Mr. Men - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Mr. Men is a series of 49 children's books by Roger Hargreaves

Roger Hargreaves

Charles Roger Hargreaves was an English author and illustrator of children's books, notably the Mr. Men and Little Miss series, intended for very young readers...

commencing in 1971. Two of these books were not published in English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

. The series features characters with names such as Mr. Tickle and Mr. Happy who have personalities based on their names. From 1981, an accompanying series of 42 Little Miss books by the same author, but with female characters, were published, although nine of them were not published in English. After Hargreaves's death in 1988, his son Adam Hargreaves

Adam Hargreaves

Adam Hargreaves is an English author and illustrator. The son of Roger Hargreaves, he continues his father's popular Mr. Men series of children's books. Hargreaves also served as inspiration for the series. When at the age of six he asked his father "What does a tickle look like?", Roger used...

began writing and illustrating new stories, including four characters that R. Hargreaves had developed before his death.

History

The first six Mr. Men books were published in United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

in 1971, priced at 20 pence each. Mr. Tickle

Mr. Tickle

Mr. Tickle is the first book in the Mr. Men series by Roger Hargreaves.-Overview:Like all Mr. Men, Mr. Tickle has a simplistic look. He is orange with long arms and a small blue hat....

was the first Mr. Men character created by Hargreaves, inspired by his son, Adam

Adam Hargreaves

, who had asked him what a tickle looked like. Hargreaves responded with a round, orange figure with long, bendy arms. Each book in the original Mr. Men and Little Miss series introduced a different title character and his/her single dominant personality to convey a simple moral lesson. The Mr. Men and Little Miss characters frequently reappeared in other characters books. The books' simple stories, with brightly-coloured, boldly-drawn illustrations, made them very popular with children, delivering sales of over 100 million worldwide across 28 countries.

A competition was held in the British Sunday Times
The Sunday Times (UK)
The Sunday Times is a Sunday broadsheet newspaper, distributed in the United Kingdom. The Sunday Times is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International, which is in turn owned by News Corporation. Times Newspapers also owns The Times, but the two papers were founded...

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, submitted by then eight year old Gemma Almond, was selected as the winning entry. Gemma's creation led to a book featuring her character being published; it was sold only in W H Smith

W H Smith

WHSmith plc is a British retailer, headquartered in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. It is best known for its chain of high street, railway station, airport, hospital and motorway service station shops selling books, stationery, magazines, newspapers, and entertainment products...

branches, with a portion of the proceeds going to a charity supporting children with leukemia

Leukemia

Leukemia or leukaemia is a type of cancer of the blood or bone marrow characterized by an abnormal increase of immature white blood cells called "blasts". Leukemia is a broad term covering a spectrum of diseases...

.

In April 2004, Hargreaves' widow Christine sold the rights to the Mr. Men and Little Miss characters to UK entertainment group Chorion

Chorion (company)

Chorion Limited is a major international media production company with offices in London, New York and Sydney. The company produces TV shows and feature films, and is best known for the heritage properties included in its portfolio. These include children's characters such as Paddington Bear, Peter...

for ₤28 million. In 2006, to celebrate 35 years of Mr. Men and 25 years of Little Miss, Mr. Birthday and Little Miss Birthday were published. There was also an art exhibition at the Animation Art Gallery in central London. In October 2006, Adam Hargreaves created the first Little Miss character based on a real person, Stella McCartney

Stella McCartney

Stella Nina McCartney is an English fashion designer. She is the daughter of former Beatles member Sir Paul McCartney and the late photographer and animal rights activist, Linda McCartney.-Early life:...

, which he named Little Miss Stella. This was published as a limited edition of 1,000 copies for use as fashion show invitations.

The typeface for the original books from Little Miss Bossy to Little Miss Star is Univers

Univers

Univers is the name of a realist sans-serif typeface designed by Adrian Frutiger in 1954.Originally conceived and released by Deberny & Peignot in 1957, the type library was acquired in 1972 by Haas. Haas'sche Schriftgiesserei was later folded into the D...

