. Uncle Hendreary didn’t want to lose his other two children, so he
“emigrated” to a rabbit hole.
Arietty begs her parents to let her go upstairs. Finally, Homily agrees. Upstairs, Pod tells her to wait near the
front door, but Arietty doesn’t listen and runs into the garden. She meets the boy and they become friends.
Arietty tells him about her uncle. Later, she writes a letter to her uncle and puts it under the doormat for the
boy to deliver. Mrs Driver and Crampfurl see the boy looking under the doormat and into rabbit holes. Mrs
Driver is perplexed. One day, while Pod is borrowing upstairs, Arietty finds the gates open and visits the boy
in his bedroom. She receives her uncle’s answer to her letter. She doesn’t know that Pod is there too, and he
sees her. Pod and Homily are angry with Arietty because she went upstairs. That evening, the boy lifts up
some floorboards in the kitchen and finds Arietty and her parents. From that day on, he brings things to the
Borrowers, including small silver ornaments. One day, Mrs Driver notices that some ornaments are missing.
That night, while the boy is in the kitchen giving new ornaments to the Borrowers, he hears Mrs Driver
coming. He runs to his room, but he doesn’t cover the hole. Mrs Driver finds the ornaments on the kitchen
floor and discovers the Borrowers in the hole. She plans to call the police and the rat-catcher.
Mrs Driver locks the boy in his room for three days and decides to send him back to India. She also calls the
police, but the policeman laughs at her story about the Borrowers. On the third day, Mrs Driver takes the boy
downstairs to the taxi. He is surprised to see there’s a new floorboard covering the Borrowers’ hole. Before
he leaves, he runs to the garden and opens the grating near the kitchen. The Borrowers escape through the
grating into the garden and go to live safely with Uncle Hendreary.

about the author

Mary Norton (1903-1992) was born in London. Mary was an actress until she moved to Portugal with her
husband. She raised four children there.
During World War II, Mary returned to England with her family and started to write. The Borrowers,
published in 1952, won the Carnegie Medal, the United Kingdom’s most important prize in children’s
fiction. It is based on fantasies from Mary’s childhood. She wrote other books describing the adventures of
the Clock family. There are also films and a TV series about The Borrowers.

BACKGROUND
The Borrowers in this story are called the Clock family because they live under a grandfather clock which
stands on the floor in a tall wooden case. The clock got its name from the song My Grandfather’s Clock.
Songwriter Henry Clay Work based the song on a story about two brothers. When one of the brothers died
the clock began to lose time. Nobody could repair it. The other brother died at the age of 90 and the clock
stopped working completely.


 The Borrowers
Before reading
These activities are designed to help the students’ reading comprehension. They help to activate the
students’ background knowledge, and ability to predict. At this level, these activities will usually be
conducted in the students’ mother tongue. Students with a strong vocabulary can do some of these activities
in English.
Ask the questions and elicit the answers from the whole class. Some possible answers are provided in
italics. If you prefer, students can work in pairs or small groups.

Suggestions for Lead-in Ac tivities

1. Imagine that you are 20 cm tall. How is your life different from your present life? (I live in a doll’s
house; all the furniture in my house is toy furniture; I’m afraid of people and animals; it’s hard for me
to reach high places.)
2. Do you think it’s good to be curious? Explain why / why not. (Yes: you can learn a lot about people;
you can discover interesting things; you can have adventures. No: it can be dangerous; you can get into
trouble; you can offend people; you can get lost.)
3. How should you behave if you are a visitor in somebody else’s house? (You shouldn’t take or use things
without the people’s permission; you should be polite and helpful; you shouldn’t make a noise or a mess.)
4. What things should your parents decide for you? (My parents shouldn’t let me do dangerous or wrong
things.) What things should you decide for yourself? (I should decide about other things, for example
my friends and what I do in my free time.)
5. Imagine that you can never leave your house. How do you feel? (bored; lonely; frustrated) What do you
do? (I read books and play computer games; I talk to my friends on the phone; I make plans to try and
escape.)
6. Do you mind other people borrowing your things? Why / Why not? (Yes: sometimes people lose my
things or break them; sometimes they don’t return them. No: I like sharing things with people.)

