Yep I’ve resorted to reading kids books now – no apologies – they are as valid and literary as the adult fiction genre I have been accustomed to reading and reviewing lately. Besides I’ve enjoyed the Mr Men and Little Miss series oh back when I was a teenager. Yes I was in my teenage years when I started reading these marvelous books. Why? I came to Australia around that time. I’ve always loved reading and I devoured any books that I could get from the library especially the ones with funny pictures.

Alright, because these books are short and small I decided to borrow and read three from the series:

• Mr Tickle and the Dragon
• Mr Men Halloween Party
• Little Miss Splendid and the Princess

Hmm…not the books I remembered them to be. For one, the text in these modern ones are so little that I can’t even read them – but that probably has something to do with my poor eyesight. But imagine a parent reading these to their kids (by the way the Roger Hargreaves Mr Men/Little Miss series are shelved in the picture book area at my library). And two, the stories are lame. Ok back when I was reading them many years ago – they were simple stories – the characters with their own individual traits and abilities would do their own businesses, then something would happen and they would all help each other – end of story. These ones are complex and I’m not sure I like the endings. For example, Little Miss Splendid made a plan to make the princess next door (who is beautiful and graceful) to look horrible so that her talking mirror could once again say that she [Little Miss Splendid] is “the most splendid of them all!”

Anyway, it’s up to you to read them to your children. I still like the simple and colourful drawings – I just wish that the text was a little bigger with simpler story lines. I did find out that it was Roger Hargreaves’ son Adam that inspired him to create the first character (Mr Tickle!). Cool.