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Mr. Men #36
Mr. Mischief
He's always pulling naughty pranks until he meets up with a wise old Wizard and gets a taste of his own medicine!
32 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1972
4 people are currently reading
291 people want to read
About the author
Roger Hargreaves
1,324 books367 followersRoger 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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
July 4, 2019
Here again, Roger uses the character of the Wizard to teach one of his misbehaving misters to teach them a lesson. Strange that Roger doesn’t come up with a way to really learn a lesson in life instead of this Deus ex machina play over and over.
Still, it’s great to see the nephew get excited seeing his favorite characters back again. Mr. Happy, Mr. Greedy and Mr. Funny are all pranked with some destructive and not fun pranks by Mr. Mischief. Mr. Mischief needs to go to Juvey. He saws legs off chairs or puts molasses in hats.
The nephew loves Mr. Mischief, of course. He is always trying to be sneaky. Luckily, at this point, he is obvious and he is terrible at being sneaky, but I fear as he grows older, he will be better. I can see him gravitating to this character. He gave this 5 stars. The niece would not read this book. My nephew is beginning to pick up words and he is reading a few things here and there. This is great.
Still, it’s great to see the nephew get excited seeing his favorite characters back again. Mr. Happy, Mr. Greedy and Mr. Funny are all pranked with some destructive and not fun pranks by Mr. Mischief. Mr. Mischief needs to go to Juvey. He saws legs off chairs or puts molasses in hats.
The nephew loves Mr. Mischief, of course. He is always trying to be sneaky. Luckily, at this point, he is obvious and he is terrible at being sneaky, but I fear as he grows older, he will be better. I can see him gravitating to this character. He gave this 5 stars. The niece would not read this book. My nephew is beginning to pick up words and he is reading a few things here and there. This is great.
August 5, 2018
A favourite with my children and grandchildren. We had great fun creating a collection of these inexpensive and wonderful books by Roger Hargreaves.
January 7, 2022
The Mr. Men books do tread a similar theme, it just wasn't that obvious to me at the time.
Again the books protagonist is playing tricks on other popular characters, only for a wizard to turn the same tricks on him.
It's always nice to see the likes of Mr. Happy and Mr. Greedy pop up in other books and initially Mr. Mischief learns his lesson only to fall back into bad habits.
Obviously the punchline of encouraging the child to be wary of a mysterious young figure seems like a harmless ending, but a much better moral conclusion would have been the message of treating others the way that you'd want to be treated.
Again the books protagonist is playing tricks on other popular characters, only for a wizard to turn the same tricks on him.
It's always nice to see the likes of Mr. Happy and Mr. Greedy pop up in other books and initially Mr. Mischief learns his lesson only to fall back into bad habits.
Obviously the punchline of encouraging the child to be wary of a mysterious young figure seems like a harmless ending, but a much better moral conclusion would have been the message of treating others the way that you'd want to be treated.
July 2, 2018
Practical Jokes
1 July 2018 – Lismore
Well, Don Quixote is taking a lot longer to read than I expected. Actually, no it isn’t, it is an absolute brick, which is a shame because there are a whole heap of other books I brought with me on my holiday to read as well. However, some of them, like Mr Mischief, are short, sharp, and shiny so I can read them pretty quickly and write at least one review in each of the towns I pass through on my trip north. Then again, there are probably a lot of other things that I could be doing than writing reviews but since I have been getting up ridiculously early these days, writing stuff is something to keep me occupied (or I could just continue reading Don Quixote).
Anyway, this book is about a mischievous little fellow that just loves playing practical jokes on people. The thing is that the only person who seems to get any pleasure out of having such jokes played on them is, well, Mr Mischief. It seems as if everybody else gets really, really annoyed with him. Then again, I guess that happens to be the nature of practical jokes – the subject of the jokes generally get pretty upset, especially if they get dirty, hurt, or it requires effort to get out of the situation. I know I don’t particularly like people playing practical jokes on me
Mind you, he does get what is coming to him, especially when he tries to play a joke on a wizard only to have the jokes backfire on him. In fact, he is visited with a joke similar to pretty much every joke he played on other people, and guess what – he really didn’t like it himself. However, old habits do die pretty hard, and even if one does try to turn over another leaf, it just seems that temptation really does end up getting the better of you, as is the case with Mr Mischief.
