Mr. Nobody

Mr. Men #48

by Roger Hargreaves, Adam Hargreaves

Mr. Nobody is an invisible nobody from nowhere. He thinks he used to be a somebody, but he can't really remember who, what, where, or when. When Mr. Happy finds him crying one day, he decides that he has to help him! But what can he do to help this Nobody become a Somebody?

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

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

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

[Charlotte May]

An interesting idea, but not one of my favourite Mr Men books.

[Lostaccount]

One of the greatest works of literature.

Recommend you read this whilst listening to the pathos that is Divine Comedy's "To The Rescue" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbW-a...

*deadpan face*

[Sophie Crane]

Another lovely book to help young children normalise thier worries.

[Danielle Palmer]

If you find someone with amnesia who is having a midlife crisis, take them home with you. Find them a magical self help coach who fixes healthy drinks and yells affirmative mantras at them and in essence turns them into your twin. Problem solved.

[Les Wilson]

Another enjoyable family read.

[τλιϓλ]

"Everybody is somebody" It's true but he now turned yellow like Mr. Happy @_@ how am I going to differentiate between both and why yellow and what we shall call him now??

[[ J o ]]

So many questions. Who has Mr Nobody become? Is he now a second Mr Happy? Why yellow? Why.

[Alex]

I did not like this book because I do not like being nobody. I also did not like this book because Mr. Nobody was very nobody.

[Charo Havermans]

superb

[Alannah Clarke]

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.

[Jade Moore]

Ever since I was little I've enjoyed the Mr Men and Little Miss books. I haven't read one for quite some time and a while ago I noticed this one, 'Mr. Nobody' and I couldn't believe there was a Mr. Nobody and I immediately felt sad for the character. I found it again today and had to get it, and now I think it's my favourite one, since Mr. Happy is there too to help Mr. Nobody. It's a nice little story of hope and I enjoyed it and so will the children who read it or have it read to them.

[Horace Mann Family Reading Challenge]

I like this book because they are weird. This is a big series, so I recommend it to whoever is reading this! KY

[Wilde Sky]

Mr Happy helps someone with identity problems.

I thought this book had a sweet story / illustrations and a solid moral message.

[Meredith]

Mr. Nobody is sad because he doesn't know who he is or where he's from.

One day while walking home, Mr. Happy stumbles upon a transparent person, sitting in a tree, crying. He asks him who he is, and Mr. Nobody replies that he's no one. Mr. Happy, being a happy sort of fellow, believes "everybody's somebody" and won't accept this as an answer.

He takes Mr. Nobody to the local neighborhood wizard. The wizard ponders what to do and corrects Mr. Nobody's use of a double negative. Finally, the wizard mixes up a magic potion. Mr. Nobody drinks it, and he changes from being see-through to being yellow.

Now Mr. Nobody is a virtual doppelgänger of Mr. Happy. Yet somehow none of the characters foresees the slightest problem with this. Everyone is pleased with the potion's success. And Mr. Happy happily exclaims "everybody's somebody!"

Similar to Horton Hears a Who!’s “A person is a person no matter how small,” the moral of this story is that everybody is somebody even if invisible.

I also wondered if this story were an allusion to The Great Gatsby in which Tom Buchanan calls Jay Gatsby "Mr Nobody from Nowhere" or if this were purely a coincidence.

[Sean Harding]

This is the final Mr Men in the box set of Mr Men books, although apparently there are three more books. This again is one that Adam wrote and not Roger, and is arguably the worst of the whole Mr Men series. Mr Nobody is really Mr Transparent or Mr Clear, Mr No Colour..
Putting colour in someone doesn't seem to be a very good solution to making a nobody become a somebody.
The tone aspect the book gets is the importance of Mr Happy to the whole series, he is the stitches that holds the fabric of Misterland together.
Well the Mister men Marathon is over, a Little Miss Marathon will be held at some point!! (And maybe those extraneous Mister books as well)

[Slow Man]

I am glad this is last one of the series. It’s heart warming and endearing. Everyone’s a somebody. We are born a nobody and we should make ourself somebody. In a big or small way it doesn’t really matter. Make some friends and get talking. Explore and walk the yellow brick road. Stumble and fall and get back up, cry a little, smile a lot and if you have love for stuff, you are on your way to become somebody. And don’t forget to read too.

[Dan Boughen]

6 year old says... I think Mr Happy should stop being in the stories, he's in too many.

40 year old says... My Happy's picture is on the first page. It's not his book, he should bugger off. Stop getting involved in everyone else's stories. It's not all about him. Poor Mr Nobody, clearly has self worth issues, then Mr Story Invader steals the limelight. It's just rude. Whatevs.

Anyway, this concludes our Mr Men reviews.

[Ana y los libros]

Para los niños pequeños es un libro tierno, con una historia sencilla, fácil de seguir y que busca enseñar que todos tenemos valor por ser personas y existir. En pocas palabras, si buscas libros para lectores pequeños es una buena opción y la cual imagino que a un niño le gustaría leer y releer :)

[Linda (bythebellbooks)]

...καθένας από εμάς είναι κάποιος :-) PS I read the book in Greek together with my 8 year old doughter :-)

[Kylie Abecca]

Such an important message - Everybody’s a somebody.

[Danny]

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

[Shahrun]

Classic Mr Men story, with fab illustrations.

[Bustagroovy]

I was hoping he'd turn out to be Mr Miserable who was in the Mr Happy book and never seen again.

[Bryn]

Beware of the dreaded double negative. Also, just because he's yellow now doesn't mean he's a somebody, he still needs to find a life purpose.

[Dane Cobain]

It’s hard to say why I like this because of spoilers, but the ending was good.

[Roland]

Absolutely adorable.

[lexi]

4.25 stars

“Everybody’s a somebody!” Adorable!🥺🤍

[Marianna Sharktooth]

Κανείς δεν είναι κανένας, ακόμη κι αν είναι ο κύριος Κανένας! Ένα βιβλίο που φωτίζει τις πλευρές μας με χαμηλή αυτοπεποίθηση. Είναι όλα σημαντικά, είμαστε όλοι σημαντικοί! Και πάντα υπάρχει τρόπος!

[Jade]

Calm down, Wizard! lol

[Gauri]

Nice story Roger hargreves Mr. Men series really are nice