, with the books from Little Miss Busy to Little Miss Somersault using Helvetica

Helvetica

Helvetica is a widely used sans-serif typeface developed in 1957 by Swiss typeface designer Max Miedinger with Eduard Hoffmann.-Visual distinctive characteristics:Characteristics of this typeface are:lower case:square dot over the letter i....

. All the other books in the series use Optima

Optima

Optima is a humanist sans-serif typeface designed by Hermann Zapf between 1952 and 1955 for the D. Stempel AG foundry, Frankfurt, Germany.-Characteristics:...

Setting

The stories are set in a fictional universe

Fictional universe

A fictional universe is a self-consistent fictional setting with elements that differ from the real world. It may also be called an imagined, constructed or fictional realm ....

called "Misterland", which is inhabited by the Mr. Men and Little Misses themselves, as well as some ordinary human characters. Misterland is connected to the real world, as referenced in the story Mr. Fussy: "'I'm your cousin,' replied Mr. Clumsy. 'Your long lost cousin from Australia.'"

Product range

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

List of books

The following is a list of published book titles with date of first release and associated ISBNs. There are many more titles published as translations including works in Mandarin, French, Spanish, Dutch, Greek, Icelandic, Hebrew, German, Portuguese, Gaeilge, and others.

"Mr. Men" series

"Little Miss" series

Special editions

"Mr. Men" New Library

Mr. Bump Loses His Memory, released 6 March 2006, ISBN 1-84422-986-6
Mr. Funny Upsets Mr. Fussy, released 6 March 2006, ISBN 1-84422-987-4
Mr. Greedy is Helpfully Heavy, released 6 March 2006, ISBN 1-84422-988-2
Mr. Happy Finds a Hobby, released 6 March 2006, ISBN 1-84422-984-X
Mr. Mischief a Spot of Trouble, released 6 March 2006, ISBN 1-84422-992-0
Mr. Messy Messing About in the Snow, released 6 March 2006, ISBN 1-84422-993-9
Mr. Nosey and the Big Surprise, released 6 March 2006, ISBN 1-84422-991-2
Mr. Silly Gets the Giggles, released 6 March 2006, ISBN 1-84422-985-8
Mr. Small a Big Day Out, released 6 March 2006, ISBN 1-84422-962-9
Mr. Strong and the Flood, released 6 March 2006, ISBN 1-84422-989-0
Mr. Tickle in a Tangle, released 6 March 2006, ISBN 1-84422-983-1
Mr. Topsy-Turvy the Round Way Wrong, released 6 March 2006, ISBN 1-84422-990-4

"Little Miss" New Library

Little Miss Bossy and the Magic Word, released 6 March 2006, ISBN 1-84422-966-1
Little Miss Contrary All in a Muddle, released 6 March 2006, ISBN 1-84422-973-4
Little Miss Dotty Has a Dotty Day Out, released 6 March 2006, ISBN 1-84422-969-6
Little Miss Helpful and the Green House, released 6 March 2006, ISBN 1-84422-970-X
Little Miss Naughty Worries Mr Worry, released 6 March 2006, ISBN 1-84422-968-8
Little Miss Neat and the Last Leaf, released 6 March 2006, ISBN 1-84422-967-X
Little Miss Scatterbrain Sets Off for the Sun, released 6 March 2006, ISBN 1-84422-965-3
Little Miss Splendid and the House With a View, released 6 March 2006, ISBN 1-84422-971-8
Little Miss Stubborn and the Wrong Advice, released 6 March 2006, ISBN 1-84422-972-6
Little Miss Sunshine Keeps Her Smile, released 6 March 2006, ISBN 1-84422-963-7
Little Miss Tiny Just the Right Size, released 6 March 2006, ISBN 1-84422-974-2
Little Miss Trouble Moving House, released 6 March 2006, ISBN 1-84422-964-5

Promotional editions (free with L'Oreal Kids shampoo)

Mr. Daydream and the Big Splash, released 2003, ISBN 1405206616
Little Miss Sunshine and the Splendid Hair Day, released 2003, ISBN 0749855533
Little Miss Chatterbox and the Burst Strawberry, released 2003, ISBN 1405206624

