Monday 9 May 2011

WHICH LITTLE MISS/MR MAN ARE YOU?

Today's Google doodles made me laugh. Little Miss Sunshine brightened my Google page, in honour of children’s author, Roger Hargreaves’, birth.


I kept hitting refresh to see if there were any more Mr Men pictures.


Roger Hargreaves was the author of the 46 Mr Men books and the 33 books in the Little Miss series.

Where could this idea have come from?

"What does a tickle look like?"

Six year-old, Adam Hargreaves, asked his father this question, one morning in 1971. It inspired Roger Hargreaves to create a little orange man with a huge grin, a blue hat and extraordinarily long arms. 

And an awful lot more ideas came along after that ;)

Originally, each Mr Men and Little Miss book introduced a title character: the single dominant personality used to convey a moral lesson.

One strength of the series was that the different Mr Men and Little Misses turned up in other characters’ books. If my children recognised the small part characters, if they had read the stories, they talked about it as well as reading the book. Even better, if they didn’t know the character they predicted what their life and world might be like.

The stories had universal appeal. Over 100 million books were sold, across 28 countries. The brightly-coloured, boldly-drawn illustrations are still instantly identifiable.

I read the series to my children. More than that, I used them as the basis of social stories to explain empathy and grades of emotional response to my son (who is autistic.) He struggled when his perception grated against the real world around him. The Mr Men books helped him see cause and effect.

Mr Tickle and Little Miss Naughty were our favourite books – although, Mr Snow and Mr Christmas had a special place in our preparations for the Big Day;) 

It was an added bonus that the books in this series made great life-learning tools. The Mr Men gave us a structure that worked for our son.

The books that gave so much pleasure also gave a method and hope.

Roger Hargreaves died in 1988. He was only 53-years-old. His son, Adam Hargreaves, continues to create stories for children to enjoy.

When I did the quiz I was Mr Happy

I think Little Miss Curious would have been a good match too.

Which Mr Man/Little Miss are you?

List of Mr Men characters:
http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l6h44u…

List of Little Miss characters:
http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l6h45s…

6 comments:

  1. I never read the series. Will have to check out those books.
    I think I'm little miss busy--if they had a little miss busy-body I would be that too. I can't sit still most times. :-)

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  2. I remember them when I was a kid. I use to love them.

    I haven't read them in years, though I do believe my daughter has on of the Little Miss books.

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  3. I have so got to get these books. I've never heard of them. Partly because I had no children until recently.

    I don't know who I would be. Is there a Little Miss who owns power tools? (working on the deck this week.)

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  4. Cool story about where the characters came from.

    I'm sometimes Mr. Bounce, Sometimes Mr. Daydream and all too often Mr. Worry.

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  5. Hi Jennifer
    That Little Miss Busy is a "Lucy Caboosy" looking character ;) But she is a great livewire.

    Hi Stina
    Little Miss Sunshine or Little Miss Naughty I would guess. The popular most ones :D

    Hi Anne
    I think you might have the idea for the next book. I can't recall a Little Miss Handy. :)

    Hi Jennifer
    That is a great description of the facets of your character :D I love Mr Bounce - that is some way to get about ;)

    Hi Ivy
    My son loved him from the moment he realised Mr Tickle could make breakfast with out even getting out of bed. We've spent years training him not to tickle the people he passes though ;)

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