A family of tiny people with tails lives secretly inside the walls of a house, and life gets dangerous when new tenants arrive
The family in the walls
The Littles are a family of tiny people, only a few inches tall and with neat little tails, who live hidden inside the walls of the Bigg family's house. They borrow what they need and take care of the house in return. When the Biggs go away on holiday and the careless Newcomb family moves in for the summer, things go wrong. The house becomes messy, mice move in, and worst of all, the Newcombs bring a cat.
Who will enjoy it
Young readers just starting chapter books, children who love miniature worlds, and parents looking for a short, gentle read-aloud.
What you will get
A short, charming chapter book about a family of tiny people with tails who live inside the walls of a house and must deal with careless new tenants.
The Littles Facts: Pages, Genre and Setting
Genre
Children’s Books · Tiny people · Early chapter book · Family adventure
Length
80 pages · ≈ 2 h
More about this book
The Littles is a perfect first chapter book: short, simple and full of the appeal of secret miniature worlds. Children love the details of how the family lives, using everyday objects in clever ways, and the idea that tiny people might be living behind the skirting boards of their own homes.
Tom and Lucy, the Little children, are lively and brave, and Uncle Pete and Granny Little add humour. The plot moves quickly from one problem to the next, and the dangers, including the cat and the mice, are exciting without being frightening. The black-and-white illustrations help newer readers follow the action.
The writing is plain and the characters are lightly sketched, so older or confident readers may find it too simple. The comparison with The Borrowers is obvious, though this book is much shorter and gentler. For young children it is an ideal bridge to longer books, and the series continues for many more adventures. The short chapters, large type and frequent pictures make it a confidence-building book for children who are just discovering that they can finish a whole story by themselves. About 80 pages in the Scholastic paperback.
The Borrowers
Stuart Little
The Mouse and the Motorcycle
The Indian in the Cupboard
Freckle Juice
Barnyard Dance!
Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb
The Monster at the End of this Book
Moo, Baa, La La La!
Go, Dog. Go!
Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life
Peter and the Starcatchers