Mr. Men

Mr. Men

Author	Roger Hargreaves (1971-1988) Adam Hargreaves (1988-present)
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Genre	Children's literature
Publisher	Chorion's THOIP (2004-2011) Sanrio (2011-present)
Published	1971–present
No. of books	(List of books)

Mr. Men is a British series of children's books by English author Roger Hargreaves which began publication in August 1971.^[1] From 1981, an accompanying series of Little Miss books by the same author (but with female characters) was published. A similar series of animal characters known as Timbuctoo started in 1978. After Hargreaves's death in 1988, his son Adam Hargreaves began writing and illustrating new Mr. Men and Little Miss stories such as Mr. Cool, Mr. Rude, Mr. Good, Little Miss Scary, Little Miss Bad, Little Miss Whoops, Little Miss Princess, Little Miss Hug, and Little Miss Inventor.

Each book in the original Mr. Men and Little Miss series introduced a different title character and his/her single dominant personality trait to convey a simple moral lesson. The Mr. Men and Little Miss characters frequently reappeared in other characters' books. As of 2021, a total of 92 Mr. Men and Little Miss characters had been featured in the series.^[2] The books' simple stories, with brightly coloured, boldly drawn illustrations have sold over 100 million copies worldwide across 28 countries.^[3] All the characters live in the fictional universe, Misterland, and in The Mr. Men Show, the fictional town, Dillydale. The company that owns the Mr. Men is Sanrio. The company that formerly owned the Mr. Men was THOIP, which is a Chorion company (Sanrio also owns this company).

History[]

Roger Hargreaves[]

The first six Mr. Men books were published in the United Kingdom in 1971. Mr. Tickle was the first Mr. Men character created by Hargreaves, inspired by his son, Adam, who had asked him what a tickle looked like. Hargreaves responded with a round, orange figure with long, bendy arms. The account of the first book's creation is currently being disputed. According to John Malam, who wrote Roger Hargreaves' entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, the inspiration for his initial creations came while doodling at work. Malam told Amelia Tait of the New Statesman in 2021 of the anecdote about his son's query: "It became too good to dispute and no doubt helped in the early marketing campaigns."^[1]

Over the course of the 1970s, Roger Hargreaves produced 38 more Mr. Men in addition to Mr. Tickle, as well as producing a number of other Mr. Men books. In the 1980s Roger Hargreaves began the Little Miss series with 'Little Miss Bossy' and he produced 21 characters and books. As well as this two special Mr. Men stories were created in 1985 ('Mr. Nobody' and 'Mr. Christmas'). Both of these have been re-released in later years. Roger Hargreaves died in 1988 and his son, Adam, took over the franchise.

When these books were released in the United States, several terms were changed to their American terms.

French Mr. Men and Little Miss[]

In France, illustrator Colette David and writers Viviane Cohen and Evelyne Lallemand produced a number of new characters that were not issued elsewhere.^[4] The characters 'Mr. Crosspatch', 'Mr. No', 'Little Miss Yes', 'Little Miss All-Goes-Well', 'Little Miss Loud', 'Little Miss Careful', 'Little Miss Brilliant', 'Little Miss Busy-Body', 'Little Miss Pretty', 'Little Miss Prim', and 'Little Miss Show-Off' were only published in France and Greece whereas four Mr. Men characters and nine Little Miss characters were also published in English and can be seen listed below as being released in 1990. The French Mr. Men that were published in English were Mr. Brave, Mr. Grumble, Mr. Perfect, and Mr. Cheerful. The French Little Misses that are available in English are Little Miss Busy, Little Miss Quick, Little Miss Wise, Little Miss Tidy, Little Miss Brainy, Little Miss Stubborn, Little Miss Curious, Little Miss Fun, and Little Miss Somersault.

Adam Hargreaves[]

After his father's death, Adam Hargreaves took over the Mr. Men. He now draws the characters and writes new stories for them.

