Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To hate the Little Miss / Mr Man books?

59 replies

MortifiedAdams · 14/09/2013 09:20

Every time dd brings one to me I do an inward groan. I hate the stories in them, the pictures, the everything.

Id imagined getting the set, so have picked up a few in Charity Shops but am seriously contemplating donating them all back again.

Raaaaaar!

OP posts:
claraschu · 14/09/2013 09:21

I share your pain. They are unbearably awful.

jimijack · 14/09/2013 09:22

They are literary genius compared to Topsy & bastard Tim.
Fact.

RoadToTuapeka · 14/09/2013 09:26

Ah yes, they are drivelous! We were given a few second hand and they have managed to find their way to hidden tops of cupboards!

Do not under any circumstances replace with Charlie and Lola...DS now 2.8 has loved the 5 books we have for over a year and I loath them! Annoying to read aloud, they sometimes go on 'holiday' but DS always asks after a few weeks, I relent and get them out. .and regret it massively!

And Thomas books, hate them! Maybe with dd you are untroubled by Thomas and that irritating smarmy fat controller?

Marshy · 14/09/2013 09:27

Me too. My dc are well past the age where I would be reading this kind of thing to them, but when they were little, I couldn't stand these books. They are almost unreadable and I don't understand why they are so popular

Original poster
MortifiedAdams · 14/09/2013 09:35

Was expecting a flaming as everyone says they have to have these books.

I love most of Julia Donaldsons, Oliver Jeffers and The Hairy Maclary books. Roger Hargreaves «blows raspberry»

OP posts:
Marshy · 14/09/2013 09:38

Everyone says they have to have them until they get them and read them! I can remember thinking it would be nice to have the set - soon changed my mind on that

ILetHimKeep20Quid · 14/09/2013 09:54

I like them!

cazzybabs · 14/09/2013 09:58

I hate them and refuse to read them along with thomas books

GhoulWithADragonTattoo · 14/09/2013 10:01

I love them and did as a child too! The language and humour is very well judged in my opinion.

Some are better than others of course but Mr Tickle is literary perfection!

UnicornsPooGlitter · 14/09/2013 10:01

I'm sure there's a gun in one of the Mr Men books Shock! They're awful, I thought I wanted the set for DS, but I was wrong.

I find the stereotyping a bit painful too.

TondelayoSchwarzkopf · 14/09/2013 10:04

They are dire. The pictures are cute but that's it.

Badly written full of unnecessary adjectives and adverbs. I want to go through them with a red pen and strike put all the surplus words.

Plus, like Thomas, a lot of nasty, vengeful and hubristic story lines. The Little Miss Trouble one is horrid.

And sexist and simple minded to boot.

Children deserve much better if they are going to grow into readers. Julia Donaldson, Judith Kerr, Maurice Sendak write so beautifully and convey complex ideas in poetic ways.

mrspremise · 14/09/2013 10:09

I love them. Especially Mr Mischief. I can't read them aloud without channelling Arthur Lowe, I think the tape of the stories I had as a child may have something to do with it Grin

ElleBelly · 14/09/2013 10:15

We have the set.( Thankyou Nanny!) Some of them are fun but some of the others are absolute guff. When DP reads he attempts to skip pages but DD isn't fooled.

Wibblytummy · 14/09/2013 10:24

We have the full set from a christening present. DS who is 2.5 adores them but I do find myself 'editing' them and some of the word choices when I read them at bedtime as DS is very spongelike at the minute. He especially loves Mr Rude as he also has a teddy of Mr Rude who blows raspberries. All well and good but in the book he's saying names like fatso, making fun of people's appearances and saying how he hates things, rather than the harmless current cartoon TV version who has some flatulence/ light manner problems.

Original poster
MortifiedAdams · 14/09/2013 10:25

Mr Tickle has issues! Reaching through peoples letterboxes and all sorts to have a fiddle!

And Mr Dash - perfectly happy to sponge off the state til he decides he wants a holiday and only then does he decide to get a job.

Miss Tidy has undiagnosed OCD.

OP posts:
SomethingOnce · 14/09/2013 10:25

Mr Men books are so boooooooring.

Little Miss books are hideous and boring.

Damnautocorrect · 14/09/2013 10:26

I love them but they are tricky to read, they don't flow like other books.

QueenArseClangers · 14/09/2013 10:31

I always wanted a pair of Mr Men shoes that look like carefully sculptured custard cream biscuits.

HeeBeeGeebies · 14/09/2013 10:32

Yanbu, hate them.

bigTillyMint · 14/09/2013 10:33

YANBU. But the TV progs of the 70s were fabSmile

Elsiequadrille · 14/09/2013 10:39

I remembered them fondly from my childhood, but now they're awful to read in the main.

FreudiansSlipper · 14/09/2013 10:39

I stupidly bought the set

The stories are so tediously dull and sexist ds loves them

maybe3x · 14/09/2013 10:39

Yanbu I thought it was just me that couldn't stand them! Mil was horrified when I said they were awful. Ds has the whole set, boring to read and I do edit as I go along. The 70's programme was fab though, we have them on dvd, the new one on channel 5 is dire.

josiejay · 14/09/2013 10:42

They are soooo long and dull. And DS never gets the 'joke' at the end so I have to explain it to him. Then he still doesn't get it.

ThreeDaughtersLoveSandwiches · 14/09/2013 10:53

I much prefer Mr men and little miss books to the Disney books that I bought for DD1 when she was a baby as they are awful and seem to take ages to read!

Swipe left for the next trending thread