Still, I remember reading books on practical jokes back in primary school, not that we got to actually do any of them. Actually, that isn’t true at all, particularly when I went around short-sheeting people’s beds. I still remember when I did it to my brother and the response I got from him. Well, needless to say that my parents weren’t all that happy with me, though I suspect I might have done it to their bed as well. As for the good old bucket resting on the door, that one never seemed to work all that much, probably because we didn’t have a way of leaning the buckets on the door so it would fall down when the door was opened. Mind you, I probably would have got into a lot of trouble once again, particularly due to the mess it would have called (and not to mention injuries).
As for any others, honestly, I really can’t remember any of them, and I’m not even sure if such books are still available in school libraries any more. Honestly, if I was a parent and had discovered my kids reading such books, I wouldn’t be all that impressed. Honestly, I’m not all that impressed with shows like Funniest Home Videos, because in the end it is simply laughing at people (in particular kids) getting hurt, and honestly, I don’t find it all that funny anymore.
1 July 2018 – Lismore
Well, Don Quixote is taking a lot longer to read than I expected. Actually, no it isn’t, it is an absolute brick, which is a shame because there are a whole heap of other books I brought with me on my holiday to read as well. However, some of them, like Mr Mischief, are short, sharp, and shiny so I can read them pretty quickly and write at least one review in each of the towns I pass through on my trip north. Then again, there are probably a lot of other things that I could be doing than writing reviews but since I have been getting up ridiculously early these days, writing stuff is something to keep me occupied (or I could just continue reading Don Quixote).
Anyway, this book is about a mischievous little fellow that just loves playing practical jokes on people. The thing is that the only person who seems to get any pleasure out of having such jokes played on them is, well, Mr Mischief. It seems as if everybody else gets really, really annoyed with him. Then again, I guess that happens to be the nature of practical jokes – the subject of the jokes generally get pretty upset, especially if they get dirty, hurt, or it requires effort to get out of the situation. I know I don’t particularly like people playing practical jokes on me
Mind you, he does get what is coming to him, especially when he tries to play a joke on a wizard only to have the jokes backfire on him. In fact, he is visited with a joke similar to pretty much every joke he played on other people, and guess what – he really didn’t like it himself. However, old habits do die pretty hard, and even if one does try to turn over another leaf, it just seems that temptation really does end up getting the better of you, as is the case with Mr Mischief.
Still, I remember reading books on practical jokes back in primary school, not that we got to actually do any of them. Actually, that isn’t true at all, particularly when I went around short-sheeting people’s beds. I still remember when I did it to my brother and the response I got from him. Well, needless to say that my parents weren’t all that happy with me, though I suspect I might have done it to their bed as well. As for the good old bucket resting on the door, that one never seemed to work all that much, probably because we didn’t have a way of leaning the buckets on the door so it would fall down when the door was opened. Mind you, I probably would have got into a lot of trouble once again, particularly due to the mess it would have called (and not to mention injuries).
As for any others, honestly, I really can’t remember any of them, and I’m not even sure if such books are still available in school libraries any more. Honestly, if I was a parent and had discovered my kids reading such books, I wouldn’t be all that impressed. Honestly, I’m not all that impressed with shows like Funniest Home Videos, because in the end it is simply laughing at people (in particular kids) getting hurt, and honestly, I don’t find it all that funny anymore.
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December 7, 2025ce petit bonhomme malicieux c 'est moi
October 28, 2007
I like this one because in the end he doesn't change his ways, despite that annoying moralizing fat wizard's clockwork-orange style behavioral conditioning.
May 10, 2010
Hmmm - not all of Mr Mischief's actions would qualify as mischievious in my opinion. Still, there is a valuable lesson to be learnt here: you reap what you sow.
My kids liked the visual gags surrounding some of his mischief, and in particular my own evil giggle that I put on, as I read the story, so you may want to practice an evil giggle before reading this out loud!
The moral of the story would seem to be only give out what you're willing to take back in kind, which seems pretty fair to me.