Little Owl

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

What's Going On (By Mr. Nosey), released 1985, ISBN 0-7498-0099-2
Me And My Tummy (By Mr. Greedy), released 1985, ISBN 0-7498-0100-X
I Just Can't Help It (By Mr. Tickle), released 1985, ISBN 0-7498-0102-6
Bump Saturday (By Mr. Bump), released 1985, ISBN 0-7498-0101-8
I'm Only Little (By Mr. Small), released 1985

Guides

Mr. Bump's Guide to DIY, released 7 September 2000, ISBN 0-7498-4892-8
Mr. Lazy's Guide to Fitness, released 7 September 2000, ISBN 0-7498-4891-X
Mr. Mean's Guide to Management, released 7 September 2000, ISBN 0-7498-4893-6
Little Miss Chatterbox's Guide to Text Messages, released 1 August 2001, ISBN 0-7497-4791-9
Little Miss Naughty's Guide To Love, released 2 December 2001, ISBN 0-7497-4792-7
Little Miss Trouble's Guide to Men, released 1 August 2002, ISBN 1-4052-0191-6
Little Miss Chatterbox's Guide to Gossip, released 7 August 2003, ISBN 1-4052-0754-X
Mr. Greedy's Guide to Food
Mr. Messy's Guide to Student Life
Mr. Tickle's Guide to Women

Chunkies

Little Miss Naughty's Naughty Tricks, released 2 April 2001, ISBN 0-7498-4771-9
Mr. Happy's Smiley Day, released 2 April 2001, ISBN 0-7498-4579-1

"Start to" series

Mr. Men: Start to Read, released 5 July 2004, ISBN 0-603-56130-6
Mr. Men: Start to Write, released 5 July 2004, ISBN 0-603-56139-X

Board books

My Mr. Funny Board Book, released 1 October 2001, ISBN 0-603-56022-9
My Mr. Greedy Board Book: Mr. Men, released 1 October 2001, ISBN 0-603-56026-1
My Mr. Happy Board Book: Mr. Men, released 1 October 2001, ISBN 0-603-56025-3
My Mr. Nosey Board Book: Mr. Men, released 1 October 2001, ISBN 0-603-56024-5

Miscellaneous

Mr. Men & Little Miss: Bumper Activity Book, released 2 September 2002, ISBN 0-7214-8439-5
Mr. Men & Little Miss: Colouring Book, released 2 September 2002, ISBN 0-7214-8436-0
Mr. Men & Little Miss: Fun & Games, released 2 September 2002, ISBN 0-7214-8440-9
Mr. Men & Little Miss: Picture Dictionary
Mr. Men & Little Miss: Stencil Activity Book
Mr. Men & Little Miss: The Adventure's of Mr. Tickle
Mr. Men Story Treasury

TV series

The Mr. Men characters were adapted into four animated television series, consisting of a total of 28 episodes. The first was produced in 1975 by Terry Ward's company, Flicks Films (formerly known as 101 Film Productions) and broadcast by the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

. The voices and narration were provided by Arthur Lowe

Arthur Lowe

Arthur Lowe was a BAFTA Award winning English actor. He was best known for playing Captain George Mainwaring in the popular British sitcom Dad's Army from 1968 until 1977.-Early life:...

, who was well known for his role as Captain Mainwaring in the sitcom Dad's Army
Dad's Army
Dad's Army is a British sitcom about the Home Guard during the Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft and broadcast on BBC television between 1968 and 1977. The series ran for 9 series and 80 episodes in total, plus a radio series, a feature film and a stage show...

. The 28 episodes were:
During 1983, a series featuring the Little Miss characters was produced by Flicks Films. This was narrated by John

John Alderton

John Alderton is an English actor who is best known for his roles in Upstairs, Downstairs, Thomas & Sarah and Please Sir!. Alderton has often starred alongside his wife, Pauline Collins.-Early life:...

and Pauline Alderton

Pauline Collins

Pauline Collins, OBE is an English actress of the stage, television, and film. She first came to prominence portraying Sarah Moffat in Upstairs, Downstairs and its spin-off Thomas & Sarah during the 1970s. She later drew acclaim for playing the title role in the play Shirley Valentine for which...

