Michael Higgins (at least, Higgins is probably his last name, but it's only mentioned once about 1/2 way through in a context that makes it a little unclear) sees elves. First in the garden at his house, then years later in the road in his town when he accidentally kills one, and at boarding school. After that he sees a lot of them as he travels back and forth between elfland and the human world. The only other person who can see them is his step father, 'Daddy George', who has managed to build a successful shoe manufacturing empire on the back of elf slave labor. Inevitably Michael must face trials, learn about his mysterious past, be captured, escape,grow a spine and save the elves.

It is easy to pick out Micheal's love interest, since she is the one non-elf female he interacts with and they constantly bicker with each other, just like every other couple in Holt's books. Holt must sincerely believe that opposites attract as that is the only way two people ever get together in his books.

Little People is a decent enough book, but doesn't flow as well as some of his other books which makes the typically gormless hero/narrator a little harder to take. In addition I have a pet peeve with some internal inconsistencies that Holt or his editor should have picked up on and fixed. On one page Michael makes a reference to Windows Online Help. Six pages later he sees a T-shirt with "Microsoft" on it and has no idea what "Microsoft" is. About 20 pages further there are references to "Higginsoft", "Higgins Integrated Systems", "HiggInside" and "Higgins 95" all of which are clearly meant to be companies and products that have taken the place of Microsoft and Intel. When the author gets too clever with his references to keep his own fictional house in order, it really detracts from the story for me. Especially when the contradictory references appear in such close proximity. ( )

Another humorous fantasy by Holt. This time, there are elves at the bottom of the garden.

other than a couple gaps in logic, specifically with some of the reactions of Daddy George and the ending, a very nicely paced and entertaining read. ( )