A competition was held in the British Sunday Times newspaper for children to submit their own Mr. Men character for inclusion in a limited edition celebrating the 30th anniversary of the series. Mr. Cheeky, who was submitted by then eight-year-old Gemma Almond, was selected as the winning entry. Her creation led to a book featuring her character being published; it was sold only in W H Smith branches, with a portion of the proceeds going to a charity supporting children with leukaemia.

In 2003, Adam created three new Mr. Men characters and three new Little Miss characters. He also created 'Little Miss Christmas' to accompany 'Mr. Christmas' after this book was rereleased with new illustrations.

In April 2004, Hargreaves' widow Christine sold the rights to the Mr. Men and Little Miss characters to UK entertainment group Chorion for £28 million.^[5] In 2006, to celebrate 35 years of Mr. Men and 25 years of Little Miss, Mr. Birthday and Little Miss Birthday were published. In October 2006, Adam Hargreaves created the first Little Miss character based on a real person, Stella McCartney, which he named Little Miss Stella. This was published as a limited edition of 1,000 copies for use as fashion show invitations.^[6]

In February 2011, 20th Century Fox and 21 Laps Entertainment announced plans for an animated film.^[7]

In 2011, Sanrio, the Japanese design company best known as the creators of Hello Kitty, announced that they had reached an agreement to acquire the rights to the Mr. Men and Little Miss characters from Chorion after the company was forced into administration.^[8] This marked the first time that Sanrio had licensed a third-party character since owning the rights to Osamu Tezuka's Unico character in the late 1970s and early 1980s, which was returned to Tezuka Productions after Tezuka's death in 1989. Sanrio had also acquired the license to produce Peanuts merchandise for the Japanese market. In 2016, four new characters were launched to celebrate the series' 45th anniversary, Mr. Marvellous, Mr. Adventure, Little Miss Fabulous and Little Miss Sparkle. Little Miss Explorer, a Special book for Heathrow was also launched. Little Miss Valentine was introduced to the US market in 2019 with Little Miss Inventor being the latest mainline character to receive a book. In addition, Adam Hargreaves has created several commercial characters such as Mr. Glug for Evian water, Little Miss Miracle beauty cream, Mr and Little Miss Gap and Mr. First for money transfer company World First. In 2017, Adam Hargreaves launched a new series of books featuring characters from the BBC science fiction series, Doctor Who, with each book focusing on a different incarnation of the show's titular character. These were followed by editions based on the Spice Girls in 2019.^[9]

In August 2021, the 50th anniversary of the first book, special editions are being published and new characters introduced as part of a public vote to select two who will join the main characters; Mr Brilliant, Little Miss Kind, Little Miss Brave, Mr Calm and Little Miss Energy. The winners of the competition were Mr Calm and Little Miss Brave.

Format[]

Each book contains a title page, 16 to 18 text pages and 15 to 17 colour illustrations drawn with a Magic Marker.^[10] Where the name of the title Mr. Men character is too long to fit on the cover horizontally, instead of being in a reduced font size it curves down at the end. The typeface for the original books from Little Miss Bossy to Little Miss Star is Univers, with the books from Little Miss Busy to Little Miss Somersault using Helvetica. All the other books in the series use Optima. The books are paperback with dimensions of 14 cm x 12.6 cm. If all the books of each series are put together in order the words 'My Mr. Men library' or 'My Little Miss library' can be read across the spines and an illustration of Walter the Worm (Mr. Men) or a flower (Little Miss) can be seen.

Setting[]

The stories are set in a fictional universe called "Misterland", which is inhabited by the Mr. Men and Little Misses themselves, as well as some ordinary human characters such as shopkeepers, doctors and postmen. There are also various animals and Walter the Worm appears frequently.^[11] The characters are human in their behaviours and attributes.

