Customer Reviews

Mr. Messy (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition) (Mr. Men and Little Miss)

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If '1984' or 'The Trial' had been a children's book, Mr Messy would be it. No literary character has ever been so fully and categorically obliterated by the forces of social control. Hargreaves may well pay homage to Kafka and Orwell in this work, but he also goes beyond them.

We meet Mr Messy - a man whose entire day-to-day existence is the undiluted expression of his individuality. His very untidiness is a metaphor for his blissful and unselfconscious disregard for the Social Order. Yes, there are times when he himself is a victim of this individuality - as when he trips over a brush he has left on his garden path - but he goes through life with a smile on his face.

That is, until a chance meeting with Mr Neat and Mr Tidy - the archetypal men in suits. They set about a merciless programme of social engineering and indoctrination that we are left in no doubt is in flagrant violation of his free will. 'But I like being messy' he protests as they anonymize both his home and his person with their relentless cleaning activity, a symbolism thinly veiled.

This process is so thorough that by the end of it he is unrecognizable - a homogenized pink blob, no longer truly himself (that vibrant Pollock-like scribble of before). He smiles the smile of a brainwashed automaton, blandly accepting what he has been given no agency to question or refuse. It is in this very smile that the sheer horror of what we have seen to occur is at its most acute.

Somewhere behind this blank expression though is a latent anger - a trace of self-knowledge as to what he once was - in the barbed observation he makes to Neat and Tidy that they have even deprived him of his name.

The book ends with a dry reminder from Hargreaves that just as with the secret police in some totalitarian regime, our own small expressions of uniqueness and volition may also result in a visit from these sinister suited agents.

This was my favorite Mr. Men/Little Miss book as a wee whipper snapper. Now I am sharing these stories with other people's children. Kids find them just as amusing today as I did then, and (eep!) now I can even see how us adults do, too! The books in the series range from great to average to pointless; and while I have not read them ALL (there are SO many), Mr. Messy is at the top of my list. He's messy, he's cute, he's charming, and he's paid an unexpected visit from Mr. Tidy and Mr. Neat. And from the lesson standpoint, this book persuasively illustrates how much "nicer" things are when they're clean rather than blatantly telling children to clean up after themselves. The end was the best part, but I won't spoil it by telling! Modest in length, colorful pictures on each page, and easy enough for kids of all ages to understand, these quirky books are great for early readers one step up from Dr. Seuss.

Researchers constantly find that reading to children is valuable in a variety of ways, not least of which are instilling a love of reading and improved reading skills. With better parent-child bonding from reading, your child will also be more emotionally secure and able to relate better to others. Intellectual performance will expand as well. Spending time together watching television fails as a substitute.

To help other parents apply this advice, as a parent of four I consulted an expert, our youngest child, and asked her to share with me her favorite books that were read to her as a young child. Mr. Messy was one of her picks.

Mr. Messy really is aptly named. He lived in a messy looking house with peeling paint, broken windows, a garden gate falling off its hinges, uncut grass, random items all over the house along with an unmade bed, and a broom that he tripped on in the garden. In fact, he was so messy, he bothered my daughter. As a result, she did something that she usually did not do . . . she got her crayons out and began making things look better.

Then Mr. Messy went for a walk and found the neatest cottage he had ever seen. Outside were Mr. Clean and Mr. Neat who were tidying things up. They asked Mr. Messy if they could help him. Mr. Messy agreed, and they quickly cleaned up the outside. Then they cleaned up the inside. Then, they realized that Mr. Messy needed work, too, and they cleaned him up also. After that, Mr. Messy said that 'I'm going to have to change my name!' All three became best of friends.

For years, whenever our daughter's room would start to get messy, we would ask her if she wanted a visit from Mr. Neat and Mr. Clean. She would laugh and start picking things up.

This is a good book for helping your child learn good tidiness habits, because the consequences of the alternative become obvious in a particularly humorous way.

I am an elementary teacher and I use these books in my class to supplement our Character Ed program (which isn't the greatest). My students love the Little Miss and Mr. Men books. I have to keep them behind my desk and let them "check them out" like library books or they fight over them. The are excellent to use in a pinch if you have a book that pertains to a problem that has developed in class (especially rudeness or bossiness). It is easy to read the book and have a quick class chat about what is going on. I highly recommend all of the books for anyone who teaches, home schools, or children in general. They are a great asset.

We just love these books... my 8 year old reads them to my 4 year old and they just crack up. Of course, there's a good lesson in each of them!

As a child, I read these books when my family was stationed in England. My mother bought my first Mr. Men book and I learned to love it. I was always excited about getting another book and would frequently beg my mother for one. I remember reading them for hours upon hours. As a child, I collected all of the Mr. Men books in the series and a few Miss books.

Now I have a son who is turning 5 years old. I have pulled out my old copies (I kept them since I loved them so much) and we are reading 3 different books a night. My child says that besides "Thomas and the Big, Big, Bridge," he loves the Mr. Men books the most.

These books provide a wide use of vocabulary which helps children's mind to grow intellectually. These books also provide questions for the kids to keep them involved in the story. Best of all, they are silly and fun.

I have read this little book to my daughter hundreds of times, we both love it.
We love the way it is written especially when it reads...
..."neat and tidy", said Mr. Neat.
..."tidy and neat", said Mr. Tidy.
I own a waste removal company, and I actually called it Mr. Tidy!
Now everyone calls me Mr. Tidy!
When I saw the book with the same name of my business inside, I couldn't resist!
These are wonderful chapter books for young readers.
Very inspiring and encouraging and always a lesson to be learned.
The wonder is in thier simplicity.

Oh so long ago I bought many of these books for my kids when they were little. Then I became a grandmother and kicked myself for giving them away when my kids got too big for them, so I was delighted to see they are still in print. I've stocked up on dozens of them now and have to say that MR. MESSY may very well be my grandkids' favorite, along with MR. FORGETFUL. But they're all great fun and the grandkids love the drawings.

I enjoy this book very much. I had this book when I was a child and now I have bought it for my daughters so they can enjoy them as much as I did.

I teach Kindergarten and my students love the Mr. and Miss books! They really enjoyed this one. It is a good way to talk about keeping the classroom neat and tidy.