Miffy ( nl, Nijntje, pronounced ) is a fictional rabbit appearing in a series of

picture book A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images. The images ...

s drawn and written by Dutch artist

Dick Bruna Dick Bruna (born Hendrik Magdalenus Bruna, 23 August 1927 – 16 February 2017) was a Dutch author, artist, illustrator and graphic designer. Bruna was best known for his children's books which he authored and illustrated, numbering over 200. His ...

. The original Dutch name, "Nijntje", is a shortening of the diminutive ''konijntje'', "little rabbit". The first Miffy book was produced in 1955 and almost thirty others have followed. In total they have sold over 100 million copies. In addition, two separate television series as well as items such as clothes and toys featuring the character followed. On 30 January 2013, a feature-length film, ''

Miffy the Movie ''Miffy the Movie'' (originally released under the title ''Nijntje de film'' in the Netherlands) is a 2013 Dutch stop motion animated family film, based on the Miffy character created by Dick Bruna. Produced by KRO and A. Film A/S, the movie d ...

'', was released in theaters and stars Eva Poppink in the title role. Four television series based on the character have been produced: ''Dick Bruna's Miffy Storybook Classics'' from 1984; ''Miffy: Colors, Numbers, and Shapes'' from 1996; ''

Miffy and Friends ''Miffy and Friends'' ( nl, Nijntje en haar vriendjes) is a stop-motion animated television series, based on the ''Miffy'' book series by Dutch artist Dick Bruna. The series was produced by Big Tent Entertainment and Mercis BV in association with ...

'' from 2003; and ''

Miffy's Adventures Big and Small ''Miffy's Adventures Big and Small''; sv, Miffys äventyr stora och små is a CGI-animated television series based on the ''Miffy'' book series by Dutch artist Dick Bruna, and a continuation of ''Miffy and Friends'' (2003–07). The series firs ...

'' from 2015.

History

Miffy was created in 1955 after Bruna had been telling his one-year-old son, Sierk, stories about a little rabbit they had seen earlier in the dunes, while on holiday at

Egmond aan Zee Egmond aan Zee () is a village on the North Sea coast in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Bergen, about 9 km west of Alkmaar. Egmond aan Zee was a separate municipality until 1978, when it merged with ...

. Miffy became a female after Bruna decided that he wanted to draw a dress and not trousers on his rabbit. Depending on the story, Miffy can range in age from being a baby to being four years old. At first Miffy looked like a toy animal with floppy ears, but by 1963, her design was changed to her current incarnation, a stylized form of a rabbit. Miffy is drawn in a graphic style, with minimalist black graphic lines. Bruna chose to only use black, white, the primary colours (red, yellow, and blue), green, orange, brown, and grey. It is his use of primarily primary colors that makes Miffy instantly recognisable, and also popular with preschoolers, because of her bright and intense simplistic colours. Almost 32 Miffy titles have been published and many more for the other characters. Bruna has produced a total of 124 picture books for children. The Miffy books each contain twelve pages of story. Each page has one illustration and four lines of verse, the last word of the second line rhymes with the last of the fourth. They are written about things that children can understand, and situations they will face such as going to the hospital and going to school, and they always have a happy ending. Some books have no text at all, such as ''Miffy's Dream''. The books are printed in small format. Bruna considers it important that his audience feels that his books are there for them, not for their parents. Most Miffy books have an advisory reading level of age four to eight years. Bruna's books have been translated into more than 50 different languages, and over 85 million copies have been sold all over the world. It is also translated in dialects, including in

Zeelandic Zeelandic ( zea, Zeêuws; nl, Zeeuws; vls, Zêeuws) is a group of Friso-Franconian language varieties spoken in the southwestern parts of the Netherlands. It is currently considered a Low Franconian dialect of Dutch, but there have been mov ...

Engel Reinhoudt Engel Reinhoudt (26 January 1946 – 11 July 2020) was a Dutch musician and dialect writer. His nickname was 'de Zeêuwse Bard'. Reinhoudt was born in Wolphaartsdijk and later lived in ’s-Heerenhoek. Reinhoudt was best known for composing and ...