Before Reading Ac tivities

1. Find a picture in the book of: a. a family having afternoon tea (page 8); b. an enormous cat (page 15);
c. a frightened girl alone in a garden (page 19).
2. Read the second paragraph on page 8. List three things you learn about the Borrowers. (They normally
live in old, quiet houses in the country; they borrow things from the rooms; they like the homes of
humans with a regular routine.)
3. Look at the top picture on page 10. Why are the people sad? (The cup is broken.) Why do you think the
man is climbing down the curtain on page 11? (He is getting a new cup to replace the broken tea cup.)
4. Read the text above the picture on page 15. Why do you think Pod is telling Arietty this story? (He
doesn’t want something bad to happen to her.)
5. Look at the pictures on page 16. Describe how the little girl feels in each picture. (In the first picture,
she’s very sad; In the second picture, she’s very happy.)
6. Read the last two paragraphs on page 18. What do Pod and Arietty want to get? (fibre for Arietty’s
mother’s brush)
7. Read the first 8 lines on page 22 and look at the picture. Why is Arietty frightened? (A human can see her.)


 The Borrowers
After reading
Drama Activities
Work with a partner or a group. Learn one of the dialogues below and act it out in front of the class.

1. Homily and Pod are talking to Arietty.
Pod: A cat discovered Eggletina, and …
Eggletina never returned home. Uncle
Hendreary and his family decided to
emigrate after that.
Arietty: T
 hat’s terrible. But why are you telling
me this now?
Homily: A human saw your father upstairs today!
Now we’ve got a big problem.
Arietty: That’s bad. Maybe our humans want to
buy a cat, too. Can’t WE emigrate?
Homily: No, we can’t. I love this place …
Arietty: But I don’t, I hate it! I can’t go
(crying) outside. I can’t play with other children.
2. The boy discovers Arietty in the garden.
The boy: Can you read?
Arietty: Of course. Why?
The boy: I don’t like reading. But I love hearing
stories. Wait here, I want to bring a book
and then you can read it to me.
Arietty: My father is working in the house.
Nobody must see him.
The boy: Working? What’s he doing?
Arietty: He’s borrowing material to repair our
carpet.
The boy: Oh! Your father is very small, too! He
climbed down a curtain with a doll’s cup
in his hand. He’s a gnome!
Arietty: Of course we’re not GNOMES – we’re
Borrowers!
3. Homily and Pod are angry with Arietty.
Homily: You mustn’t speak to the boy again.
(Arietty gives her parents a letter.)
Arietty: It’s from Uncle Hendreary. He’s happy in
his new home. I got the letter from the boy.
Pod: Now, the boy knows about us. That’s
very dangerous for us – and you’re
responsible, Arietty! It was a bad idea to
take you to borrow with me.
Homily: And we can’t emigrate to Uncle
Hendreary’s rabbit hole because the boy
knows about THAT, too! You’re a stupid
girl, Arietty!
Arietty: The boy HELPED us, he doesn’t want
(crying) to hurt us!
4. The boy is talking to the Clocks.
The Clocks: Mrs Driver and Crampfurl saw our
(trembling) home. It’s terrible!
The boy: You can’t stay here now. I must take
you upstairs.
Pod: No, it’s dangerous. Mrs Driver wants
to call the police and the rat-catcher.
Homily: We must go to Uncle Hendreary’s
rabbit hole tomorrow. We can’t go
tonight. We can’t see anything.
Arietty: Maybe we can sleep in the doll’s
house tonight.
The boy: That’s a good idea. Tomorrow I can
take you to Uncle Hendreary’s house
in my pocket.

Projec t Su ggestions
You may want to present some of these activities in the students’ own language.
1. Work with a partner. Draw a different cover for the book and give it a different title.
2. Imagine that you are the boy and that you keep a diary. Write an entry in your diary about your first
encounter with Arietty.
3. Who is your favourite character in the story? Write a few sentences and explain why you like him / her.
4. Imagine that you are Mrs Driver. Write a letter to a friend. Tell your friend about the boy’s visit.
5. Work with a partner. Choose a scene from The Borrowers in which Arietty appears. One of you is Arietty,
the other is another character in the scene. Think about what is happening to each of you and how you feel.
Act out the scene for the class.
6. Imagine that you are the policeman. Write a report after your visit to the house.
7. Work with a partner. Imagine what happens to the Borrowers after they leave the house. Write a
continuation to the story.
8. Look in an encyclopedia or search on the Internet to find information about one of the adventures from the
TV series, The Borrowers. Write a paragraph about the information you find and read it to the class.


