SOLVED. Children's, read in '68-'73, tiny hidden people live in little girl's garden, she's a giant to them, and she takes something they must retrieve while she sleeps. [s]

[Kim]

Children's Book

A little girl has little people living in her garden, unbeknownst to her. They make use of found objects for their daily life, maybe a thimble is one of the objects, not sure. One day or night, she discovers either one of them or an object, and delightedly takes whatever it is inside to her room. At some point she has a flashlight, maybe it is later on to take them back, or it may be when she finds them, I think the former. When she goes to bed, she has whatever it is in her possession, maybe on the nightstand. They decide they have to risk going from the garden into the house of (what is to them) a giant girl to get it. It's a bit of a trek for the little people.

At one point, I think they climb up a comb with perhaps some broken teeth they use as a ladder, maybe it is leaning against a glass of water, to reach whatever it was. Maybe at this point, while trying to be so careful, they wake her, and they are all surprised, but they explain what happened and she decides to help them, and I think this is where the flashlight
comes in, she dons a robe and maybe carries them in her pocket back to their spot in the garden, using a flashlight to light the way. The pocket may have been when she took whatever it was.

Read it in the late 60's or early 70's, before '73, pretty sure. Geared towards under 5 or 6-year olds. It seemed like it was mostly illustrated in cool tones, especially after dark. It has some details, like the human things they repurpose, but also has simple lines, and a friendly feel, of course. It had typical thicker kid-friendly black lines of drawing, if that makes sense, almost like a coloring book would be, but it is a storybook.

There are illustrations of them in the garden and she does tower over them, and we see her a little more from their vantage point, maybe they are in her pocket at one point (not sure), another shows them entering, with her nightstand, the window, the comb and water glass, while she is asleep.

It's hard to tell for sure when it may have been written, sometimes it's surprising that a similar book is from the 20's or 30's, but I do get the vibe more that it was a 60's book, maybe earlier. Seemed like the girl had one or two pony tails at one point as well, high on her head.

The gist was that they feared discovery, but their loss was worth risking them sneaking in her window at night (might have actually been one of them or an object of theirs that she thought was cute, or may have been hers and she lost it and they were using it, but she was happy to find it...vague there), but there were only 2-3 of the small ones, I don't think it was a village of them, and she turned out not to be scary after all, but carried them back to the garden and safely put them down, and maybe agreed to keep their secret...sorry it's probably repetitive, but I wanted any detail that may jog a memory. I've asked a lot of people about it in person...And thanks to anyone with any tips. Been looking for years for it. Just cannot remember the name or author.

[Laura]

Could it have been The Littles by John Peterson? The Goodreads link doesn't reveal much (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...) but the Wikipedia page shows that they had different versions for older and younger readers:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lit...
I saw the TV series at some time in the 80s, but the books were around before that.

[Ayshe]

Laura, the goodreads entries under John Lawrence Peterson are more detailed: The Littles

[Laura]

Thanks, Ayshe!

[Kim]

Thanks for your quick answer, Laura S and Ayshe:)

It's a very similar storyline, but not quite the same. One author may have been inspire by the other. The Littles is a family in the walls of a house, and has a little boy as their human friend, and this other one may have just been a single story, with them in a garden, living outdoors, and a girl as the human friend, which makes me think that one did inspire the other. It's just too opposite to be a coincidence, and I believe in a similar time frame. Also, the art work was much more simplified, and I think, not sure but I think it was a softcover as well, and not too many pages, like a first reader would be, just a few words per page, or 1-2 sentences. Maybe this one about the girl inspiired The Littles?

[Laura]

I've also always thought the Littles was very similar to The Borrowers, but the Borrowers definitely live in the house, and it's definitely a little boy that the Borrowers befriend. Maybe there was a whole genre of tiny people books in the 60s/70s?!

[Tab]

A Tiny Family by Norman Bridwell fits

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Tab wrote: "A Tiny Family by Norman Bridwell fits"

Yes, I was going to say the same thing. Loved this book.

[Ann aka Iftcan]

Actually The Borrowers book series has several stories in it, including at least 2 that are NOT set inside of the house. The Borrowers Afield and The Borrowers Afloat are both set outside of the home, after they are chased out of the house. I know that there are a few more books, but, well, I never got around to reading them all when I was a kid, and still haven't made the time to catch up with them. So it's still possible that it's a Borrowers book.

[Kris]

Tab and Lobstergirl's suggestion of A Tiny Family by Norman Bridwell looks promising.

Here is the Amazon Look Inside preview - https://www.amazon.com/Tiny-Family-No... There are different cover images.

Some reviewers on Goodreads and Amazon say, "Follow a tiny family, who lives in a garden, as they complete their daily tasks of making breakfast, washing clothes, collecting vegetables, cooking dinner, and playing. All seems well, until a giant girl disappears with a treasured mini-umbrella. Read as the tiny girl and her brother set out to get her grandpa’s umbrella back." | "A cute little story about a tiny family (little girl, little boy, and grandfather) who live under the flowers in the garden. When a "giant" girl finds Grandpa's umbrella and takes it to her room, the kids try to reclaim it." | "... miniature family living in a garden is terrified when a girl takes their umbrella. They bravely make an expedition to the girl's house to retrieve the umbrella when they come face to face with the "giant."

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

No response from Kim and she seems to be very unactive. Moving to Solved.