Product range[]

There are 80 licensees selling Mr. Men and Little Miss products, including:

List of books[]

The following is a list of the book titles with year of first publication and associated ISBNs given in parenthesis. There are many more titles published as translations including works in French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Dutch, Greek, Icelandic, Hebrew, Mandarin, Korean, Irish and others.

"Mr. Men" series[]

"Little Miss" series[]

Special editions[]

Mr. Men & Little Miss (Celebrations)[]

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• Mr. Birthday (2006, ISBN 978-1-4052-3499-3)
• Little Miss Birthday (2006, ISBN 978-1-4052-3498-6)
• Mr. Men Birthday Party (2016)
• Mr. Christmas (1st Ed. 1984)(2nd Ed. 2002, ISBN 978-1-4052-3501-3)
• Little Miss Christmas (2005, ISBN 978-1-4052-3500-6)
• Mr. Men: A Christmas Carol (2007, ISBN 978-1-4052-4048-2)
• Mr. Men: The Night Before Christmas (2008, ISBN 978-1-4052-4194-6)
• Mr. Men: 12 Days of Christmas (2009, ISBN 978-1-4052-4840-2)
• Mr. Men: A Christmas Pantomime (2010, ISBN 978-1-4052-5428-1)
• Mr. Men: A White Christmas (2010, ISBN 978-1-4052-5975-0)
• Mr. Men: Meet Father Christmas (2012, ISBN 978-1-4052-6283-5)
• Mr. Men: The Christmas Tree (September 2013)
• Mr. Men: The Christmas Party (August 2014)
• Mr. Men All Aboard for Christmas (2016)
• Little Miss Princess and the Very Special Party (2012, ISBN 978-1-4052-6460-0)
• Mr. Men: Sports Day (May 2012)
• Mr. Tickle and the Scary Halloween (September 2013)
• Mr. Men: The Big Match (March 2014)
• Mr. Men and the Tooth Fairy (August 2014)
• Mr. Men: Trip to the Moon (August 2014)
• Little Miss Splendid and the Beast (December 2014)
• Mr. Mischief and the Leprechaun (January 2015)
• Mr. Impossible and the Easter Egg Hunt (February 2015)
• Mr. Men The Rugby Match (July 2015)
• Mr. Noisy and the Silent Night (September 2015)
• Mr. Men: Halloween Party (September 2016)
• Mr. Men: Chinese New Year (January 2018)
• Mr. Men: Road Trip! (May 2018)
• Mr. Men: A Very Thankful Thanksgiving (August 2018)
• Mr. Men in Scotland (January 2019)
• Mr. Men: Ready, Steady, Bake! (August 2019)
• Mr. Men in Ireland (February 2020)
• Mr. Men go Dancing (August 2020)
• Mr. Men: The Christmas Elf (September 2020)
• Mr. Men: Happy Diwali (September 2020)
• Mr. Men: Animal World (March 2021)
• Little Miss Inventor and the Robots (May 2021)
• Mr. Men: The Christmas Contest (upcoming, September 2021)

"Mr. Men" New Library[]

"Little Miss" New Library[]

Egmont published 2014 (based on 1995 TV series episodes)[]

Mr. Men & Little Miss (Adventures)[]

Mr. Men & Little Miss (Everyday)[]

Mr. Men & Little Miss (Magic)[]

Mr. Men & Little Miss (At Work)[]

Promotional editions (free with L'Oreal Kids shampoo)[]

"Be My" series[]

Little Owl[]

These stories were published as Little Owl Storytime – The Children's Choice.

