Kathleen Mary Norton (née Pearson; 10 December 1903 – 29 August 1992), known professionally as Mary Norton, was an English writer of
children's books
A child (plural, : children) is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers ...
.
["Mary Norton." St. James Guide to Children's Writers, 5th ed. St. James Press, 1999.] She is best known for ''
The Borrowers'' series of
low fantasy novels (1952 to 1982), which is named after its first book and, in turn, the tiny people who live secretly in the midst of contemporary human civilisation.
Norton won the 1952
Carnegie Medal from the
Library Association
The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, since 2017 branded CILIP: The library and information association (pronounced ), is a professional body for librarians, information specialists and knowledge management, knowle ...
, recognising ''The Borrowers'' as the year's outstanding children's book by a
British author.
[ For the 70th anniversary of the Medal in 2007 it was named one of the top ten winning works, selected by a panel to compose the ballot for a public election of the all-time favourite.][ Norton's novels '' The Magic Bed Knob; or, How to Become a Witch in Ten Easy Lessons'' and '' Bonfires and Broomsticks'' were adapted into the 1971 Disney film '' Bedknobs and Broomsticks''.
]
Life
Kathleen Mary Pearson was the daughter of a physician and grew up in a Georgian
Georgian may refer to:
Common meanings
* Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country)
** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group
** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians
**Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
house at the end of the High Street in Leighton Buzzard
Leighton Buzzard ( ) is a market town in Bedfordshire, England, in the southwest of the county and close to the Buckinghamshire border. It lies between Aylesbury, Tring, Luton/Dunstable and Milton Keynes, near the Chiltern Hills. It is northwes ...
. The house now forms part of Leighton Middle School, known within the school as The Old House, and was reportedly the setting of her novel '' The Borrowers''. She married Robert Charles Norton on 4 September 1926 and had four children, two boys and two girls; her son, also named Robert Norton, became a printer and Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...
executive. Her second husband was Lionel Bonsey, whom she married in 1970.[
She began working for the War Office in 1940 before the family moved temporarily to the United States. She began writing while working for the British Purchasing Commission in ]New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
during World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. Her first book was ''The Magic Bed Knob; or, How to Become a Witch in Ten Easy Lessons'', published by J. M. Dent
Joseph Malaby Dent (30 August 1849 – 9 May 1926) was a British book publisher who produced the Everyman's Library series.
Early life
Dent was born in Darlington in what is now part of the Grade II listed Britannia Inn. After a short and ...
in 1945.[ Its sequel ''Bonfires and Broomsticks'' followed two years later and they were re-issued jointly as ''Bed-Knobs and Broomsticks'' in 1957. The stories became the basis for the 1971 ]Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
film '' Bedknobs and Broomsticks''.
During her latter years Norton lived with her husband in the village of Hartland in Devon
Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...
. She died of a stroke
A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...
in Bideford, Devon, England, on 29 August 1992.
Works
The first edition hardcover books were published in Britain by J. M. Dent
Joseph Malaby Dent (30 August 1849 – 9 May 1926) was a British book publisher who produced the Everyman's Library series.
Early life
Dent was born in Darlington in what is now part of the Grade II listed Britannia Inn. After a short and ...
.[ A picture book version of her first story appeared in the US as ''The Magic Bed-Knob'' (1943), with color illustrations by ]Waldo Peirce
Waldo Peirce (December 17, 1884 – March 8, 1970) was an American painter, who for many years reveled in living the life of a bohemian expatriate.
Peirce was both a prominent painter and a well-known colorful figure in the world of the arts ...
.
* ''The Magic Bedknob
''The Magic Bedknob; or, How to Become a Witch in Ten Easy Lessons'' is a 1944 children's book by Mary Norton. The book was later adapted into the Disney movie ''Bedknobs and Broomsticks''.
Synopsis
While spending the summer in Bedfordshire, E ...
'' (1944)
* '' Bonfires and Broomsticks'' (1947)
:The omnibus edition ''Bedknob and Broomstick'' (Dent, 1957) included new illustrations by Erik Blegvad
Erik Blegvad (; 3 March 1923 – 14 January 2014) was a British illustrator of more than a hundred books, including ''The Winter Bear'', ''The Borrowers
''The Borrowers'' is a children's fantasy novel by the English author Mary Norton, pu ...
; following the 1971 Disney film adaptation, the plural ''Bedknobs and Broomsticks'' was also used in print.
* '' The Borrowers'' (1952) — winner of the Carnegie Medal[
* '']The Borrowers Afield
''The Borrowers Afield'' is a children's fantasy novel by Mary Norton, published in 1955 by Dent in the UK and Harcourt in the US. It was the second of five books in a series that is usually called ''The Borrowers'', inaugurated by ''The Borrow ...
'' (1955)
* ''The Borrowers Afloat
''The Borrowers Afloat'' is a children's fantasy novel by Mary Norton, published in 1959 by Dent in the UK and Harcourt in the US. It was the third of five books in a series that is usually called ''The Borrowers'', inaugurated by ''The Borrowe ...
'' (1959) — a Carnegie runner-up
* ''The Borrowers Aloft
''The Borrowers Aloft'' is a children's fantasy novel by Mary Norton, published in 1961 by Dent in the UK and Harcourt in the US. It was the fourth of five books in a series that is usually called ''The Borrowers'', inaugurated by ''The Borrower ...
