by Jennifer Hudock

Created on: July 10, 2008   Last Updated: November 19, 2011

T.J. and Elizabeth have a ton in common, despite the fact that Elizabeth is only six inches tall. That's right, just months after moving away from their farm and having to sell her horse Red, fourteen year old T.J. sets out to try and catch sight of the mice she keeps hearing scritch and scratch inside her bedroom walls. Setting up camp just beside the wall, she isn't the only one surprised when a sixteen year old Little named Elizabeth Wood comes popping out of the wall swearing that she'll show her parents and she'll show them good!

Despite being only six inches tall, Elizabeth has more pizazz than T.J.'s ever seen in all her life. Completely punk right down to her rebellious blue hair and stylish, hand-sewn wardrobe, she has an attitude to match. Running away from home is the only way to show the world she can make it in a BIG world, but just days after Elizabeth leaves and her scandalized parents abandon their residence, T.J. finds her hiding out in the garage. Humbled and disheveled, Elizabeth realizes that the only way she can make it in the BIG world is with T.J.'s help.

What each of them doesn't realize is just how much they need each other to get through a world full of things more terrifying than either of them ever dreamed. Elizabeth decides to find out the truth about whether or not her ancestors really did come from the birds, and T.J. knows just the author to help her. On their way to a local booksigning, T.J. is mugged by a group of bullies and she and Elizabeth are separated. Both are on their own, Elizabeth on the quest to find the truth, and T.J. in desperate search of her new friend.

This coming of age tale echoes Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere with hints of the classic Little's and the Borrowers. The characters in this story come to life in ways that make you want to check the shadows and the holes in the walls to try and find the magic you know must be waiting there. One of the greatest things about de Lint's books is that he creates a very real setting and plunks a fantastic chunk of "fantasy" right down in the middle of it. These amazing things happen to incredibly real people, in real situations and it makes both story and characters relative to the every day reader.

I shared this book with my thirteen year old daughter, and highly recommend it for any thirteen year old girl looking for the right adventurous fit. It's not too sassy, but just enough to make a girl feel like she's gaining some independence in a world that seems bent on keeping her from growing up.

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