Miffed about Miffy

When I was pregnant I found the entire set of Miffy books in our local Oxfam Books for £1 each. I loved these Dick Bruna books when I was a kid and wanted to get them for our baby to enjoy, so I bought the set. Except for one - it just didn't feel right buying Goodbye Grandma about the funeral of Grandma Bunny for a baby whose Grandma and Nan are both very much alive. Not only that but the book focuses on a church funeral and, well. let's just say the word rabbit only contains one religious word within it and it's not vicar.

Turns out the stories aren't quite as scintillating as I'd remembered and the rhymes seem to have lost something in translation from their original Dutch. Maybe that's why reading them now as an adult my favourite is the entirely wordless Miffy's Dream in which Miffy floats off on a cloud. meets another bunny, slides down the moon and watches shooting stars. Surreal, yes, but makes me cry every time.




I was particularly proud of my bargain when I saw the same books for sale for more than £1 each in a bookshop on Lamb's Conduit Street in London. The shop has a lovely selection of children's books and I suspect many of its customers are people buying presents for children they know who are being treated round the corner at Great Ormond Street Hospital. That's what we were doing. Which is why I found it a pretty cynical marketing ploy that all the Miffy books cost the same except for one - Miffy in Hospital. Now that's cheeky.