Brilliant baby buys

Thanks for the Miffy memories

February 20, 2017

I was really sad to read about the death of Dick Bruna, creator of the Miffy books. He’d written and illustrated 124 books over 60 years, including 32 Miffy books, which are now published in more than 50 languages and have sold over 85 million copies worldwide.

The books are a testament to the power of simplicity; the line drawings and bold colours of the Miffy drawings and universal themes of the books have meant she’s been a timeless classic for years. And Iike so many other people, I love Miffy.

When asked to explain his success, Dick Bruna said ‘I think it is because I spend as long as possible, throwing lots away…Every shape captures the imagination and I leave plenty of space for children’s imagination.’ How amazing is that? And what a legacy; I can’t imagine knowing that you’ve had such an impact on the lives of so many children.

Did you love Miffy? Which was your favourite? For such a small rabbit, she made a big impression on me; Miffy is woven into the fabric of my life and is the maker of many memories (and blog posts!).

So from all of us, thanks Dick Bruna, and here’s three of my Miffy memories:

Miffy and the new baby: For my 21st birthday my parents gave me the box set of Miffy as a jokey nostalgia present to remind me of my childhood love. Through many years of house moves I somehow managed to hold on to the books, as well as my original copy of Miffy’s Birthday, and little did I know that I would read these with my children years later. They’ve actually been really useful – like Topsy and Tim, there’s a Miffy book to hold a mirror to pretty much every pre-school emotion or event. Although Miffy and the new baby is light on the biological details of how siblings arrive, it was in heavy rotation when I was pregnant with the baby – here (and was also useful when I FaceTimed my parents to tell them the news and my mum managed to miss all my subtle hints until I showed her the book we were currently reading).

Miffy Milestones: We were sent a set of Miffy Milestone cards when Florence was born (the cards that depict a different baby milestone on each). I had great plans to take so many photos with these and then promptly forgot, although they did make a guest appearance here. Sorry, second child. However, I did remember for the honour of her first weaning session, where she took BLW to extremes by munching on the card shortly after this photo was taken (for this post on the secret reason we love BLW).

Miffy and the…too much Miffy: Is it possible to have too much of a good thing? Eliza quickly latched on to Miffy Comes to Stay, and we read it so many times, on so many occasions. Even now, it’s a memory I’ll never forget as I can still recite it by heart. Eventually, it went on a long extended break into the ‘secret cupboard’ and we moved on to the others instead.