(credited as Pauline Collins). The 13 Little Miss episodes were:
A third series, Mr. Men and Little Miss
Mr. Men and Little Miss
Mr Men and Little Miss aired in both the United Kingdom and the United States. In the United Kingdom, the program was fully animated, and the characters were voiced by British voice actors Geoffrey Palmer, Gordon Peters, Arnold Stang, and Jill Shilling. The show was narrated by Geoffrey Palmer...

, was produced by Marina Productions in 1995 and aired on television from 1995 to 1997; these stories were narrated by Geoffrey Palmer

Geoffrey Palmer (actor)

Geoffrey Dyson Palmer, OBE is an English actor, best known for his roles in sitcoms such as Butterflies and As Time Goes By.-Career:...

aired on Nick Jr and Channel 5's Milkshake!
Milkshake!
Milkshake! is a television programming block on Channel 5, aimed at children 2 to 7 years old. The strand debuted in 1997 and is broadcast on weekdays from 06:00 to 09:00, and from 07:00 to 10:00 on weekends. Sunday and Monday Mornings its broadcast 05:00 to 09:15/10:00. It used to air on 5*...

.

In 2006, Renegade Animation

Renegade Animation

Renegade Animation is an animation studio, located in Glendale, California, which currently specializes in Macromedia Flash/Toon Boom animation. It was founded by former Disney and Warner Bros...

produced a fourth series, The Mr. Men Show
The Mr. Men Show
The Mr. Men Show is an animated television series based on the original Mr. Men and Little Miss books created in the 1970s, 80s and 90s by British author Roger Hargreaves and his son Adam Hargreaves. Adapted from the published source material into a television variety program, The Mr...

, a new American animated series which debuted on the Cartoon Network

Cartoon Network (United States)

Cartoon Network is an American cable television network owned by Turner Broadcasting which primarily airs animated programming. The channel was launched on October 1, 1992 after Turner purchased the animation studio Hanna-Barbera Productions in 1991...

(US) and on Channel 5's Milkshake!
Milkshake!
Milkshake! is a television programming block on Channel 5, aimed at children 2 to 7 years old. The strand debuted in 1997 and is broadcast on weekdays from 06:00 to 09:00, and from 07:00 to 10:00 on weekends. Sunday and Monday Mornings its broadcast 05:00 to 09:15/10:00. It used to air on 5*...

(UK) program in February 2008. There were only 25 characters featured in the first season, and 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

Mark Risley

Mark Risley is an American Director specializing in animated children's television. His background includes writing, producing and directing 2D, CG and Flash animated productions.-Career:...

. The creative team was a combined effort of personnel from Nickelodeon

Nickelodeon (TV channel)

Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...

's Rugrats
Rugrats
Rugrats is an American animated television series created by Arlene Klasky, Gábor Csupó, and Paul Germain for Nickelodeon. The series premiered on August 11, 1991, and aired its last episode on June 8, 2004....

, The Wild Thornberrys
The Wild Thornberrys
The Wild Thornberrys is an American animated television series that aired on Nickelodeon. It was rerun in the USA on Nickelodeon and occasionally The N until 2009 and Nicktoons until 2007...

, and As Told by Ginger
As Told by Ginger
As Told by Ginger is an American teen drama animated series that was produced by Klasky-Csupo and aired on Nickelodeon from 2000 to 2009. The series focuses on a middle schooler Ginger Foutley who, with her friends, tries to become more than a social geek. There are many subplots that focus on...

. The opening and closing narration was voiced by actor Simon Callow

Simon Callow

Simon Phillip Hugh Callow, CBE is an English actor, writer and theatre director. He is also currently a judge on Popstar to Operastar.-Early years:...

in the UK version and Joseph J. Terry in the US version.

UK releases

Abbey Home Media (1991-1994)
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment is the home video distribution arm of the 20th Century Fox film studio. It was established in 1976 as Magnetic Video Corporation, and later as 20th Century Fox Video, CBS/Fox Video and FoxVideo, Inc....

(1995-2001)
Delta Entertainment (2003-present)
Sony Pictures Entertainment
Sony Pictures Entertainment
Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc. is the television and film production/distribution unit of Japanese multinational technology and media conglomerate Sony...

(2008-2009)

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.