The Borrowers, The Littles, The …?

February 6, 2019 6:03 PM

I like books about tiny “people.” I particularly like when they live alongside or under the noses of humans. There must be people writing these books now as with YA or adult reads, especially with the growth of urban fantasy. Are there books or series or authors you can recommend?

I’m less into fairies per se. I know and like the Wee Free Men books. They don’t have to be tiny people, they could be tiny cool/cute whatevers.

posted by OmieWise to Media & Arts (28 answers total)

The Secret World of Og
posted by Cosine at 6:12 PM on February 6, 2019 [3 favorites]

Mrs. Frisby and The Rats of NIMH
posted by skewed at 6:14 PM on February 6, 2019 [6 favorites]

The Secret World of Arietty comes to mind for me.
posted by Hermione Granger at 6:21 PM on February 6, 2019 [5 favorites]

Best answer: Before the Wee Free Men, there were the Nomes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nome_Trilogy
They live right alongside humans, in interesting ways.
posted by Calvin and the Duplicators at 6:24 PM on February 6, 2019 [4 favorites]

I believe Pratchett's first book was The Carpet People. He released it late in his career and that is the edition I own.
posted by postel's law at 6:30 PM on February 6, 2019 [4 favorites]

Fraggles?
posted by RolandOfEld at 6:34 PM on February 6, 2019

T.H. White's Mistress Masham's Repose is pretty great.
posted by Bardolph at 6:58 PM on February 6, 2019 [3 favorites]

The Little Girl and the Tiny Doll
George Shrinks
posted by Sassyfras at 6:58 PM on February 6, 2019 [1 favorite]

Munmun by Jesse Andrews? Author site: "MUNMUN is my most recent book. It is about inequality and dreams. Its story takes place in an alternate reality a lot like our own, except that everyone is proportional in size to how much munmun (money) they have. Warner and his sister Prayer have none, and so they're about the size of rats. On the other end of the spectrum, the richest character in the book is over 150 feet tall."
posted by teditrix at 6:58 PM on February 6, 2019

Best answer: I enjoyed The Little Grey Men when I was a child,.
posted by nomis at 7:37 PM on February 6, 2019 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Have you read Pratchett's Bromeliad trilogy?

(Man, Pterry really did like his little people, didn't he?)
posted by suelac at 9:08 PM on February 6, 2019 [1 favorite]

The Indian in the Cupboard is about a tiny (but captive) person.
posted by Iteki at 10:09 PM on February 6, 2019 [2 favorites]

nthing the Bromiliad trilogy, it is super fun!
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 11:27 PM on February 6, 2019

Best answer: Luc Besson, the film director, wrote the Arthur series, which which sounds like you might like them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_and_the_Invisibles#Plot
posted by Chasuk at 1:16 AM on February 7, 2019

A person's a person, no matter how small!
posted by rd45 at 4:51 AM on February 7, 2019 [1 favorite]

Behind the Attic Wall. I was obsessed with this book as a kid.
posted by something something at 7:02 AM on February 7, 2019 [3 favorites]

The Picolinis
posted by somanyamys at 8:47 AM on February 7, 2019

Murakami's 1Q84.
posted by c lion at 9:02 AM on February 7, 2019

Best answer: The Gregor the Overlander series is not about small people, but it might scratch some of the itch? It's about people living underneath the earth's crust, and certain animals as well, who have grown to almost human size. So there's an element of humans being 'smaller', and there's certainly a sense of these people living under our noses. Also, they're written by Suzanne Collins, who wrote the Hunger Games series - they are nothing alike, but if you liked the style of writing in the Hunger Games, you might like these as well. They're aimed at a younger audience (pre-teen), but I found them really enjoyable and have read each book a couple of times.
posted by widdershins at 9:50 AM on February 7, 2019

E.B. White's Stuart Little, illustrated by Garth Williams.
posted by flicken at 10:25 AM on February 7, 2019

Consider The Mouse and the Motorcycle.
posted by SLC Mom at 11:16 AM on February 7, 2019

The Doll People and it's sequels.
posted by samhyland at 11:34 AM on February 7, 2019

Best answer: Kim Harrison's Hollows series is modern has a pixy as one of the main characters and includes lots of details about him and his family. There are fairies as well, but they don't play as much of a role (there are also vampires, werewolves, etc.).
posted by agatha_magatha at 11:42 AM on February 7, 2019 [2 favorites]

The Rescuers books!
posted by The otter lady at 12:18 PM on February 7, 2019 [2 favorites]

Best answer: The Fairy Rebel, by Lynne Reid Banks
posted by silverandlilac at 1:50 PM on February 7, 2019

Best answer: Robert V.S. Redick's Chathrand Voyage series
posted by Blue Genie at 5:19 PM on February 7, 2019

Response by poster: Thanks everyone! Many of these were favorites from my childhood. I’m surprised there aren’t more newer suggestions, I would have thought this was a more widely mined vein.
posted by OmieWise at 5:38 PM on February 7, 2019

The Sleepy People by M. Goffstein
posted by BusyBusyBusy at 4:34 AM on February 10, 2019 [1 favorite]