Roger Hargreaves was a British cartoonist, illustrator and writer of children's books. He created the Mr. Men series, Little Miss series and Timbuctoo series, intended for young readers. The simple and humorous stories, with bold, brightly coloured illustrations, have sales of more than 85 million copies worldwide in 20 languages.
This is another review I stored from last year at Christmas time. I had too many Christmas books that year and not enough this year. I was living with my niece and nephew and I read this with the nephew so his opinion is in here too:
Mr. Christmas is a Mr. Men living at the South Pole. His uncle, father Christmas called him asking for help this Christmas delivering presents to the Mr. Men community. He needed help. So Mr. Christmas goes to the Giant Wizard Winterbottom and asks for transportation. He comes up with a giant teapot that runs on tea, 3x faster than the speed of sound.
We see Mr. Christmas deliver the gifts and then the Mr. Men characters open their gifts and some of them are very strange. It’s a fine holiday story.
The nephew loved this story. He got to see all his old favorites in a Christmas setting. He was disappointed Mr. Happy and Mr. Tickle (one of his favorites) was not in the book. He gave this 4 stars.
I was sure that I remembered Mr Christmas from my own childhood, but the only information I could find on-line was the story having original been written back in 1984 had an 'official' release in 2002. I'm now wondering if this was a revised edition by son Adam Hargreaves? The most noticable difference is the weird first person narration.
It feels like a fitting celebration of not only the festive period but also the 40th title in the series that first started with Adam asking his Dad Roger what a tickle looked like 30 years previously.
It's always fun when other Mr Men characters cameo and there's plenty here as they all receive their perfect gift during the second half of the story. The final one to open theirs was practically amusing!
Roger Hargreaves' 'Mr. Christmas' has restored my faith in there being a Father Christmas (not that I ever lost it)!
Mr Christmas receives a telephone call from his uncle, who happens to be Father Christmas, asking for help in delivering presents to all the Mr Men.
Mr Christmas agrees and, in a tiring effort, which just finished in time, he makes it. And to prove that there is a Father Christmas, each of the Mr Men receives a present that is appropriate to their name. I feel sure that wouldn't have happened if Father Christmas was a myth!
The only worrying thing about the book is that Father Christmas' telephone number is given out ... he will be inundated with calls that's for sure!
Nah. I like the look and size of the Mr. Men series by Roger Hargreaves but this story illustrates that even good things can be taken too far. The seasonal tale lacks the heart of earlier installations although I suppose young children will still find delight in this book.
When Mr Christmas receives a letter he has no idea that Father Christmas is going to ask him to help keep Christmas on track! Can he manage to write a list, get the presents, wrap them and get them delivered ready for Christmas Day? Mr Men books are not just for children, they’re for everyone of any age! Always fun to read and definitely full of love
In an early seasonal effort, I was persuaded to purchase this by my daughter. Overall, I think it's disappointing, but at least there are no random walks for the main character to develop the plot!
There's very little that actually happens, and most of teh interest is in the end of the book.
It feels very much like a Christmas cash in, and there's no way that this could ever be anyone's favourite Mr Men book.
Stick to the originals, where there are some unique stories and moments of wonder and joy for small children.
I absolutely loved these Mr Men and Little Miss books. I remember getting them from my granny every week. There was so much from these simple characters, I remember filling my little bookshelf with all these books making sure I had got them all in right order. I wish I still had these books but somehow most of them got lost with many house moves or my mum gave the rest away. If I ever have kids, I will make sure they get the chance to experience these wonderful, colourful books.
Sometimes I think the Little Mr and Ms books should have been left in my good memories of childhood. We have a few of these books as I was looking forward to reading them again with my kids...boy are they a little out there. Still fun....but out there none the less!
I don't really know what was going on with this Mr. Men book - What on earth is with all this "I did this, i did that?" in the writing. A silly change to the classic formula - it just doesn't sit well with the rest of the Mr. Men books. A shame as it would have been ok if not for the writing style.
Very sweet story, I like the way nephew helped his uncle, it was really nice and very kind of him. Burst out laughing when Mr. Slow opened his Christmas gift in New Year's Eve XD Enjoyed the story a lot, this series is really lovely ^_^
Christmas is my favorite holiday, so how can I not love a book about Christmas? The Mr. Men books have been in my life since I was a little girl! I think they will always hold a special place in my heart. I loved the ending of this book I thought it was smartly done and humorous!
Late entry to the series, uniquely in the first person, and illustrated by Hargreaves's son. The later Men books were mostly terrible but Hargreaves managed to return to some kind of form with Mr Christmas, in a book that is nevertheless of a very different style to the rest of the series.
Gorgeous little festive adventure. I really loved Wizard Winterbottom’s transport solution, the sunrise picture and the presents Mr Christmas got for the Mr Men. Too cute!
I was surprised to find that despite the small form factor it was a little longer than some of his previous works, and with that came a refreshing expansion to the storytelling. The set-up, while a little far-fetched upon initial reading, on second thought was a good way to tie in to previous books and (spoiler) allows for some nice cameos from well known characters. There was a time-skip partway through that I felt didn't add much, but following that the story moved at a clip and I was on board to the very satisfying ending. A solid addition to the author's body of work and I look forward to tomorrow's follow up from my 1 year old daughter's Mr. Men & Little Miss Advent calendar.
Mr. Christmas is the nephew of Father Christmas. Mr. Christmas lives at the South Pole and is going to help Santa this year. Mr. Christmas is going to deliver all the gifts to all the Mr. Men in the series, (Examples: Mr. Chatterbox, Mr. Silly, Mr. Slow, etc.) I really liked the presents he chose for each one. The art is bold & whimsical. Enjoy
Another book read to my 5 year old nephew! (This time on Christmas Eve). A lot longer than other Mr Men books but we particularly enjoyed learning what the Mr Men got for Christmas when they opened their presents.
This is the first book I have picked up and read all by myself by my own choice (I am only 8) and I loved it. I sat and read it in a second-hand bookstore and loved it so much my Mummy and Daddy bought it for me.