Errantry, Princess Mee, The Man in the Moon stayed up Too Late, The Man in the Moon came down Too Soon, The Stone Troll, and Perry-the-Winkle. There are some hints they’re about Middle-earth, but some are subtle like the Bay of Bel (Belfalas).
As we read the last the eight year old had an observation about trolls.
8YO: “That couldn’t happen. Trolls turn to stone during the day.”
This led me down an interesting path of looking up trolls in the Encyclopedia of Arda*, and specifically stone-trolls. I found the footnote there citing that stone-trolls might have a different origin from other trolls quite interesting.
“There is some doubt about exactly where the Stone-trolls came from, and the cause of their vulnerability to sunlight. Tolkien discusses the issue in his letters (specifically, The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, No. 153, dated 1954) but there he confesses to being uncertain on the point himself. He suggests that these Trolls were 'counterfeits' rather than truly living creatures, and so could not survive outside the darkness that spawned them. He's careful to note, though, that these origins do not apply to all Trolls, and nor do the weaknesses of the primitive Stone-trolls.”
The concept of them not being truly alive could explain their strange speech, habits, and the fact that other trolls (e.g. in the Silmarillion) don’t love the sun but can fight in it. Regardless of where the truth lies I find there is always something new to learn about Tolkien.
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