Word Books[]

String Books[]

Guides[]

Chunkies[]

"Start to" series[]

Board books[]

Miscellaneous[]

Mr. Men for Grown-Ups[]

TV series[]

Original TV series (1974–78)[]

The Mr. Men characters were adapted into two animated television series, the first beginning on 31 December 1974, consisting of 28 episodes in total.^[14] They were produced by Terry Ward's company, Flicks Films (formerly known as 101 Film Productions) in partnership with Trevor Bond^[15] and it was broadcast on BBC 1. Actor Arthur Lowe, who played Captain Mainwaring in Dad's Army, provided the narration and voices. He used regional accents for some of the characters.^[15] The musical theme was composed by Tony Hymas.^[16] The 28 episodes were:

Series 1 (1974-76)

Series 2 (1976-78)

Little Miss TV series (1983)[]

Beginning in the middle of February 1983, a further series featuring the Little Miss characters was also produced by Flicks Films and aired on BBC 1. This was narrated by husband and wife John Alderton and Pauline Collins. The theme song and credits were composed by Dave Cooke and Richard Everett. The 13 Little Miss episodes were:

When the episodes were first broadcast on BBC 1 beginning on 14 February 1983, they were paired with reruns of the 1974 Mr. Men series, as the theme music and background music of said reruns were changed and rewritten to match the style of the Little Miss theme music. Both Little Miss and reruns of Mr. Men aired on BBC 1 from its debut until its last BBC 1 airing on 15 June 1987. Less than a year later, reruns on both Little Miss and Mr. Men were moved to BBC2 beginning on 27 January 1988 until its last airing on 22 December 1988. This was the first Mr. Men based series to air in the United States, getting 2 VHS releases from Warner Home Video with an American redub in 1986. The entire series was released to VHS in October 2003 in the UK.

Mr. Men and Little Miss (1995–97)[]

Another series, Mr. Men and Little Miss, was produced by Marina Productions in 1995 and originally aired on British and Irish television from 1995 to 1997; these stories had in it Geoffrey Palmer, Gordon Peters as the narrator, and , and were aired on Nick Jr. and Channel 5's Milkshake! in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The show first aired on CITV.

In 2014, fifty of the stories from this series were released as books.^{[citation needed]}

In 1996, the series was localized in the United States and Canada as The Mr. Men Show, this series incorporated live-action segments as well as three episodes from the original series redubbed with American-Canadian voice actors. This version lasted only 1 season.

This series was a co-production between Marina Productions in France and Flicks Films in the UK. Terry Ward was the co-producer and director in London.

The Mr. Men Show (2008)[]

By the beginning of 2007, Renegade Animation had its series of books for Chorion to produce The Mr. Men Show, and debuted on the Cartoon Network in North America and on Channel 5's Milkshake! in the United Kingdom in February 2008. There were only 25 characters featured in the first season, although most had their names or appearances altered. The Mr. Men Show was written and produced by Eryk Casemiro and Kate Boutilier, and directed by Mark Risley. The creative team was a combined effort of personnel from Nickelodeon's Rugrats, The Wild Thornberrys, and As Told by Ginger. All of the opening and closing parts are narrated by Joey D'Auria (credited as Joseph J. Terry) (US) and Simon Callow (UK).

UK video and DVD releases[]

• Warner Home Video (1981)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (1988, 1995–1997)
• Abbey Home Media (1991–1994, 1998–2001, 2006, 2016–2020)
• Delta Music (2002–2015)
• Sony Pictures Entertainment (2008–2009)

