Mary Norton spent much of her childhood in a late Georgian house which later became the model for Firbank Hall in 'The Borrowers'. For a year she acted at the Old Vic before getting married and going to live in Portugal. During the Second World War she was evacuated to New York and struggled to support herself and her four children while her husband was in the Navy. It was then that she began to write, and in 1945 her first children's books, 'The Magic Bedknob' and 'Bonfires and Broomsticks' later combined in a single volume, 'Bedknob and Broomstick' was published. These were followed in 1952 by 'The Borrowers', which was awarded the Carnegie Medal, and three other titles 'The Borrowers… Afield', 'The Borrowers Afloat' and 'The Borrowers Aloft'.
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Children's book illustrator Beth Krush was born in Washington. She graduated from what is now the University of the Arts in 1939. She illustrated books both with and without her husband Joe Krush. They are best known for their work on the American edition of the five-book series The Borrowers by Mary Norton. In 1980, they received the Drexel Citation, which is given each year to a regional children's book author or illustrator. She also illustrated The Shoe Bird by Eudora Welty. She taught at Moore College of Art for 22 years. She died from complications following a stroke on February 2, 2009 at the age of 90.