We have SO many children’s books. When they were both babies I used to buy loads from the charity shops and stash them away for when they got older. We definitely don’t have much room for many more, and I’m careful about which ones I do buy nowadays as room is precious. We have our favourites that we go back to time and time again for both kids, who are 7 and 5 now. Artie has somewhat outgrown Mr Men books, but if I have to choose something not too long for both of them, I often reach for them and he’ll happily sit and listen. We have the full set of Mr Men and Little Miss too – and I have to say we’ve definitely got value out of them over the years.
So when Mumsnet invited bloggers to review the brand new Mr Men books, I jumped at the chance – a new Mr Men story doesn’t come along every five minutes, and I knew mine would enjoy it.
My Brother is a new Mr Men book. It’s all about ‘my brother’, written in first person, e.g. My brother is so much fun to be around…”. There is also one called My Sister and a really nice idea would be to get both if you have one child of each sex. Particularly if they don’t always get along. It was nice reading this with Bea, and afterwards with Artie, as we don’t have many books that focus on that special sibling relationship.
The book is the perfect length for a bedtime read, about 5 minutes from cover to cover. Each couple of pages is dedicated to a character trait of the brother which alludes to one of the Mr Men characters. I.e. “He is always surprising me with his tickles” accompanied by a picture of Mr Tickle. This is a nice touch, as when we read it together Bea kept stopping and saying whether this was true of Artie or if he did something different – “he always scares me and I don’t like that” for example (we’re working on getting him to stop this – but I have to say my brother used to do exactly the same thing to me, waiting at the top of the stairs every time to jump out and make me scream. So it’s kind of a rite of passage I reckon!) There were plenty of bits that we could definitely relate to, like Artie being famously a messy eater or occasionally being grumpy. I liked the fact that not all the traits are positive; it’s more realistic.
There is a lovely bit at the that’s a few pages long, where the child can personalise the book about their sibling. You fill in the gaps, for example, “My brother is most like… / I love it most when my brother plays…” and then they can also draw a picture of their sibling too.
This would make a great gift for your own or someone else’s kids. It’s especially good if they don’t always get on, as it open a dialogue about them in a fond way, where you can talk about when he is mean or grumpy and why that might be – and that, really, deep down he loves her just as much as she loves him.
Buy the Mr Men: My Brother book on Amazon.
Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post so all links are no follow.
