Castaways in Lilliput: A Fantasy Adventure About Kids Viewed as Terrifying Giants for Children

by Henry Winterfeld, William M. Hutchinson (Illustrator), Kyrill Schabert (Translator)

When their life raft at last comes to ground, Jim, Peggy, and bossy Ralph rejoice. But this island is not like the world they left behind. The entire island is filled with miniature villages, roads, even cities with skyscrapers. The kids would love to play with the doll-sized vehicles and houses . . . until they discover that the tiny buildings have all-too-alive tiny people who live in them. It's tough to be a little kid, especially when you're not little --the children only want some help (and maybe some hot chocolate), but everyone views them as terrifying giants.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Adventure, Childrens, Chapter Books, Young Adult, Classics

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1958

About the author

Henry Winterfeld (born April 9, 1901, in Hamburg, Germany; died January 27, 1990, in Machias, Maine), also published under the pseudonym Manfred Michael. He was a German writer and artist famous for his children's and young adult novels.

Reviews

[Mir]

Three Australian children in a borrowed raft are swept out to sea and wind up on an island of tiny people.

[Rissa Flores]

"But Lilliput is a fairy tale," said Peggy in confusion.
"Oh, ho, I bed your pardon!" the man said, a bit offended. "Where did you get that from?"
"I read Gulliver's Travels," stuttered Peggy.
"That old Gulliver! How do you like that! So he even wrote a book about us! Well, well, why not. Wouldn't have minded reading it myself."

I randomly found this at a book sale for P15 (33 cents!), and having read and loved Gulliver's Travels, I assumed the "Lilliput" in the title was a reference to Gulliver's "Lilliput" so I picked it up and bought it. Yay! Hahaha. This was apparently written in 1958, and the copy I found was actually quite old and fragile. I even accidentally ripped a corner of one of the pages 'cause I held it wrong huhu.

But anyway! It was a nice and quick read. Would definitely recommend it to young readers who enjoy stories about adventures or even older readers who grew up reading Gulliver's travels for a little dose of nostalgia. It's about 3 kids, Peggy, Ralph and Jim, who were accidentally cast away at sea and ended up in Lilliput. Definitely an amusing read!

[Lauren]

Maybe if I was younger...deffinitally not for YA/Ad. :D still a cute story though. Lilliput! lol

[Brittany]

This was a great read aloud for my 4.5 year old son.

[Kailey (Luminous Libro)]

Imaginative and Fun

[Abbie]

A group of normal kids lands on the miniature island Lilliput. It's a cool concept and made a cute book. What I did not like was how the girl was always the one who's worrying and crying and tired because girls, as we all know, aren't like that. I also didn't like how nothing ever really happened. They were just there. It was funny how they kept talking about how up to date and modern the Lilliputians were for having things like phones and boats, things we take for granted. The book was written in the 50's or something. But still it was a really cute book.

[Mommalibrarian]

Weekly Reader Children's Book Club

[Chalse]

It was nice, though it reminded me of Gulliver's Travels.

[❁ Louisa]

it was one of Henry Winterfeld's wonderful works so i liked it

[Stacy]

I was in a used bookstore trying to find a new treasure to read to my 8 year old son, and alas I came across this book. I didn’t recognize the author but I quickly hopped on to the Goodreads app and saw that it had high reviews and decided to buy the book.

The plot of the book is cute and simple. Three children, Peggy, her brother and her brothers friend jump into a raft while on a beach in Australia (where they live) and are washed up on a “tiny” island. They soon discover everything is miniature and they are deemed to be giants by the town! You can sense the age of the book (copyright 1958) but yet the story of being shipwrecked is a classic one. Then there is the added drama of being giants whom everyone is fearful of. How then do you get help when everyone is afraid of you and running away?

My 8 year old son (3rd grade) loved this book!! We laughed out loud and rode along with these giant children as they struggled with giant problems wondering how they were going to solve them. A cute story and I’m glad I came across this book.

[Liza]

I really enjoyed this book. It’s a great read for younger chapter book readers

Here are my notes for possible talking points for parents and language:

Chapter 2 - pg 16 -there is talk of headhunters in New Guinea that hunt people at night and cut their heads off.

Chapter 3-page 24- Ralph calls Jim an idiot.

Chapter 10- Page 97- “I certainly would have if I’d known that you would act so stupidly!” Shouted Ralph

Chapter 12: page 111- Ralph tells Jim to shut up.

[Rachel]

Three children on a rubber raft find themselves stranded on the island of Lilliput, a land of miniature people that is featured in "Gulliver's Travels." The island's inhabitants declare a state of emergency and hide from the three "giants." The children are hungry and alone. How will they ever find their way back home?

[Linda]

I want to give this book a 3.5 but I have read several kids' "classics"in a row that were not that great. This one was half decent so I gave it 4 stars.

It's a cute story about 3 children blown on a raft in a storm and being shipwrecked on an island where the people are tiny. It's a fast read.

[JKR]

The story is cute but the illustrations, and in particular the cover illustration of the vintage Weekly Reader edition I have, are better. For a superior follow up fantasy to Gulliver’s Travels, however, I recommend Mistress Masham’s Repose by T. H. White.

[Melanie]

Awesome. 😁

[Peyton]

It was such a fun little book to read. Not challenging but a fun read. Excellent for younger children

[Amanda]

This is a hilarious book! I loved it.

[Margaret Perkins]

I borrowed this from my parents' house to read again. It was a book I read frequently when I was a kid and it was fun to experience it again! I remember wanting to be Peggy.

[Pamela Bronson]

Fun book for kids.

[Tess Beck]

Loved this fun book!

[Janet]

It's been a loooooong time since I read this book, so I can't say if I give it 5 stars because it was so great or because of the childhood memory I have of it. My beloved Aunt Debra had it and took me down by the river on her ranch where I sat under the willows and read it in peace and quiet and solitude. It's an afternoon that for some reason I have never forgotten.

I guess I need to get the book and read it again.

[Elijahv]

I really liked the book and I thought the charcters are really good and the way they go to some island and be entirely confused where they are and how they survive on an island and the way they meet themselves to work together and really appreciate what they have in life . I don't like how they just give up after they get stranded but then work together
I recommend this book to boys and girls because they'll really like this book and I admired the writing of the book and the story.

[Shauna]

This is a book I loved as a child. It has been many, many years, but I decided I wanted to refresh my memory. It was fun to read again. No wonder I enjoyed it so much as a young girl. It took me away in my imagination and reminded me of my ponderings of living in a land of giants.

[Fanny]

Another childhood favorite!

[Marianne]

This Book is about 3 friends who don't mean to, but go on a BIG adventure. They go to Lilliput! What's that? Find out and read this great book for yourself! You will be glad you did!

[CLM]

Not sure why I never read this (perhaps because I instinctively disliked Jonathan Swift)but I picked it up for my eldest nephew for Christmas.

[Shawn Thrasher]

I found a used copy for a quarter in a thrift store and have treasured it - one of my favorite books of all time!

[Jody]

Another favorite from my childhood but it didn't hold up as well.

[Cari]

Wonderfully fun children's story. :)

[Jennifer Heise]

I reald