good adventure," and "It is better to die young than to be caught." How long Borribles can live is never made quite clear. One character in The Borribles speaks of having been Borribled in the time of "the old queen". Book 1: The Borribles The Borribles (occasionally known as The Borribles: The Great Rumble Hunt) is the first book in Michael de Larrabeiti's Borrible Trilogy. It was first published in the United Kingdom in 1976 by The Bodley Head, and in the United States in 1978 by Macmillan Inc., New York. It was named one of the Best Books for 1978 by the American Library Association, and was shortlisted for the Whitbread Awards and the Other Award (an award from the now defunct Children's Rights Workshop). Plot summary The stories begin with the discovery by the Battersea Chief-Lookout, Knocker, of a Rumble in Battersea Park. The Rumbles are rat-like creatures that live in an underground bunker in Rumbledom, and are hated by the Borribles for their riches, power, and haughtiness. Fearing a full-scale invasion of Battersea, each of the Borrible tribes across London send their best and brightest unnamed members to form an elite hit squad, known as the Magnificent Eight or the Adventurers, with the purpose of infiltrating the Rumble bunker and eliminating the eight members of the Rumble High Command. Rumbles are clearly a parody of the popular children's characters, the Wombles of Wimbledon Common. On the way the Borribles also meet a particularly vicious parody of Steptoe and Son (which was one of the most popular shows on TV at the time) in the form of Dewdrop, a former Borrible, and his son Erbie. The Adventurers are each assigned the name of the individual target of the High Command that they are to assassinate: Napoleon Boot, the suspicious and cynical Borrible; Chalotte, the tough and brave girl Borrible; Vulgarian (Vulge), frail-looking, but "tough as nails"; Bingo, always cheerful; Sydney, another female and an animal-lover; Stonks, strong and kind-hearted; Torreycanyon, light-hearted with a knack for mechanics; Orococco, the jovial, black Borrible. Napoleon, Chalotte, Sydney, Vulge, Bingo, Stonks, Torreycanyon, and Orococco set out to squash the Rumble threat – but other Borribles have secret agendas and personal vendettas of their own which create an even greater threat than the Rumbles ever were. The supposedly straightforward adventure dominoes into a desperate fight for the very existence of Borrible life. Book