Mr. Grumble;Mr. Men Library

Mr. Men #42

by Roger Hargreaves

Picture character books

Genres: Childrens, Picture Books, Fiction, Humor, Young Adult

Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

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.

Reviews

[Calista · Rating 3 out of 5]

Did you know there was a Mr. Men Wiki Fandom? I stubbled across it looking for the pub date. I was surprised, but it’s very useful. There are some serious fans out there.

This is another Mr. Men where the Wizard teachers a character a lesson. Mr. Grumble gets his name honestly. He is a grumpy old man and everything is terrible. He’s so Large intestine (acupuncture joke). Anyway. The wizard doesn’t like moaning and groaning he turns him into a pig each time he does that. It takes 3 times before Mr. Grumble learns his lesson. I like that about this volume. Most of the time once is enough in this books, but I think in life most of us need more than one lesson to change a behavior.

The nephew has somewhat outgrown these books, but he still likes them. He thought Mr. Grumble was funny. He gave this 3 stars. He thought Grumble made a cute pig.

[Godzilla · Rating 2 out of 5]

A salutory warning for children: don't grumble or you'll be turned into a pig.

Not one of the better Mr Men books in my humble opinion. It's teaching children not to grumble, which if done constantly like Mr Grumble isn't good. However, it also appears to be saying "never grumble" - which you can't go through life adhering to.

Frustrations and annoyances need an outlet, if only to keep your blood pressure under control!

A better storyline would have been Miss Fun not inviting him to her party because of his constant grumbling. He could then relent and stop grumbling, setting up an ironic final grumble at the end of the book.

My children were also baffled as to why he kept getting turned into a pig. Are pigs notorious grumblers?

[Siobhan · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Danielle Palmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A moaner and groaner, Mr Grumble learns his lesson...if only all people with such bad dispositions could briefly be turned into swine!

[L.J. van Krzysztof-Tiphereth · Rating 4 out of 5]

It has magic and an initiate dabbling in the possibly 'black' arts. Word.

[Lola Lefebvre · Rating 5 out of 5]

Je tiens à remercier ma sœur pour ce magnifique cadeau

[Charo Havermans · Rating 5 out of 5]

perfect break mid exam, solid surprise pig appearance

[Alannah Clarke · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Maggie Hesseling · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grumble grumble grumble... in my family grumbling is normal but also part of our Humor. So I had to laugh when mr. grumble kept getting turned into a pig. I love how he changes, but not completely as he still snores (one of the biggest reason we grumble coincidently).

Plus, he makes for a cute pig.

[Sean Harding · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you have been seeing these Mr Men reviews come up on your feed and you are well grumbling because you are thinking steady on you old cove by George that is another one of theses dashed Mr Men reviews well grumble on more - for indeed Mr Grumble can even assist you grumble. This is Mr Men and I for one am a fan, and who would not be!

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mr Grumble is always complaining and grouchy. He learned how to relax and smile though, so this book is one of my favorites!

[goodreads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ha! This is glorious! Take one grumpy man then wind him up and watch what happens. Great vibrant stuff. Not five stars though because of the ending, he stopped being grumpy!

[τλιϓλ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now that he learned his lesson, I'm so happy to see him smiling may be for the first time in his life ever, he was looking nice ^_^

[Simone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good because the wizard kept saying he would turn him into a piggy if he didn't stop grumbling!

[Tim Corke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Little Nugget really enjoyed Mr Grumble. At 26wks Nugget is a bit more receptive to sound and seems to like my deep voice reading :)

[Ben · Rating 2 out of 5]

A rehash of the earlier, superior Mr Mean. Mr Grumble is simply hateful, rather than a grumbler. And he has the most horrible face of any Mr Man.

[Alex · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not like this book because I do not like being grumpy. I also did not like this book because Mr. Grumble was very grumpy.

[Meredith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mr. Grumble constantly grumbles until a wizard teaches him a lesson.

Mr. Grumble grumbles about everything. As often happens with Mr. Men characters whose dominant trait is negative, Mr. Grumble is taught a lesson, which prompts him to rein in his immediate grumpy reaction to everything and everyone.

In this story, the local neighborhood wizard acts as the deus ex machina and transforms Mr. Grumble into an increasingly bigger pig whenever he grumbles. Finally, Mr. Grumble learns to exert some self-control and stops grumbling.

The moral is a variation on the classic if you can’t say something nice, then don’t say anything at all. It also introduces young readers to the idea of self-regulation and learning not to just blurt out the first thought that pops into their heads. While everyone is entitled to his/her own opinion, the ability to keep one’s mouth shut and one’s opinions to oneself is an essential life skill.

This story is very similar to Mr. Uppity and Mr. Mean.

[Dan Boughen · Rating 1 out of 5]

6 year old says... Why is he pink on the cover of this version? He is purple on our one. I don't like it. The only good bit is where he turns into a big pig.

40 year old says... Feeling a bit frustrated by this book. Mr grumble moans about everything. He is just being himself, not everyone can be happy ALL the time (Other than a man I know called Christos, who is always cheerful - and he's vegan too). Anyway, he's grumbling away to himself, when a wizard decides he doesn't like the cut of Mr grumble's jib and turns him into a pig. I mean, just because someone is a bit of a Karl Pilkington doesn't give anyone the right to turn you into a pig. If that's okay, then everyone in the world would have been turned into a pig because we all have bad days. Everyone except Christos, and he doesn't eat meat, and I doubt he could look after 7 billions pigs. Meditation is about noticing and accepting feelings in a judgement free way - not being turned into a pig everytime you have a negative thought. I prefer mediation, but maybe that's just a personal preference.

[Christoph Meyer · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is deus ex machina at its worse.

This book yet again is a story of how a Little Mr. or Miss has their titular, personality defining trait taken away from them. Stripping them of their identity seems to be a common theme.

This book is particularly annoying because the transformation is aided by a wizard who suddenly appears with no foreshadowing and torments Mr. Grumble for grumbling about everything. No discussions are had, he just turns him into a pig.

Horrible book.

[Kylie Abecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think we all know someone who grumbles a lot and needs a wizard to turn them into a snorting pig 🐷

[Slow Man · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh my, can a story get any more average than this?
The ending feels a little anticlimax to me, considering Roger has given us some really great stories.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't like it as much :(

[Shahrun · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mr Grumble learns the hard way to improve his attitude. Love the pictures.

[Danny · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was great too thank you so much thanks again too for thanks

[Jade · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wizards are standard fare in Mr Men books but the pig caught me by surprise. The youngest member of the household laughed so hard.

[Dane Cobain · Rating 4 out of 5]

The lesson that I learned from this book is to never be grumpy around a wizard.

[Roland · Rating 3 out of 5]

And what exactly is wrong with being turned into a pig?

[Dinushka J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good way to teach kids not to grumble