 The Borrowers
FINAL TEST

A Match each word to the picture it describes.

1. frightened 2. dangerous 3. sad 4. letter 5. furious 6. quiet 7. small 8. heavy
a b c d

e f g h

16 points (2 points each)

B Circle the correct answer.
1. Pod goes upstairs to borrow a cup / cupboard for Homily.
2. Eggletina was Uncle Hendreary’s mother / daughter.
3. Homily hates / loves her home because it’s comfortable.
4. Pod and Homily worry / write about Arietty a lot.
5. Arietty reads to the boy in the kitchen / garden.
6. The boy wants to take the Borrowers in a shopping bag / his pocket.
7. The boy asks, “How can the Borrowers travel / escape?”
8. The boy is shocked to see the clock / sofa in a different position.
16 points (2 points each)

C Who is speaking? Write the letter of the picture next to each sentence. You can
use the same letter more than once.
a b c d e

1. There was a boy in the bedroom, and he surprised me. ......

2. Wait here, I want to bring a book. ......
3. I can’t go outside. I can’t play with other children. ......
4. You mustn’t speak to the boy again. ......
5. Look! There’s an emerald watch! We must call the police. ......
6. Here are some things for you. ......
18 points (3 points each)


 The Borrowers
answers to final test
A 1. g 5. d C 1. a
2. e 6. f 2. d
3. b 7. a 3. c
4. h 8. c 4. b
5. e
B 1. cup 5. garden
6. d
2. daughter 6. a shopping bag
3. loves 7. escape
4. worry 8. clock

answers to activities in the reader

PRE-READING ACTIVITIES (page 7) CHAPTERS 3-4 ACTIVITIES (pages 20-21)
1 1. a 4. a 1 1. hate
2. b 5. b 2. child
3. a 6. a 3. bring
4. watch
2 1. father
2. daughter 2 1. c 2. e 3. d 4. a 5. b
3. mother
3 1. two
4. uncle
2. cat
5. aunt
3. fibre

CHAPTERS 1-2 ACTIVITIES (pages 12-13) 4. garden

5. eye
1 1. c 2. a 3. b 4. d
6. dangerous
2 1. floor
4 1. e
2. animal
2. d
3. country
3. b
4. woman
4. c
3 1. country 5. a
2. animals
3. under the kitchen
4. it’s dangerous
5. difficult
6. The boy

4 1. e 2. b 3. c 4. d 5. a


 The Borrowers

Answers to Activities in the Reader continued

CHAPTERS 5-6 ACTIVITIES (pages 28-29) CHAPTERS 9-10 ACTIVITIES (pages 40-41)
1 1
s
2
g 1 1 o
3
t n h r
4
a b o v e g
5 2
n m a n g r y b e a u t i f u l
d e v n
y i 3 c
4
e s c a p e
e t
2 1. chair
c
2. pencil h

3. giant
1. organise
4. paper
2. beautiful
5. letter
3. catch
3 1. d 2. b 3. e 4. a 5. c 4. escape
2 1. a 2. b 3. a 4. b
4 1. The boy
2. Homily 3 1. a 2. e 3. d 4. b 5. c
3. Arietty
4 1. b 2. c 3. a 4. d
4. Homily
5. The boy CHAPTERS 11-12 ACTIVITIES (pages 46-47)
6. Arietty 1
1. p o l i c e m a n
CHAPTERS 7-8 ACTIVITIES (pages 34-35) 2. l a u g h
3. t r a v e l
1 1. a 2. b 3. c 4. b 4. e x i t
5. p r i s o n
2 1. True – a 6. b o a t
2. False – c 7. s a d

3. True – h
The boy’s p a r e n t s are in India.
4. True – a
2 1. a
5. False – i
2. b
6. True – r
3. a
What does the boy give the Clocks? a chair
3 1. a
3 1. d 2. b 3. c 4. e 5. a
2. c
3. c
4. a


answers to cross-curricular focus
Mythical Creatures (page 53) Hobbit-Like Humans in Asia (page 55)
1 1. Elves
2 1. b 2. c 3. a 4. c 5. b 6. a
2. Leprechauns
3. Hobbits 3 1 2 3 4 5 6

4. Leprechauns a b a p d m n
b p r i d i s
5. Hobbits
c f i o p o t
6. Goblins
7. Elves The youngest hobbit is P i p p i n .
8. Goblins