Mr Nobody (Mr Men and Little Misses) by Roger Hargreaves
| Mr Nobody (Mr Men and Little Misses) by Roger Hargreaves | |
|
| |
| Category: For Sharing | |
| |
Reviewer: Keith Dudhnath
 | |
| Summary: Republished after twenty years, Mr Nobody is everything you'd expect from a Mr Men book. Every child should have a couple of the books on their shelves, and this is as good as any other in the series. Highly recommended. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 36 | Date: March 2010 |
| Publisher: Egmont | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-1405251426 | |
|
Share on: | |
|
| |
Mr Nobody is... well, he's somebody who sort of is and sort of isn't. Mr Happy comes across him one day, and does his best to cheer him up. Who could possibly help a person who's sort of there and sort of isn't? Ah, the Wizard!
Ooh, it's a new Mr Men book - or rather, one that's been out of print for twenty years. You know exactly what you're getting with a Mr Men book, and Mr Nobody more than lives up to expectations. Take a strong central character, throw in a familiar secondary character or two, and construct a simple plot around their characteristics. It's a massively successful formula, and for good reason. It just all works perfectly, as it has done in the previous forty-six books in the series.
As a character, Mr Nobody might be a slightly more difficult concept to grasp than, say, Mr Noisy or Mr Strong. It shouldn't be above the heads of even the youngest of book fans though. The front cover does as good a job of anything of explaining it: he's sort of there, sort of not; sort of invisible, sort of see-through. He's Mr Nobody. It's what he is. There is one part that might need some explanation for the little 'uns - the Wizard relies on a double negative to resolve Mr Nobody's problem. It's clearer than I make it sound, and won't have them scratching their heads for too long, but it is there.
To be honest, there's not an awful lot I can say about the illustrations that you don't already know. They're big, bold and cartoony. Simple enough for anyone to have a go at drawing themselves, but still with a great style all of their own. Mr Nobody features artwork by both the late Roger Hargreaves and his son Adam, but it all blends together seamlessly - I couldn't tell you which bit was by whom. It's a Mr Men book and as great as you'd expect. Highly recommended.
My thanks to the publishers for sending it to Bookbag. We also have a review of My Mummy by Roger Hargreaves.
The Mr Men books largely inhabit a genre all of their own, but let's give further reading suggestions a go anyway. For pared-down simplicity, you'll love Blue Chameleon by Emily Gravett. For strong, familiar characters, check out Kipper's A To Z by Mick Inkpen. For classics, well, anything from our Top Ten Timeless Picture Books To Treasure Forever. For a combination of all of the above, The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr Benn by David McKee.
Please share on: 
Facebook, 
Twitter and
Instagram
You can read more book reviews or buy Mr Nobody (Mr Men and Little Misses) by Roger Hargreaves at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Mr Nobody (Mr Men and Little Misses) by Roger Hargreaves at Amazon.com.
Comments
Like to comment on this review?
Just send us an email and we'll put the best up on the site.