. Dick Bruna has won many awards for his books, such as the Golden Brush in 1990, for ''Boris Bear'' and the Silver Brush for ''Miffy In The Tent'' in 1996. In 1997, he was awarded the Silver Slate for ''Dear Grandma Bunny'', a book where Miffy's grandmother was sick and died. The other characters that appear in the books are her family: Miffy's parents, her Grandma and Grandpa, her Auntie Alice, and 'Uncle Bob,' a family friend, who appears in ''Miffy Goes Flying''. A new brother or sister for Miffy is introduced in ''Miffy And The New Baby''. She also has many friends, Boris and Barbara Bear, who first appeared in 1989 and are boyfriend and girlfriend, Poppy Pig, who appeared in 1977, and her niece Grunty, Snuffy, who appeared in 1969, and other bunnies such as Aggie and Melanie. In the early 1990s, an image of Miffy holding an

adjustable spanner An adjustable spanner (UK and most other English-speaking countries) or adjustable wrench (US and Canada) is any of various styles of spanner (wrench) with a movable jaw, allowing it to be used with different sizes of fastener head ( nut, bol ...

coyly behind her back appeared on flyers produced by people taking direct action against the UK government's road building program. This unauthorised use of the character spread and Miffy became a

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fi ...

for groups involved in radical ecological direct action. Miffy appeared in her first TV show in 1984, called ''Dick Bruna's Miffy Storybook Classics: The Original Series''. Directed by veteran animator Gene Deitch, each episode was traditionally animated and ran for approximately five minutes. The show aired in the Netherlands on

KRO KRO, or (Catholic Radio Broadcasting), was a Dutch public broadcasting organization founded on 23 April 1925. Broadly Catholic in its spiritual outlook, KRO broadcast the bulk of its television output on the NPO 1 channel. KRO was also responsi ...

, in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

on ITV, in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

TVOntario TVO Media Education Group (often abbreviated as TVO and stylized on-air as tvo) is a publicly funded English-language educational television network and media organization serving the Canadian province of Ontario. It is operated by the Ontario ...

in Australia on

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, and in the

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

on Cartoon Network's Small World block with VHS releases from Geneon USA, episodes of the show were later included as Bonus Features on

DVDs. From 2003 to 2007, ''

'' aired on children's television channels such as

Treehouse A tree house, tree fort or treeshed is a platform or building constructed around, next to or among the trunk or branches of one or more mature trees while above ground level. Tree houses can be used for recreation, work space, habitation, a hang ...

in Canada, and

Noggin Noggin may refer to: General * Noggin or gill (volume), a unit of volume * Noggin (cup), a small cup * Noggin, slang for head A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, an ...

in the USA. The show added several new characters, such as Melanie's African family and the family of Boris' and Barbara's common cousin, Umik. The series was produced by Pedri Animation BV, a Dutch stop-motion animation company. It was voiced simply by a feminine storytelling narrator. Miffy is sometimes assumed to be a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

character, because

Sanrio is a Japanese entertainment company. It designs, licenses, and produces products focusing on the ''kawaii'' ("cute") segment of Japanese popular culture. Their products include stationery, school supplies, gifts, and accessories which are sold ...

Hello Kitty , also known by her full name , is a fictional Character (arts), character created by Yuko Shimizu, currently designed by Yuko Yamaguchi, and owned by the Japanese company Sanrio. Sanrio depicts Hello Kitty as an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphi ...

, introduced in 1974, is rendered using a similar line style. The Miffy brand is popular in Japan, with strong sales of Japanese-made Miffy merchandise. In an interview for ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'', Bruna expressed his dislike for Hello Kitty. "'That,' he says darkly, 'is a copy f Miffy I think. I don't like that at all. I always think, "No, don't do that. Try to make something that you think of yourself". In 1999, Miffy was the ninth top-selling character in Japan, where licensed merchandise sold (). In addition, on 26 August 2010, Mercis BV, representing Bruna, brought suit against Sanrio with the claim that one of Hello Kitty's companion characters, a rabbit named Cathy, infringes on the copyright and trademark of Miffy. On 2 November 2010, a Dutch court ruled against Sanrio and ordered the company to stop marketing Cathy products in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

, and the Netherlands. On 7 June 2011, following the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Sanrio and Mercis reached an out-of-court settlement requiring Sanrio to halt production of merchandise that features Cathy. Instead of continuing the court battle, the two companies announced that they would donate the legal fees to help the earthquake victims. In Bruna's hometown,

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Net ...

