Miss Perspicacia Tick feels a weakness in the walls of the world, and fears some other world is trying to get in. Since, as a witch, it is her duty to guard the walls, she decides to take a look, even though her left elbow says there's already a witch in the vicinity. It's up on the Chalk, you see, and everyone knows the soil in that area is too soft to grow good witches.

Meanwhile, up on the Chalk, all is not well in nine-year-old Tiffany Aching's world. Her beloved Granny Aching has recently died, her perpetually sticky little brother Wentworth is forever underfoot and needing to use the bathroom, and she thinks she'd like to be a witch when she grows up, but isn't sure 'Tiffany' is at all a suitable name. Still, she tries to be a sensible, practical young lady, making cheese on the family farm, reading the dictionary from cover to cover, and looking after the annoying Wentworth. But when two tiny blue men float past her on the stream, followed by a greenish, toothy monster that tries to grab her, Tiffany decides to take action.

Armed with a frying pan, and using Wentworth as bait, Tiffany lures the Jenny Green Teeth out of hiding and bashes it over the head. Miss Tick, observing from a hidden spot with her familiar (a toad with a bit of an attitude) is impressed, if still a bit skeptical about a witch coming out of the Chalk. She agrees to be Tiffany's teacher in all things witchy, but first, something must be done about that weakness in the walls, before "all the things they locked away on those old stories" start turning up. Leaving the toad to keep an eye on both Tiffany and the walls, she goes off to round up some help from her coven.

Tiffany doesn't plan to get involved, but when the blue men start showing up everywhere, a headless horseman nearly runs her down, and Wentworth vanishes, she has no choice. Over the objections of the toad, she seeks the assistance of the little blue men, whom she learns are called the Nac Mac Feegle.

Rude, blued, and tattooed, these six-inch high pictsies (No, not pixies. Pictsies, as in picts. Woad-wearing, sword-waving, Hadrian-built-a-wall-to-keep-them-OUT picts in miniature, kilts, brogue, and all.) are famous for "stealin', drinking', an' fightin'." They tell Tiffany that her brother has been stolen by the evil Queen, ruler of the Fairyland where all the monsters come from. This Queen has been trapped in her own land for ages, but now she's found a way to break free, and she's making her beachhead right there on the Chalk. And if she's not stopped, she'll turn the world into land of never-ending nightmares, for she has the power to control dreams.

Gathering up her trusty frying pan, Granny Aching's near-magical book of sheep diseases, the toad, and the Feegles, Tiffany sets off to rescue Wentworth and save the world, because if she doesn't, well, who will?

Tiffany's adventures with the Nac Mac Feegle are laugh-out-loud funny. With names like "Rob Anybody" and "Slightly Bigger Than Wee Jock But Not So Big as Middle-Sized Jock Jock," the Feegles are some of the funniest characters to ever grace the pages of a fantasy novel. Their outrageous accents, pathological fear of lawyers, and fierce determination to remain free are sure to delight readers of any age.

Pratchett has already won a Carnegie Award for his first young adult offering, 2001's The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, and may be well on his way to a second with The Wee Free Men. He never writes down to his audience, using the same level of wit and style found in his adult novels and expecting that the younger audience will manage perfectly well. This makes Wee Free Men every bit as enjoyable a read for grown-ups as it is for the kids.

So, take Miss Tick's advice and open your eyes—and then open them again, and dive into this deliciously funny romp. We won't tell anyone it's supposed to be a children's book, we promise.