Goodness gracious! She still does Flashback Fridays?! We were beginning to wonder…

Yes, dear denizens, Loba has been a tad bit derailed as of late. Troubled, tumultuous waters surround us here at the lair. But rest easy; we’re safe inside. We’ve got rum and coffee and action figures and books and comics and DVDs of wonderful shows and movies for the geeky at heart.

And tonight we’ve got Roger Hargreaves.

I chose the author rather than his books because I realized that my little wolf library included quite a few offerings from his Mr. Men and Little Miss series. Oh, I loved these books. I wish I’d had more of them. I wish I still had the ones I owned. They were delightful little tales, full of whimsy while still getting across a poignant message in a childlike (though not patronizingly childish) way. Going through the list on the Mr. Men Web site, I’m actually surprised by how many of these books I owned. I was going to list out some of my favorites, but each page of the list I peruse brings back a new wave of happy as I remember how much I loved these stories. I can’t pick one or two. I can’t even narrow it down to two per page. They were all so delightful.

Last August 10 marked the 40th anniversary of Hargreaves’ Mr. Men and Little Misses. It looks like a couple of anthologies were released, but nothing in a price range that I can justify purchasing for someone almost as old as the series itself. Still, whenever I see these books in a store (which is admittedly not often; I don’t think they retained their popularity very long here in the States), I’m overcome by this pervasive sense of glee. And, no, no one is singing and Jane Lynch is never anywhere nearby when this happens.

Ba-dum-tsh.

A while ago, I discovered that there are a few Web site selling Mr. Men and Little Miss characters on T-shirts, including this rather extensive Zazzle collection. I’ve never purchased one as I have the same problem with the shirts as I do with the books: I simply can’t narrow down my choices. However, if you’re ever so inclined to buy one for me, I’ll let you decide which one best suits my personality.

And I’ve really set myself up on that one, haven’t I?