, there is a square named after nijntje, the Nijntjepleintje (lit: Little Nijntje Square, to retain the rhyme) and in 2006, the

Centraal Museum The Centraal Museum is the main museum in Utrecht, Netherlands, founded in 1838. The museum has a wide-ranging collection, mainly of works produced locally. The collection of the paintings by the Northern Mannerist Joachim Wtewael is by a lon ...

opened a permanent exhibition, the ''dick bruna huis'' (Dick Bruna house). Miffy celebrated her fiftieth birthday in 2005. This was marked in cities across the globe, for example, at the

Manchester Art Gallery Manchester Art Gallery, formerly Manchester City Art Gallery, is a publicly owned art museum on Mosley Street in Manchester city centre. The main gallery premises were built for a learned society in 1823 and today its collection occupies three ...

in England. She also serves a "celebrity character spokesperson" for

Unicef UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to ...

. Miffy's namesakes include a new species of booklouse from

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

. The insect was given the scientific name ''Trichadenotecnum miffy'' in 2008, because its epiproct, an appendage on its abdomen, resembles a small rabbit.Yoshizawa, K., et al. (2008)
Systematics and biogeography of the New World species of ''Trichadenotecnum'' Enderlein (Insecta: Psocodea:"Psocoptera": Psocidae).
''Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society'' 153(4) 651-723. (pg. 87) In July 2014, Bruna announced his retirement; the rights to the Miffy character are not sold. ''

'' premiered 2 October 2015. It currently has a total of six seasons. It airs on the

Nick Jr. Channel The Nick Jr. Channel is an American pay television channel spun off from Nickelodeon's long-running Nick Jr. programming block. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. The channel launched on Sept ...

in the USA. On 16 February 2017, Dick Bruna died at the age of 89.

Characters

* Miffy: Miffy is a little girl rabbit. She likes to draw. She also likes to play with her friends. * Miffy's school friends: Miffy and her school friends have been friends for a very long time. * Dan: A new boy in Miffy's class. He sits next to Miffy at school. He has floppy ears. * Uncle Pilot: Miffy's uncle is Father Bunny's brother. He has his own airplane. * Father and Mother Bunny: Father and Mother Bunny live in a little white house with a red roof. They often take Miffy to the zoo, the playground, or the museum. * Grandpa and Grandma Bunny: Grandpa and Grandma Bunny are Father Bunny's parents. They often go and visit Miffy. * Auntie Alice: Auntie Alice is Father Bunny's sister. * The New Baby: The new baby is still a tiny baby. * Melanie: Melanie is Miffy's pen friend. * Snuffy: Snuffy is a female dog. She has three puppies. * Boris Bear: Boris Bear lives in the little wooden house near the woods with his girlfriend, Barbara Bear. * Barbara Bear: Barbara Bear is Boris Bear's girlfriend. * Poppy Pig: Poppy Pig lives in a lovely little house with little plants beneath the windows. * Grunty: Grunty is Poppy Pig's niece. * Farmer John: He is a human character in this series. He sows seeds and writes about Industrial Society and its Future.