Children's lives without a little bit of mischief would be very dull indeed
My kids liked the visual gags surrounding some of his mischief, and in particular my own evil giggle that I put on, as I read the story, so you may want to practice an evil giggle before reading this out loud!
The moral of the story would seem to be only give out what you're willing to take back in kind, which seems pretty fair to me.
Children's lives without a little bit of mischief would be very dull indeed
March 13, 2015
Synopsis: "He's always pulling naughty pranks until he meets up with a wise old Wizard and gets a taste of his own medicine!"
My Review: Some of the Mr. Men are great and some are just okay, this was one that was just okay. It took a couple of sittings to get through this one since it didn't capture Munchkin's attention. Mr. Mischief also didn't learn his lesson so well and after a short period got back into his old ways, so that didn't really send a great message to little ones.
My Review: Some of the Mr. Men are great and some are just okay, this was one that was just okay. It took a couple of sittings to get through this one since it didn't capture Munchkin's attention. Mr. Mischief also didn't learn his lesson so well and after a short period got back into his old ways, so that didn't really send a great message to little ones.
February 3, 2018
A prankster very deservedly has the tables turned on him! Even though his chair breaks and his food becomes inedible, Mr Mischief somehow does not learn his lesson. A good reminder that people rarely change their ways. The best part of this book may be all the cameo appearances from other Mr Men characters! Or the funny voice the reader gets to do when the wizard grabs Mr Mischief by the nose! Or, trying to imagine what it would be like to lay on a bed full of jam!
September 28, 2015
Ah, Mr Men and Little Miss, how wonderful you are!
These books made up so much of my childhood. No matter what I would go ahead and pick one up. I worked my way through them all a couple of times. Each one has a wonderful story for the child to engage with, each character being fun to read.
Everyone has a bias for their favourite character, yet every book is delightful.
These books made up so much of my childhood. No matter what I would go ahead and pick one up. I worked my way through them all a couple of times. Each one has a wonderful story for the child to engage with, each character being fun to read.
Everyone has a bias for their favourite character, yet every book is delightful.
October 8, 2011
Yes, I read all of these as a kid. I'll be here all day folks
July 7, 2019
It may be funny doing some tricks but not all the time, it's not funny at all what happened to other characters and OMG Mr. Mischief didn't learn his lesson =_=
September 12, 2017
He's actually kind of mean and got what he deserved a bit.
March 31, 2015
Think I’m right in stating that as a boy I had all the pre-1990 Mr Men books with the possible exception of “Mr Snow”. Looking at all the covers apart from the latter jogged my memory.
Sadly I remember little about the stories now, despite reading them numerous times during my boyhood, plus watching the Mr Men cartoons more than once.
Reckon the last time I would’ve read these was 1983, though may have returned to them as late as 1985. Although I’ve forgotten almost everything about this title and all the others I feel that owing to the amount of times I read each publication that they all deserve to be rated five stars.
I’m grateful to Roger Hargreaves for brightening up my childhood with both his Mr Men and the Timbuctoo series of books.
Sadly I remember little about the stories now, despite reading them numerous times during my boyhood, plus watching the Mr Men cartoons more than once.
Reckon the last time I would’ve read these was 1983, though may have returned to them as late as 1985. Although I’ve forgotten almost everything about this title and all the others I feel that owing to the amount of times I read each publication that they all deserve to be rated five stars.
I’m grateful to Roger Hargreaves for brightening up my childhood with both his Mr Men and the Timbuctoo series of books.
February 27, 2015
Mr. Happy is walking to his house and he walks in his door and when he sat on his chair he broke it and there was a shadow of him and there was a moon and I saw his teeth and there's Mr. Greedy and he gave Mr. Greedy a donut with toothpaste on it and mud on the bottom of it and salt on it and inside. Mr. Mischief put glue in Mr. Funny's hat. Mr. Mischief took the wizard's wand and the wizard honked Mr. Mischief's nose and he dropped the wand. The wizard said 'don't touch my wand'. He cut off Mr. Fussy's moustache. I like the book because I never read it. - age 4
August 31, 2007
I had the audio recording of this book along with the book itself. I love the way the reader snickered, "Beautiful, glorious mischief!!!"
