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.
Roger Hargreaves showcases all his characters who have big differences. He celebrates those differences. Mr. Tall is sad about being so weirdly tall. He meets Mr. Small, Mr. Tickle, Mr. Nosey and Mr. Greedy who all have something out of the ordinary. They tell him they enjoy these things that make them different. It is celebrating what makes you unique as a person. I love the message.
Roger also has a wicked sense of humor. Mr. Tall puts Mr. Small on his head and walks 40 miles to the beach. Once Mr. Tall feels better, he leaves Mr. Small there who has to walk home and it takes him a whole year. Poor Mr. Small, and he was so helpful too. I think it's supposed to be humor, but it feels sad to this yank.
The nephew enjoyed seeing his characters again and he too gave it 5 stars. It's a good one.
This brilliantly conveys that being happy with yourself and everyone is different in such a fun way.
It's also nice that various Mr. Men had all noticed that Mr. Tall was unhappy (because of his cumbersome long legs) and all approach him in an effort to help.
I always like it when the other characters crop up, though Mr. Small must have regretted taking a stroll with the quick walking Mr. Tall.
^^^^^^^^^ Leaving that here so the comments still make sense...
Twenty Five 'Reviews' In One Day: Book 7!
Mr. Tall is one of my favourite Mr. Men. I used to love drawing him when I was a kid and I loved re-reading his book as an adult. The leggy one has legs long enough that he can sit on a clifftop with his feet on the beach below, as demonstrated in the illustration that may well be my favourite picture in any of the Mr. Men books, particularly as it also features Mr. Small lying on his back in the sea. Great stuff.
The best part of the story is when Mr. Tall forgets he's Mr. Small's lift home and just abandons him at the seaside! Hilarious!
Mr Tall has tall problems, but he meets other Mr Men who have their own problems. Mr Tall finds the funny side and then recognises what is good about being tall. Poor Mr Small gets left behind and has an epic journey to get home.
A double edged story: a tale of learning to be happy with yourself, yet with a twist of victimising someone who is different from you.
Mr Tall is finding life hard with such long legs. He comes across Mr Small, who literally takes him for a ride, to the seaside.
Whilst bemoaning his lot, Mr Tall is accosted by all manner of other "freaks" who are making the best of their circumstances. Realising that he should stop wallowing in self pity, Mr Tall heads off for home, leaving Mr Small stranded.
A tough lesson for kids to learn, but one which they need to learn. You must accept what life throws at you, and understand that people will leave you in the lurch.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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.
Mr. Tall is having a pity party because his legs are SO long. Other characters come along to comfort him with examples of their own abnormalities, which does lift his spirits. I think the fact that he exhibited super sonic hearing by tuning in to a sound “as loud as a bees sneeze” would qualify him for some type of special government position that would allow him to afford a bed he could fit in. His extreme absent mindedness, though, could hinder him from excelling in such a position...
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.
Mr Tall is very tall but very gentle. He gets upset a lot because of his height but in his story he learns his legs are nothing to be sad about they're useful especially for walking.
I came across a bunch of Mr Men and Miss books in an opportunity shop at $0.20 each and so decided to grace them and then read one a day until I had exhausted my supply. I am reading them in random order and this was the first of them. I don't remember really which ones that I had read before but apart from the obvious similarities in tone and style and illustration this one was one I did not remember. Anyway a fun read and Mr Men books have always something to say.
I have to admit that I quite like the Mr Men books, or at least the ones that I've read so far. Actually, that's not all that surprising considering that they were some of my favourite books as a kid and I've probably read all of them more times than I can count. I'm not sure if I have all of them or not (though I do know that I don't have the Little Miss Books, though for all I know my sister might have a couple stashed away somewhere). Anyway, it's not that they have an encouraging story between their covers, but also that they are so short that I can read them and then write a review in some random place (such as I'm doing now – that is writing a review while sitting on a train heading out to regional Victoria).
Anyway, Mr Tall is about this guy who is, well, really, really, really tall. In fact he is so tall that he can walk forty miles in something like four minutes (is that actually possible?). Mind you, it isn't that he is tall, it's just that he has really long legs (which is probably why Usain Bolt runs so fast). I can actually empathise with the guy because my legs are also pretty long, which means that I regularly have to slow down to let my shorter legged friends keep up with me.
Well, Mr Tall really don't like being tall – he towers above everybody else which makes him stand out – a lot; he can't fit in his bed; and he can't go for a swim in the ocean because as soon as he gets to a point where it looks like it is deep enough, he is halfway there and is stating to go out the other side. So, when Mr Small goes for a swim he ends up sitting on the cliff (they look like the white cliffs of Dover by the way), with his legs all the way down to the ground.
Mr Tall's probablem isn't so much his legs, but rather his perspective of the world. It is not because he is tall, but rather because he is different, which is what the book tries to teach us. Mr Tall wanders around all day, rather depressed, because he feels that he can't do things because his tall legs are a handicap. However they are not so much a handicap as they are handicaps simply because he lets them be as such. When a parade of Mr Men walk past him, each of them having something that is much bigger than normal (such as Mr Nosey's nose), he begins to realise that one is wasting his time bemoaning his misfortune, and learns to see the benefit. Sure, he may not be able to go for a swim, but her certainly can walk really really fast, which means that he can get home a lot quicker that many of us.
Unfortunately, having been caught up in the delight of his revelation he sort of forgets something important.
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.
Mr. Tall is distraught by his very long legs and all the trouble they cause him until he learns that he is wonderful just the way he is. Very cute little story. I want to get a copy for my very tall friend.
I really need to own the whole set of Mr. Men! They make me so very happy. I loved them as a kid, though I think I only ever read a few of them. The whole series is like a warm cup of children's tea on a snow day.
The 'Mr Men' and 'Little Miss' books are so simple yet so effective. I love the way that all the characters are linked and how characters pop up in other stories!
The books are great for encouraging young children to read because they are interesting, have a variety of simple language and are short enough that young children don't get bored! Children love collecting all the characters too.
“Mr Tall” - Mr Tall has a problem, what to do about his very long legs? Mr Small encourages him and they walk to the beach. Mr Tickle, Mr Nosey and Mr Greedy come along and acknowledge their own unique physical attributes. This helps Mr Tall accept his specially long legs. Just a shame he forgets his closest friend, Mr Small, who has to walk home taking a whole year.