Mary Norton Books In Order

Publication Order of Bedknobs and Broomsticks Books

Publication Order of The Borrowers Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Collections

Publication Order of Anthologies

Mary Norton was a literature and fiction children’s writer born in Leighton Buzzard, the United Kingdom. She was raised in a Georgian house in Leighton Buzzard and was a daughter of a physician.

The Georgian house later became a part of Leighton Middle School, nicknamed The Old House. Her book, The Borrowers, was said to have the setting of the house.
Mary Norton started writing as she worked for the British Purchasing Commission in New York.

Her debut novel, The Magic Bed Knob, was published in 1943, and, together with the sequel Bonfires and Broomsticks, she was later adapted into the Disney film Bedknob and Broomstick.

The author died in Devon, England, in 1992 due to a stroke.

Bedknob and Broomstick
Three kids, Carey, Paul, and Charles, live with their aunt in a small Bedfordshire village. They are raised by a single mom who works full-time, and during summer, she doesn’t get enough time to look after them; that’s why she sends them to their aunt’s home.

Some days later, the children meet their next-door neighbor named Miss Price. The three are unaware that she is training to become an apprentice witch and is already effective in doing certain spells. What they know is that she’s a piano teacher and works for the Red Cross.

One day they go out early in the morning to look for mushrooms, and they spot Miss Price flying over the rooftops with a broomstick and later see her fall in the garden where she is left injured.

When they come near, they find her in crumpled and tattered clothes with an injured leg.
Miss Price does not want them to know what exactly happened.

Once the children tell her what they saw, she is afraid that her secret will come out.
She later lets the cat out of the bag and regrets it, and now she has to think of a way to keep the children quiet.
To buy their silence, she decides to give them a gift of travelling in which they can be taken anywhere they wish to go.
After the bargain, Miss Price enchants a bed knob that Paul had unscrewed from his bed. If he screws it halfway and makes a wish, the bed will carry them anywhere they want, whether present or future.

Their only task is to turn the knob on their bed for the journey to start. At first, the idea is fun for the children as they first travel to their mother’s house in London since Paul had missed her so much.

While there, they get in a lot of trouble with the police in the war-time blackout.
It requires a lot of concentration with no interruption if one wants to become a good witch.
On the next adventure, they decide that they may need more magic and request Miss Price, to come with them to visit a South Seas Island.
They aim to investigate the coral, but they end up getting into trouble, this time with the cannibals. It’s too late when Miss Price gets them out of harm and safely to Paul’s room.

The children have no time to clean up the salty water and sand from the island.
Once their aunt notices the mess, they try explaining everything to her, but she doesn’t believe any of their words. She later packs all their stuff and sends them back to their mother in London.

Two years later, Carey and Charles are still convincing Paul that their adventures with Miss Price were just a dream so that he does not yell something weird while their mother is around.

It’s not long after Paul is fully convinced that they see an advertisement from Miss Price in newspapers stating that she would like to take children for summer at an affordable fee.

Will they be able to persuade their mother to allow them to go for summer with Miss Price? Is Miss Price still doing the magic?
The story is fun for both children, readers and adults to enjoy.

Generally, Bedknob and Broomstick is a cute and creative story, and the author uses a simple writing style, and the reader doesn’t feel too young.
Miss Price and Emelius are entertaining and unique characters, and you’ll not help but like them.
The Borrowers
This is the debut novel in The Borrowers series; the story is about little people who stay inside the walls, below the kitchen floor behind cupboards and clocks.
They are known as the ‘Borrowers’ because they have to borrow from humans anything they need.
These uncanny little things are so proud of themselves and delusional of their life and those of their kind.
A girl named Arrietty is one of them and lives with her dad and mom. She doesn’t know anyone else her age, and most of the time, she is bored and always dreaming of seeing the world.

One day, Arrietty’s dad takes her a long while going for a walk, and that very day, she meets a human boy, and the two starts an odd friendship.
This first encounter with the boy who lives in the house is so refreshing. It’s a meeting of two children and two creatures from different worlds that are foreign to each other.

Mary Norton explains Arrietty’s mother reaction vividly when the boy opens the roof of their tiny house. Will the humans ever discover these miniature borrowers living near them?

The characters are flawed and believing, making the story more fascinating. The author makes the story a bit sly by giving readers a hint of what might happen at the end to keep them turning pages.

She also employs twists and turns throughout the story to keep the reader guessing.

The author describes the tiny world of borrowers in a creative and detailed manner. They are little beings, and their hidey holes are also the same size.
She fabricates a sweet notion of why things in houses sometimes end up missing, never being seen again.
Norton also describes the little family’s home uniquely and charmingly.

This is a well-woven and imaginative story for all young readers and also adults. The book has plenty of notable aspects for children to enjoy.
The illustrations and descriptions are fantastic, add flavor to the story, and better understand the characters.