September 1, 2008
Can Mr. Mischief learn that his pranks aren't fun for others?
Another cute one, this time with magic.
Another cute one, this time with magic.
March 27, 2011
I have always loved the Mr. Men & Little Miss books. I found 6 of them in a dollar bin at the bookstore and have had a great time revisiting my childhood.
December 9, 2011
Mr. Mischief is very mischievous until he comes across a wizard.
December 14, 2013
Another cute "Monsieur" book. Always a moral in these books but this doesn't spoil the fun and Hargreaves characters are pretty incorrigible!
November 22, 2016
Mischievous little bastard...
December 30, 2016
I did not like this book because I do not like being mischievous. I also did not like this book because Mr. Mischief was very mischievous.
February 25, 2020
Old man Wizard is back again!
August 16, 2024
Mr Mischief was a very naughty boy indeed!
This book is a litany of his misdeeds, showcasing his flagrant disregard for his fellow Mr Man, his uncaring attitude to the misery he causes.
When he finally receives his comeuppance, he quickly returns to his former callous ways in a masochistic spree of crime and punishment.
This book is a litany of his misdeeds, showcasing his flagrant disregard for his fellow Mr Man, his uncaring attitude to the misery he causes.
When he finally receives his comeuppance, he quickly returns to his former callous ways in a masochistic spree of crime and punishment.
August 18, 2013
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.
December 31, 2018
More mischief to be had in the Mr Men Marathon as it is day three and the final day and we start with Mr Mischief. Another great fun read with the great illustrations, I wonder if anyone has ever done an art exhibition of the illustrations of Hargreaves, they are so clearly his, and in one sense have not much going for them, but in another make you immediately identify with Mr Men and the warmth that comes with them. Mr Men the first 36 done now.
April 29, 2019
Over and over and over again.... I read these stories to my first daughter and then to my second daughter.
They loved them... they laughed... i love my daughters... i laughed with them....that was more than enough for me.
They loved them... they laughed... i love my daughters... i laughed with them....that was more than enough for me.
April 27, 2019
This was quite a naughty, silly story. It’s packed full of fun, vibrant illustrations. The ending was somewhat random.
January 11, 2022
Basically the Joker of Mr Men land.
April 17, 2024
I AM NOT CRAZY!
I am not crazy. I know he swapped those numbers, I knew it was 12:16, one after Magna Carta, as if I could ever make such a mistake, never, NEVER! I just, I just couldn’t prove it. He he he covered his tracks, he got that idiot at the copy shop to lie for him.
You think this is something? You think this is bad, this, this chicanery, he’s done worse. That billboard, are you telling me that a man just happens to fall like that, NO, he orchestrated it, Jimmy!
He defected through a sunroof! And I saved him. I shouldn’t have, I took him into my own firm, what was I thinking? He’ll never change, he’ll NEVER change, ever since he was 9, always the same, couldn’t keep his hands out of the cash drawer. But not our Jimmy, couldn’t be precious Jimmy! Stealing them blind, AND HE GETS TO BE A LAWYER! WHAT A SICK JOKE. I should’ve stopped him when I had the chance. And you, you have to stop him you…
I apologise. I lost my train of thought. Got carried away. Do you have anything else?
I am not crazy. I know he swapped those numbers, I knew it was 12:16, one after Magna Carta, as if I could ever make such a mistake, never, NEVER! I just, I just couldn’t prove it. He he he covered his tracks, he got that idiot at the copy shop to lie for him.
You think this is something? You think this is bad, this, this chicanery, he’s done worse. That billboard, are you telling me that a man just happens to fall like that, NO, he orchestrated it, Jimmy!
He defected through a sunroof! And I saved him. I shouldn’t have, I took him into my own firm, what was I thinking? He’ll never change, he’ll NEVER change, ever since he was 9, always the same, couldn’t keep his hands out of the cash drawer. But not our Jimmy, couldn’t be precious Jimmy! Stealing them blind, AND HE GETS TO BE A LAWYER! WHAT A SICK JOKE. I should’ve stopped him when I had the chance. And you, you have to stop him you…
I apologise. I lost my train of thought. Got carried away. Do you have anything else?
Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews