Mr. Perfect

Mr. Men #43

by Roger Hargreaves

Picture character books

Genres: Childrens, Picture Books, Fiction, Fantasy, Humor

35 pages, Paperback

First published May 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 4 out of 5]

I like Mr. Perfect. He seems to me like a perfect gay best friend. Mr. Perfect is throwing the perfect birthday party so a ton of characters get to come over for this gay bash. Mr. Uppity is rather a rude fellow. At the end of this perfect party, Mr. Uppity accuses Mr. Perfect of being without flaws. How silly to think a person doesn’t have flaws. It is too bad that Roger didn’t think to give Mr. Perfect at least one flaw of some kind. Pity.

The nephew enjoyed seeing all these characters again. He didn’t think this story was a good as some of the others. He gave this 3 stars. He thought Mr. Stringy giving a lump of coal was rude as well.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

First book finished in 2022!

I remember this one ending very differently… but I may be getting it confused with my own life…

[Gerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yorkshireman the late Roger Hargreaves certainly created a phenomenon when his then six-year-old son Adam reportedly asked what a tickle looked like. Hargreaves drew a figure with a round orange body and long rubbery arms, which subsequently became Mr. Tickle, the first of the long-running series of Mr Men books.

In this tale takes place on a (not surprisingly) perfect summer's day. Mr Perfect looks splendid, he doesn't have a hair out of place. He lives in Tiptop Cottage and, like its owner, it, too, is perfect, not even a curtain out of place!

This particular day is Mr Perfect's birthday so he is having a party and when there is a knock at the door he says to himself, 'Perfect', answers it and discovers that his friends are arriving complete with birthday presents. 'How kind of you all, we'll open the presents later,' says Mr Perfect. The only person to object is Mr Uppity who says that he does not have time to waste. Mr Perfect displays perfect manners in not rising to the bait when Mr Uppity then explains that he does not want to be bored.

Mr Perfect says that they will dance, and they do so, even Mr Uppity - who, however, does not raise a smile - but Mr Clumsy breaks a pile of plates. 'Don't worry, Mr Clumsy,' says Mr Perfect as he produces a pile of cardboard plates.

Mr Perfect then brings in a large cake but Mr Greedy eats it all up, there is not even a crumb left for anyone else. Does this upset Mr Perfect? Oh, no, he simply brings in lots of small cakes for everyone. He eats just one himself for he deems that to be perfect and the rest of the guests eat the cakes and the other food on offer.

Mr Perfect then opens his presents and thanks everyone profusely but Mr Mean shouts that he has not opened his present. It is so small that Mr Perfect has missed it but seeing it, he opens the tiny parcel to find a small lump of coal. 'How kind of you,' says Mr Perfect. Mr Mean ruminates on this comment and thinks to himself, 'If I'd known I would only have given him half a lump.'

The party is almost over when Mr Uppity shouts out, 'I'm fed up with you, Mr Perfect. And do you know why? I have discovered that there is a most enormous, unbearable, exasperating fault with you.'

Politely Mr Perfect asks what that might be, so Mr Uppity tells him, 'Your fault is ... that you have no faults!' And there the story ends.

A great addition to the Mr Men series.

[Godzilla · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another non-story with a (sort of)message sadly.

Whilst displaying impeccable manners, Mr Perfect shows no real discernable character, which even my kids picked up on. "He's too much of a goody goody".

Other Mr Men characters are shoehorned in to prove points, and display stereotypical behaviour, even though in their own stories they have reformed their ways.

There must be some time-space continuum rift in the Mr Men world that explains such paradoxes.

[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.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed this book when I was little and I have enjoyed the pleasure of reading it to my unborn daughter now too. I cannot wait until she is here and a bit older to teach her how to read this book all on her own :)

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Synopsis: "Being perfect is quite a challenge for this Mr. Men character, but somehow he manages to maintain his high standards!"

My Review: The only reason we have Mr. Perfect is because it came with a set of Mr. Men books. I am not too keen on Munchkin thinking there is such a thing as perfect. We read the book anyway and it was helpful to explain to munchkin the benefits of planning ahead rather than perfection. He wasn't really into the book anyway either, not like Mr. Grumpy which he still talks about.

[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.

[τλιϓλ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a kind character and his nature doesn't bother me at all because that's him after all, he wasn't pretending to be perfect, it's true no body is perfect but being kind to friends and smart enough to prepare things to cover any mess happened is more than enough to me ^_^

[Danielle Palmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This particular Mr Men book is fantastic because of the cameo appearances of other Mr Men characters. Mr Perfect is not perfect (as no one truly is), but is instead highly prepared, congenial, and impossible to offend. What a gentleman!

[Giegie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like this book, funny entertaining and makes me curious, easy and meaningful, I love this book

[✨Jinglemarco✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm Mr. perfect! :D

(My brother gave it as a souvenir from England to me because he thought it would suit my personality; he was right).

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book because I like being perfect. I also enjoyed this book because Mr. Perfect was very perfect.

[Meredith · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mr. Perfect celebrates his birthday.

[Slow Man · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is perfection. It makes me laugh out loud twice. Once when Mr Perfect cried out: 'Perfect! ’ when his many guests knocked on his door. Another time is when Mr Mean gave him a lump of coal for birthday. Funny indeed. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. And about his party, oh I love to be invited to such party when the host is so polite and everything is so faultless. Immaculate and very enjoyable indeed.

[Sean Harding · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a perfect world we would all own every Mr Men book and Little Miss Book and read one each day. In a perfect world we would have Mr Perfect and we do, but only in misterland. Another book which draws on the other characters from the universe created and revealing the importance of a certain happy chappy. All good fun.

[Kylie Abecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

My mum used to tell me that every person in the world has a disability, it’s just a matter of finding what it is. This book reminded me of that. Even being faultless can become a fault if looked at in the right way.

[Gavin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yet another of the new Mr. Men books, not writtne by Roger Hargreaves. A better title would have been Mr. Conceited.

[Maxine]

Oh my

[Maia · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book was about perfect stuff and that’s what mr perfect is about

[Dan Boughen · Rating 2 out of 5]

6 year old says... Not really good, it's only good. I think it's funny that Mr Greedy eats the whole birthday cake 🍰.

40 year old says... I'm very embarrassed that RH wrote a book about me - not sure it would be polite for me to write about it.

[Water Moon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved collecting these as a child. The ending was a little abrupt in this one, but these are still good. A simple story with easily to follow illustrations. Not sure if it was intentional or not, but this story is an example of the power of positive thinking, and for that I really liked it.

[Christoph Meyer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mr. Perfect is perfect. So I'm guessing he's like a God. What is perfect? Being polite and well mannered. Providing an extra cake just for Mr. Greedy. Living in a house covered with strange decorations. And not reprimanding people who destroy all your dishes. That's perfection.

[Rory Jakob · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like how understanding and accepting Mr Perfect is.

[Shahrun · Rating 3 out of 5]

We attend a perfect party with the Mr Men and Little Miss, complete with colourful illustrations.

[Danny · Rating 5 out of 5]

So this is a nice book it is all about mr perfect

[Bryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can see how being friends with Mr. Perfect could be annoying, but he's too darn nice to get mad at.

[Dane Cobain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ah, finally – the Mr. Men character that I have the least in common with. Fun, though.

[Roland · Rating 3 out of 5]

The ending feels more like a midpoint.

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another dull Roger Hargreaves story. Noah lost interest quickly.