Miffy storybooks

From ''Dick Bruna'', Linders J, Sierman K, de Wijs I and Vrooland-Löb T. Wanders Publishers, Zwolle, 2006. (English) (Dutch) * 1955 ''Miffy'', ''Miffy at the Zoo'' (first version of Miffy) * 1963 ''Miffy'', ''Miffy at the Zoo'', ''Miffy in the Snow'', ''Miffy at the Seaside'' * 1969 ''Snuffy'', ''Snuffy and the Fire'' * 1970 ''Miffy Goes Flying'', ''Miffy's Birthday'' * 1975 ''Miffy at the Playground'', ''Miffy in Hospital''"Miffy and others in hospital: library service in a hospital ward"; Elizabeth Schlenther. Manchester: Haigh & Hochland Ltd, 1988 * 1977 ''Poppy Pig'', ''Poppy Pig's Garden'' * 1979 ''Miffy's Dream'' * 1980 ''Poppy Pig Goes to Market'' * 1982 ''Farmer John'', ''Miffy's Bicycle'' * 1984 ''Miffy at School'' * 1986 ''Through the year with Boris Bear'', ''Poppy Pig's Birthday'', ''Snuffy's Puppies'' * 1988 ''Miffy Goes to Visit'', ''Grandpa and Grandma Bunny/Grandpa and Grandma Rabbit'' * 1989 ''Boris Bear'', ''Boris and Barbara'', ''Boris on the hill/Boris on the mountain * 1990 ''Lottie'', ''Miffy is Crying/Why Miffy Cried'', ''Miffy's House'' * 1992 ''Auntie Alice's Party/The Party of auntie Alice'' * 1994 ''Boris in the Snow'', ''Boris, Barbara and benny'', ''Poppy Pig is sick'' * 1995 ''Miffy in the Tent'' * 1997 ''Lieve Oma Pluis'' (Dutch) * 1996 ''Miffy at the Gallery'' * 1997 ''Miffy and Melanie'' * 1999 ''Miffy the Ghost'', ''Miffy the Fairy'' * 2001 ''Miffy Dances'' * 2002 ''Miffy's Letter'', ''The New Baby'' * 2003 ''Miffy's Garden'' * 2004 ''Miffy in Lolly Land'', ''A Flute for Miffy'' * 2005 ''Hangoor (Flopear)''; in Dutch only * 2006 ''Queen Miffy'' * 2008 ''Nijntje en de seizoenen'' (''Miffy and the Seasons''), ''Nijntje is Stout'' (''Miffy is Naughty''); in Dutch only * 2009 ''Een cadeau voor Opa Pluis (A Gift for Grandpa Bunny)''; in Dutch only * 2014 ''Miffy on Holiday'' * 2015 ''Miffy and the Royal Baby''; A Lift-the-Flap Book * 2017 ''Miffy is Naughty'' * 2018 "Dear Grandma Bunny" (English version of "Lieve Oma Pluis") Published by Big Tent Entertainment * 2005 ''Miffy Loves New York City'' Published by The Tate Gallery, London * 2007 ''Miffy the Artist'' Published by Mercis Publishing bv Amsterdam & Rijksmuseum Amsterdam * 2019 ''Miffy x Rembrandt''

International broadcast

* United States: Cartoon Network (1996),

* The Netherlands:

* Germany:

Super RTL Super RTL is a German free-to-air television network owned by the RTL Group. The channel originally launched in 1995 as a joint venture between RTL Group predecessor company CLT-UFA and Disney's Buena Vista International Television Investments ...

(1995-2013) as part of Toggolino * United Kingdom:

Tiny Pop Tiny Pop (styled as tiny POP) is a British free-to-air children's television channel in the United Kingdom, owned by Narrative Entertainment UK Limited. Broadcast on many of the major digital television platforms in the UK, Tiny Pop, which was ...

, ITV * Australia:

* Japan:

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestr ...

* Korean:

EBS EBS may refer to: Broadcasting * EBS TV (Ethiopia) * Educational Broadband Service, US TV service * Educational Broadcasting System, South Korea ** EBS 1, a South Korean television channel * Emergency Broadcast System, former US Warning system ...

Tooniverse Tooniverse (; portmanteau short for ''Cartoon Universe'') is a cartoon and anime channel broadcast by CJ ENM E&M Division (formerly On-Media), in South Korea. Tooniverse commenced airing in December 1995 and is currently one of the leading anim ...

References

External links

Official ''Miffy'' website (English)

Official ''Nijntje'' website (Dutch)

article by ''The Telegraph''

article by ''The Telegraph'' {{Authority control 1953 children's books Dutch children's books Dutch picture books Series of children's books Female characters in literature Child characters in literature Anthropomorphic animal characters Dutch novels adapted into films Dutch novels adapted into television shows Dutch novels adapted into plays Books about rabbits and hares Literary characters introduced in 1955 1980s British children's television series 1990s British children's television series 1980s British animated television series 1990s British animated television series 1980s Dutch television series 1990s Dutch television series 1984 British television series debuts 1996 British television series endings 1984 Dutch television series debuts 1996 Dutch television series endings British television shows based on children's books English-language television shows Dutch-language television shows Television shows based on Dutch novels Nickelodeon original programming Nick Jr. original programming PBS Kids shows Treehouse TV original programming Animated television series about rabbits and hares Animated television series about children Fictional Dutch people