A kid-book meme; Little Miss [Blank] became viral

By: Alice Li

The characters from the Mr. Men and Little Miss series have become a viral meme, with people across the internet adding all sorts of dark and political humor to “Little Miss [Blank]”. “Little Miss Bad” became “Little Miss ‘smokes too much weed’”, and “Little Miss Tidy” became “Little Miss ‘practically drinks ranch’”.

Roger Hargreaves, a British author and illustrator, had his Mr. Men series published in 1971. His inspiration came when his eight-year-old son, Adam, asked “What does a tickle look like?”. The answer was “Mr. Tickle”, a bright orange character with long wiggly arms and a signature blue hat. The series sold hundreds of copies each year, and eventually led to Hargreaves releasing another series called Little Miss. Since his father’s death in 1988, Adam Hargreaves took over and has added new characters and even a celebrity group, called “Little Miss Spice Girls.”

“LittleMissNotesApp”, a instagram account received nearly 2 million followers, begun posting edited pictures of Hargreaves characters with names like “Little Miss ‘forgets to eat’”.

This account credits “Juulpuppy”, who posted Little Miss memes last spring. Memes like these have accrued 140 million views on Tik Tok, perhaps because you can literally replace the blank with anything in “Little Miss [Blank]”. “Juulpuppy” wishes to keep the meme relatable and not too dark, explaining that the virality is because “... the pairings are so ridiculous and relate to so many people.”