Day 80. To try and even up the gender balance a little, today we read Little Miss Hug. While I was very familiar with the Mr Men books growing up, the Little Misses came along a bit later and I don't really know them. Now, as an adult, I'm bothered by a few things. Firstly, that males get to be Men but females are Little Misses. I'm not sure why female characters are diminutive. But that's an aside. Little Miss Hug is a little bit odd, in the same way that Hugless Douglas was - when you think about it, it's a book about undesired physical contact being forced on someone else, under protest, who then discovers that they wanted it all along. [Basically, LMH hugs Mr Grumpy, who rejects her actions, then confused, she does it again, after which he's disarmed and blushes]. Reading too much into it? Perhaps, yes. But it just feels ... weird.
Incidentally, Master A's Dad and I had a little bit of an ironic laugh looking at some of the Little Miss titles, like Little Miss Bossy that in light of recent discussion about words with negative connotations used to put down girls (but not boys), could perhaps be re-titled Little Miss Assertive.
Master A's verdict: Enjoyed it, as I'm sure he's not bothered by my overthinking.
Details:
- Title: Little Miss Hug
- Author/Illustrator: Roger Hargreaves
- Source: In home library
- Publisher: Penguin
What's on tomorrow? Another library pick.