'' (1961)
* '' Poor Stainless: A New Story About the Borrowers'' (1966)[
* '' Are All the Giants Dead?'' (1975) — no relation to the Borrowers series
* '']The Borrowers Avenged
''The Borrowers Avenged'' is a children's fantasy novel by Mary Norton, published in 1982 by Viking Kestrel in the UK and Harcourt in the US. It was the last of five books in a series that is usually called ''The Borrowers'', inaugurated by '' ...
'' (Viking Kestrel, 1982)
* ''The Complete Borrowers Stories'' (1983) — omnibus, excluding ''Poor Stainless'', issued with an introduction by the author
*''Poor Stainless'' (Viking UK, 1994) — revised as a novelette
Novelette may also refer to:
* ''Novelette'' (ballet), a solo modern dance work choreographed by Martha Graham
* Novelette (music), a short piece of lyrical music
* Novelette (literature), a work of narrative prose fiction that is longer than a ...
with a short author's note
In the UK the first four ''Borrowers'' novels were illustrated by Diana Stanley and ''The Borrowers Avenged'' was illustrated by Pauline Baynes
Pauline Diana Baynes (9 September 1922 – 1 August 2008) was an English illustrator, author and commercial artist. She contributed drawings and paintings to more than 200 books, mostly in the children's genre. She was the first illustrat ...
. In the U.S. all five novels were illustrated by Joe and Beth Krush
Joe Krush (May 18, 1918 – March 8, 2022) and Beth Krush (March 31, 1918 – February 2, 2009) were an American husband-and-wife team of illustrators who worked primarily on children's books. They may be known best for the U.S. editions of all fiv ...
. They have also been illustrated by Ilon Wikland
Maire-Ilon Wikland (née Pääbo; born February 5, 1930) is an Estonian-born Swedish artist and illustrator.
Wikland was born in Tartu, Estonia and raised in Haapsalu, Lääne County on Estonia's Baltic coast. In 1944 she escaped with the family ...
.
* ''The Bread and Butter Stories'' (1998) - collection of short stories for adults, written for magazines
Film, TV and theatrical adaptations
Norton's novels ''The Magic Bedknob; or, How to Become a Witch in Ten Easy Lessons'' and ''Bonfires and Broomsticks'' were adapted into the 1971 Disney film '' Bedknobs and Broomsticks'', starring Angela Lansbury
Dame Angela Brigid Lansbury (October 16, 1925 – October 11, 2022) was an Irish-British and American film, stage, and television actress. Her career spanned eight decades, much of it in the United States, and her work received a great deal ...
and David Tomlinson.
There have been several screen adaptations of ''The Borrowers'':
* '' The Borrowers'': a 1973 American made-for- TV movie.
* '' The Borrowers'': a 1992 BBC TV series and its 1993 sequel ''The Return of the Borrowers
''The Return of the Borrowers'' is a BBC TV children's programme first broadcast in 1993 on BBC2 and then later on American television station TNT. The series is adapted from the third and fourth novels of author Mary Norton's ''The Borrowe ...
'', both starring Ian Holm
Sir Ian Holm Cuthbert (12 September 1931 – 19 June 2020) was an English actor who was knighted in 1998 for his contributions to theatre and film. Beginning his career on the British stage as a standout member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, ...
and Penelope Wilton.
* '' The Borrowers'': a 1997 film with a British/American cast including Tom Felton
Thomas Andrew Felton (born 22 September 1987) is an English actor best known for playing Draco Malfoy in the film adaptations of the ''Harry Potter'' fantasy novels by J. K. Rowling.
Born in Surrey, Felton began appearing in commercials and ...
, John Goodman
John Stephen Goodman (born June 20, 1952) is an American actor. He gained national fame for his role as the family patriarch Dan Conner in the ABC comedy series '' Roseanne'' (1988–1997; 2018), for which he received a Golden Globe Award, an ...
, Jim Broadbent
James Broadbent (born 24 May 1949) is an English actor. He won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for his supporting role as John Bayley in the feature film ''Iris'' (2001), as well as winning a BAFTA TV Award and a Golden Globe for hi ...
, Celia Imrie and Mark Williams.
* '' The Secret World of Arrietty'': a 2010 Japanese animated film from Studio Ghibli.
* '' The Borrowers'': a 2011 British film starring Stephen Fry, Victoria Wood
Victoria Wood (19 May 1953 – 20 April 2016) was an English comedian, actress, lyricist, singer, composer, pianist, screenwriter, producer and director.
Wood wrote and starred in dozens of sketches, plays, musicals, films and sitcoms over se ...
and Christopher Eccleston
Christopher Eccleston (; born 16 February 1964) is an English actor. A two-time BAFTA Award nominee, he is best known for his television and film work, which includes his role as the ninth incarnation of the Doctor in the BBC sci-fi series '' ...
.
There have also been numerous theatrical adaptations of ''The Borrowers''.
Notes
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Norton, Mary
1903 births
1992 deaths
British children's writers
Carnegie Medal in Literature winners
People from Leighton Buzzard
The Borrowers
20th-century British novelists
20th-century British women writers
British women children's writers
British women novelists