The Littles and the Great Halloween Scare

The Littles #6

by John Lawrence Peterson

The Littles are in for a big surprise in this seasonal reissue of the popular early chapter book series. Tom and Lucy plot to give their family the greatest Halloween scare ever, but when things get out of hand, everybody pitches in to make sure that no one is frightened.

Genres: Halloween, Childrens, Fantasy, Fiction, Chapter Books, Holiday, Novels

80 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

John Lawrence Peterson was an American author of children's books best known as the creator of The Littles.

Reviews

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

Halloween books for October!

I'm not a fan of the Littles series, having read only one or two of them before, and this Halloween yarn does little to endear them to me.

The Littles are a family of very small people -- six inches and less -- who secretly live in the walls of a house owned by the Bigg family. (Littles? Biggs? I suspect some sort of . . . symbolism?)

The kids, Tom and Lucy Little, are meant to scare their family with a prank of some sort as part of the family's Halloween tradition. They do this since they are too small to go trick-or-treating and the little people are meant to keep themselves secret from the big people. ("Little people?" "Big people?" I suspect I'm on the verge of a breakthrough of some sort. Hmmm.) Before they can plan their prank, they are distracted by the arrival of an uncle, recently retired from a military force of little folk that fights mice in a trash pile, protecting the Trash Tinies who live there. Tom gets caught up in dreams of being a brave soldier in the army, but eventually comes up with a prank that backfires drastically.

Silly plot, poorly written. I do like Roberta Carter Clark's illustrations though.

[Benjamin Ellefson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Halloween! And I love The Littles! The two together are magic!

Instead of trick-or-treating, the Littles kids plan a "big scare" for their parents on Halloween. This year, Tom has the bright idea to trick his family into thinking that the big people discovered the existence of the Littles.

It is a silly, fun book and is perfect for young readers starting on chapter books.

Check out my full review on my blog: https://benjaminellefson.com/blog/lit...

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tom and his sister Lucy, little people who live in the walls of the big people's houses, set up a Halloween scare that nearly results in their existence being revealed.

This is a re-read of a book I read as a child and it holds up well. There are some 'scary' moments in this one: the dreaded appearance of a mouse (every Little's fear) and being outed (as Little people that exist). Lucy ends up being the hero which I enjoyed - go, Lucy!

[Child960801 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was timely, reading it in October. The Littles have a Halloween tradition where the children in the family try to come up with a way to to scare the adults for Halloween (as they can't trick or treat.) Lucy and Tom try to figure what they should do while the whole family adjusts to having Uncle Nick, a retired soldier, live with them.

[Angie · Rating 5 out of 5]

James liked that the Littles’ Uncle Nick had a pet mouse. He liked that the kids were playing tricks. He was surprised that one character lost a tail! Unfortunately, it’s not like a tooth and won’t grow back. James says the character most like him is Tom.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was another great book in a great series. The suspense was up a notch from that in the other titles, and the characters felt somehow more vivid. I highly recommend this title and this series to its intended audience as well as anyone looking for a good, quick read.

[Melissa Namba · Rating 2 out of 5]

well, there's nothing special or well written about this book. it is by and lathe plot driven so kids will moat likely enjoy it. uncle nick is introduced to the family. I do like that lucy gets mad at Tom for killing a spider.

[Erin]

Brad read with N. July 2019.

[Aneesa · Rating 5 out of 5]

They got me again, those little guys!

[Katherine Maxwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun, quick read. Perfect for kids at Halloween. :)

[Summer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read-aloud with the boys. A fun October read, not in the least scary. This was our introduction to the Littles and our boys will probably want to read more.

[Charly Troff (JustaReadingMama) · Rating 3 out of 5]

My kids liked this read aloud but didn't love it. I was bored for some of it, but I did like the ending.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tom and Lucy hooked up the microphone and made it sound like the radio and they said, "If little people are living in your walls do not pick them up they will bite you. If you figure out that little people are living in your walls just call 4080." Mr. Big set it on speaker so it taped what they said but they had a pet mouse and they made him scatter around so the Bigs didn't listen and tried to catch the mouse.

[HeavyReader · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hadn't thought of this book in years, but remembered it yesterday when my sister referred to it as a book "from our childhood" when telling me the titles of all the books about the Littles that my nephew has in his collection. I don't remember the plot, but I remember the title and the cover. If it was around the house before I went off to college, I read it.

[Jodi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the Littles books when I was a child and am now sharing them with my children. The plot is pretty simple but that is probably the appeal for young children. I don't think I read this one as a child so I was surprised to learn what the "great scare" was in the book. My children found it funny too!

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

52 months - A. nice short Halloween read. O is enjoying The Littles so we'll have to read more of them. We also used this book to learn larger numbers. She would read the page number at the start of each chapter. We've done this a couple times and she's pretty much got her big numbers to one hundred down.

[Twyla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tom little has thought of a great Halloween scare.It was to put something on the radio.But then it got stuck on the disc so Lucy sent Mus Mus out to keep the Biggs mind off the radio and that plan worked.I learned not to say stuff like that if I don't want anyone to hear it.Auryn 8yo

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved this book when I was little. Rachel and Joshie loved hearing this for Halloween.

[Katie]

I loved these when I was in first grade; I would read them over and over.

[Horace Mann Family Reading Challenge · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Littles play a trick on their uncle by saying that tiny people have been discovered in the wall. L.K.

[Hedgehog Power · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was kind of scary because they had to stay in a jack-o-lantern for a while.

[Marci · Rating 2 out of 5]

We just finished this as our nightly read-aloud. I didn't love and the kids weren't that into it either. The writing and storyline are not awesome.

[Tawny · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good one to read to the kids before Halloween, especially since it wasn't scary!

[Michelle Sims · Rating 4 out of 5]

My students loved the way that the children tricked the adults!