A Tiny Family

A Tiny Family
Norman Bridwell ~ Scholastic, 1969

Obviously a man obsessed with all things large and small, this story by Norman Bridwell (author of the famous Clifford the Big Red Dog series) follows the adventures of a tiny girl, her tiny brother and a tiny lost umbrella. Mine is just an old yellow Scholastic Book Services paperback from the era, but this title is still available in an early reader edition with an updated cover.

Hello. I'm a tiny girl.
I live with my tiny family in a garden.
Our home is under the flowers.

The drawings are typical Bridwell... a bit crude, but able to illustrate the story in a most delightful way. The little people have antennae for god's sake! For all those little girls who love miniature things (and don't they all?), these kids sleep in a watering can, cook dinner in a thimble and use bottle caps for plates.

But what happens when little meets big... and a GIANT girl lifts the tiny grandfather's umbrella? It's up to the wee little ones to get it back and make friends with the GIANT from the other side. (Using fireflies as flashlights, no less!) There is a hidden nod to Bridwell's daughter Emily as well in these pages. Not as obvious as the name of the little girl heroine in the Clifford books, but still cute nonetheless.