Trouble-is-a-brewing (Little Miss Library: Little Miss Trouble Moving House - Roger Hargreaves)

Member Name: MI9to5

Product:	Little Miss Library: Little Miss Trouble Moving House - Roger Hargreaves
Date:	16/07/09 (33 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lovely characters

Disadvantages: Some people don't see the hype

The Mr Men and Little Miss classic library's played a big part in my reading as a child and I was on all counts a huge Mr Men fan. To be perfectly honest I still am a big fan but my enthusiasm for the Mr Men and Little Miss was so much greater in the late 90's than it is now. For that reason it is probably no surprise for you to hear that when in 1998 Roger Hargreaves' son Adam Hargreaves released a new story library that told new stories about existing characters I was more than eager to collect the books.

The original Little Miss and Mr Men library has fully white covers and white spines, their popularity laid in their uniqueness but in order to distinguish the new library from the old one Adam Hargreaves created the covers with a pink (or blue) stripe down the left hand front side and right hand back side. I say pink (or blue) because the Little Miss were pink and the Mr Men blue. 'Were' however is the operative word as when I have seen the books lately all of them have had a blue stripe down them - don't ask me what the reasoning behind this is.

The Little Miss 'new' library consists of 12 stories with the second one, the one I am going to now review, being about Little Miss Trouble and called Little Miss Trouble moving house. The front cover of the book has a very bright and cheerful looking picture of Little Miss Trouble grinning madly next to a rather confused looking worm. The back of the book then has smaller pictures of all the books in the Mr Men and Little Miss new story library's making it easy for you to keep track of which ones you have left to buy and read.

Little Miss Trouble is a troublemaker, as you might have imagined and she loves nothing more than to be mischievous. This story tells us what happens when Little Miss Trouble wishes in a nearby wishing well to have a neighbour so that she can cause trouble. After making her wish in the well Little Miss Trouble is amazed when later that day she sees Mr Chatterbox's house next door to hers. In an attempt to cause trouble Little Miss Trouble cuts Mr Chatterbox's telephone line. Unfortunately for her though this means that Mr Chatterbox comes round to talk to her instead.

The next day Little Miss Trouble returns to the well and asks for another neighbour. Again her wish is granted but the neighbour proves to be no good for Little Miss Trouble to cause trouble and so she returns to wish again. Will she ever get a next door neighbour that she can cause real trouble for?

This is a super little story for children as it is very bright and fun to read. Furthermore the traditional format of text on the left hand side and pictures on the right hand side makes sure that there is always something to engage the attention of small children. The pictures themselves are very bright and colourful and can be used to discus the story rather than simply compliment it. Furthermore Little Miss Trouble is an adorable character despite her flaws and certainly one of the most memorable ones in the series.

Personally I think this book is perfect and fits seamlessly in with the others in the collection. It tells another great story about a very bright character and is one that I know lots of people enjoy reading. If you yourself have never read the stories from the new library but loved those in the original one then this book is definitely a must have tale.

Summary: A great addition