Bed-knob and Broomstick by Mary Norton

I read the Borrowers books quite a long time ago -- as a child, it fascinated me to imagine little people roaming in search of things to 'borrow'.  I never read Bed-knob and Broomstick as a child and consequently love it a little less, for one reason:

It reminded me of Mary Poppins and Nurse Matilda.

I don't like either of those ladies -- they are mean and somewhat emotionally abusive to the children.

Mary Poppins takes the children on grand adventures and then tells them they're idiots to think it was anything but make-believe.

Nurse Matilda is just plain mean.

The main adult in this story is sometimes given to scaring the children -- which I'm sure is fun for little kids but I never liked being scared.  But this was dangerous scary -- as in, she considered killing them to keep her identity as a witch secret.  Untrustworthy adults are common enough in real life -- I don't need one more to make me unsure about joining adulthood!

There were some really funny moments and a bittersweet ending, which was nice, and I think by the second half of the story Miss Price grew on me.  But those poor children -- whenever you get a taste of magic, it never really wears out, and they are forced, at the end of the book, so say goodbye to magic forever (probably a good thing, but try telling that to a twelve-year-old who is used to flying around the world and into the past on a magic bed!)

I just found out that there have been several adaptations of The Borrowers -- one including TOM FELTON (Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter Movies)!!  It is the 1997 version, if you're interested.  There's also a new one from 2011 that stars Stephen Fry that I want to see, but as it is British-produced, Netflix doesn't have it (yet).  Boo.

Have you seen any of The Borrowers movies?  Were they good?  Which one should I see?