Movember: Mr Men

I love Mr Men books: the block colour illustrations, the quirky characters and the punchline on the last page of every book. Over the years my favourite has shifted. Looking back on my well-loved collection, I found a simple question in the back of one copy. 'Who's your favourite Mr. Men?' I wrote Mr. Worry. That's pretty worrying in itself that he was my favourite as a child. Of course, Mr Happy is now up there too. Unlike my Disney sleepwear, my Mr Happy pajamas don't have my name sewn on the front on them, so let's hope I never lose them. But recently a new favourite has come into my life, Mr. Nobody. I really can't recommend it enough and the power lesson of self-esteem it teaches....

Here's the spoiler alert (for anyone who doesn't like their Mr. Men reading ruined).

Mr Nobody learns he's not a nobody, he's a somebody and I'm a somebody. He has dignity, and I have dignity. He matters, and I matter. I really believe we need to live in a world where everyone understands that, embraces the parable of the Good Samaritan not as 'just doing my good deed for the day', but as helping even helping your worst enemy, because gentlemen and gentlewomen help. As I learnt from Colombia last month, helping can be as simple as standing in solidarity with someone, listening and sharing their story. Throughout Movember, I stand in solidarity with men with prostate or testicular cancer, with their families, with my family.

There's a new Mr Men in town: Mr. Mo, published especially for Movember and available on Kindle. I gave it a 5 star rating.