VHS video title	Year of release	Episodes
Mr. Happy and Friends	May 1995	Mr. Happy, Mr. Silly, Mr. Jelly, Mr. Snow, Mr. Bounce, Mr. Forgetful, Mr. Funny
Mr. Bump and Friends	May 1995	Mr. Bump, Mr. Impossible, Mr. Daydream, Mr. Tickle, Mr. Small, Mr. Messy, Mr. Greedy
Mr. Topsy-Turvy and Friends	May 1995	Mr. Topsy-Turvy, Mr. Muddle, Mr. Mean, Mr. Noisy, Mr. Nosey, Mr. Lazy, Mr. Chatterbox
Mr. Strong and Friends	May 1995	Mr. Strong, Mr. Sneeze, Mr. Fussy, Mr. Worry, Mr. Uppity, Mr. Dizzy, Mr. Grumpy
Mr. Greedy	August 2003	Mr. Greedy, Mr. Fussy, Mr. Grumpy, Mr. Dizzy
Mr. Tickle	August 2003	Mr. Tickle, Mr. Uppity, Mr. Snow, Mr. Sneeze
Mr. Funny	August 2003	Mr. Funny, Mr. Jelly, Mr. Bounce, Mr. Daydream
Mr. Happy	August 2003	Mr. Happy, Mr. Noisy, Mr. Messy, Mr. Forgetful
Mr. Nosey	August 2003	Mr. Nosey, Mr. Small, Mr. Lazy, Mr. Impossible
Mr. Strong	August 2003	Mr. Strong, Mr. Topsy-Turvy, Mr. Muddle, Mr. Mean
Mr. Bump	August 2003	Mr. Bump, Mr. Worry, Mr. Chatterbox, Mr. Silly
Mr. Men – Series One	August 2003	Mr. Happy, Mr. Silly, Mr. Jelly, Mr. Snow, Mr. Bounce, Mr. Forgetful, Mr. Funny, Mr. Bump, Mr. Tickle, Mr. Small, Mr. Messy, Mr. Greedy, Mr. Sneeze
Mr. Men – Series Two	August 2003	Mr. Strong, Mr. Daydream, Mr. Fussy, Mr. Worry, Mr. Uppity, Mr. Dizzy, Mr. Topsy-Turvy, Mr. Muddle, Mr. Mean, Mr. Nosey, Mr. Chatterbox, Mr. Noisy, Mr. Impossible, Mr. Lazy, Mr. Grumpy
Mr. Men – Complete Original Series	August 2003	Mr. Happy, Mr. Silly, Mr. Jelly, Mr. Snow, Mr. Bounce, Mr. Forgetful, Mr. Funny, Mr. Bump, Mr. Tickle, Mr. Small, Mr. Messy, Mr. Greedy, Mr. Sneeze, Mr. Strong, Mr. Daydream, Mr. Fussy, Mr. Worry, Mr. Uppity, Mr. Dizzy, Mr. Topsy-Turvy, Mr. Muddle, Mr. Mean, Mr. Nosey, Mr. Chatterbox, Mr. Noisy, Mr. Impossible, Mr. Lazy, Mr. Grumpy
Little Miss Splendid	August 2003	Little Miss Splendid, Little Miss Late, Little Miss Plump, Little Miss Helpful
Little Miss Tiny	August 2003	Little Miss Tiny, Little Miss Bossy, Little Miss Naughty, Little Miss Trouble
Little Miss Magic	August 2003	Little Miss Magic, Little Miss Neat, Little Miss Scatterbrain, Little Miss Sunshine, Little Miss Shy
Little Miss – Complete Original Series	October 2003	Little Miss Splendid, Little Miss Late, Little Miss Plump, Little Miss Helpful, Little Miss Tiny, Little Miss Bossy, Little Miss Naughty, Little Miss Trouble, Little Miss Magic, Little Miss Neat, Little Miss Scatterbrain, Little Miss Sunshine, Little Miss Shy

Film[]

In February 2011, it was reported that 20th Century Fox Animation was developing an animated feature film based on the Mr. Men book series, with Shawn Levy producing the film through his company 21 Laps Entertainment.^[3] On 27 January 2015, Fox Animation confirmed that it had acquired the film rights to the Mr. Men Little Miss characters.^[2]

See also[]

• The Mr. Men Show
• List of Mr. Men
• Mr. Men and Little Miss
• List of Little Miss characters
• The Mr. Men Show (1997 TV series)
• Timbuctoo
• Roger Hargreaves
• Adam Hargreaves

References[]

Further reading[]

• Sheridan, Simon: The A to Z of Classic Children's Television, Reynolds & Hearn books, 2004, reprinted 2007. ISBN 1-903111-27-7

External links[]

• Mr. Men official site