Title:
Mennyms series - Sylvia Waugh
Individual books (in order): The Mennyms, Mennyms in the Wilderness, Mennyms Under Siege, Mennyms Alone, Mennyms Alive

Media:
Children’s book series

Approx length:
The books vary in length from about 200 to 250 pages

Where to find it:
The whole series is available on archive.org (free with an account). Paperback copies can also be obtained fairly cheaply online.
Book #1: https://archive.org/details/mennyms0000waug
Book #2: https://archive.org/details/mennymsinwildernes0000waug
Book #3: https://archive.org/details/mennymsundersieg00waug
Book #4: https://archive.org/details/mennymsalone0000sylv
Book #5: https://archive.org/details/mennymsalive00waug_0

What is it, in summary?:
The series chronicles the fortunes of the Mennyms, an extended family of life-sized sentient ragdolls. They came to life following the death of their creator, an elderly spinster (and extremely proficient seamstress) called Kate Penshaw. For forty years, their existence has been routine and unchanging. It’s centred around a series of “pretends” (none of them can eat or drink, but they like to hold pretend meals; they never grow any older, but they celebrate the children’s birthdays every year). Their peace of mind and security depends upon their secret (i.e. the fact that they’re not really human) never being discovered, and they’ve contrived lots of elaborate ways to avoid detection. However, one morning, they receive a bombshell which throws their whole way of life under threat…

What do you love about it?:
The series echoes back to (and is written in the same spirit as) works by earlier children’s fantasy authors like E Nesbit and Mary Norton: it’s gentle, whimsical, and the fantastical elements coexist alongside a mundane/real world setting. But at the same time, it has a darker thread of existential horror running through it, which increases as the series goes on. (To give one example, the family has a ragdoll friend, Miss Quigley, who comes for tea once a fortnight. She pretends that she lives in a nearby street, but really she spends all her time sitting on a chair in the hall cupboard, deprived of any company or stimulation. It’s horrifying if you look too closely into it.) The books also contain some fascinating philosophical discussion of mortality and what it means to be human. They explore how it feels to be an outsider in society, on the edges of a world that you can’t be a part of and that would probably reject you, in a way that obviously has a far wider symbolic resonance. Overall, they’re the sort of children’s books that don’t lose their magic, depth or richness when you (re)read them as an adult!

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?:
Worldbuilding, with a side-serving of existential horror! The books don’t dig too deep into just how the Mennyms came to life, so I’d love backstory fic which explores that question. I’d also be interested in further explorations of their pretends and elaborate rituals of secrecy.

Aside from that, one of the highlights of the series for me is the relationships, squabbles and petty feuds between different members of the family, which are all rendered in a very realistic and intensely human way. I’d adore genfic (whether pre-, post- or during canon) about any of those relationships!

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?:
The first book in the series, The Mennyms, stands on its own quite well and gives a good grounding into the characters and worldbuilding, so I’d be more than fine with fic based on that part of canon alone.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence):
There’s quite a lot of discussion about death and grief, but other than that, nothing I can think of off the top of my head.