Little (Grrl) Lost by Charles de Lint

Main Characters: Elizabeth, a 16-year old Little; and T.J., a 14-year-old human
Location: the suburbs
Time period: Contemporary
Genre: YA Fiction, Fantasy

Due to some bad investments, T.J.'s father has lost the farm that she grew up on and the family has had to move to the suburbs. It's never fun moving, having to get used to a new place and make new friends, but what hurts T.J. the most is having to give up her horse, Red. Late at night, she hears scritching sounds within the walls of her bedroom and imagines a family of cute little mice. She is shocked when a small door in the baseboard opens and out comes a girl only 6 inches tall! Despite her size, Elizabeth is a fairly typical teenage girl rebelling against a life she finds too restictive.

The girls slowly become friends, despite Elizabeth's ingrained distrust of Bigs and T.J.'s tendency to over-protect her. They decide to seek out an author who has written some children's books about Littles and who might actual believe in them, but on their way T.J. is swarmed by a group of bullies who takes the backpack where Elizabeth is hiding.

Through their separate adventures, as T.J. searches for Elizabeth and Elizabeth searches for herself, both are able to grow and learn and lose some of their self-centerness. Elizabeth finds a whole world of magical beings and finds out about her own family history--things her parents never told her because fear and distrust isolated them. T.J. learns to stand up for herself and that first impressions are not always right; she even discovers that an older brother can become a friend.