Fairy Tales: The Littles and Others

I mention in a previous post that I prefer human-size fairies to tiny ones. 

In a perusal of which tiny people I like, I realized that they all have one commonality: the books focus on day-to-day living.

The Littles

The attractive element of the Littles (the family name), especially the books illustrated by Roberta Carter Clark, is the life going on behind the walls: how the Littles thrive, what they borrow, use, maintain, and re-imagine to survive. Where does the garbage go? How do they get power? How do they help the Biggs when the Biggs are out of town? Who are the real enemies? (Mice, not the cat.) 

One of my favorite books is The Littles and Their Friends, which shows the differing living arrangements of various Tinies' groups: at the brook, in the city trash dump, in the house.

And the Tinies have tails!

The Borrowers

Likewise, the sheer pleasure of the Borrowers, books illustrated by Beth and Joe Krush, is not the big bad humans--the unfortunate focus of too many Hollywood versions--but the day-to-day life under the boards, in the outdoors, in a miniature town, and so forth. Unlike the Littles, the Borrowers are more interesting when they are left alone. Consequently, I never found the final book all that satisfying. It makes sense that an entire community of Borrowers would exist--but I preferred to follow the adventures of Pod, Homily, Ariadne, and Spiller. 

The BBC production with Ian Holm, Penelope Wilton, Rebecca Callard, and Daniel Newman is fantastic! I wish it was more readily available.

Gnomes

Gnomes, written by Wil Hyugen, illustrated by Rien Poortvliet, like the fairy books mentioned earlier, presupposes a "real" history. The book is not a story, per se, but an anthropological guide--and absolutely delightful. 

Gnomes is enchanting to me not only for the how-do-we-survive element but because the house is situated at the bottom of a tree. As I will discuss when I reach "The Wild Swans," I was enchanted as a child by the idea of living in a tree. 

I wouldn't want to do it now. Adulthood brings with it many things, including the desire for non-damp clothes and turn-on-with-a-switch heat. 

Gnomes actually offers both: the tree and coziness.