(Eleventh of 12 : Dr. Who/ Mr. Men series. Children's. Retro)



The Doctor and River Song have just spent a very busy day avoiding danger from all quarters. Unfortunately, the Doctor has left something vitally important behind - but he can’t remember when or where he left it or what, in fact, it is. They do have a time machine though, so they go back and retrace their steps through all the dangers.

4**** ( )

The Eleventh Doctor and River Song retrace their steps through all kinds of danger to find the Doctor has lost. I loved the Mr. Men series when I was a kid, so I am ridiculously giddy about this mashup with Doctor Who. Very impressed with how the simple Mr. Men-style characters manage to emulate the Doctor characters' personas. ( )

The Dr. Eleventh book tells a story of the Doctor from the Doctor Who TV show. It is an adventure from the beginning to the end in which the Doctor along with his companion River must retrace his footsteps to find something he is missing. After what many trials and close encounters, the Doctor stumbles onto what he lost it was his favorite hat. This makes River question why she went on this crazy adventure just to find the Doctor's missing hat. At the end of the day, she knows that it's a normal day in the life of the Doctor and despite his crazy life and antics she still loves him at the end of the day. This is a book that most people should be able to relate to. I think there is some point in our lives that we have miss placed something that we hold dear to us and have to retrace our footsteps in order to find it again. From beginning to the end, this is a book that I enjoyed reading and I am planning on reading more of the books in this series. ( )

The second of the Doctor Who/Mr Men crossovers I've read and I'm still struggling with them. The target audience of the Mr Men books must be too young to get all the Doctor Who references necessary to enjoy these, and for an adult it's obviously pretty thin stuff.

I mean yes, there's obviously the quirk factor of the stories but I'm not sure that lasts across two waves of book releases. A bit like the Ladybird Books for Grown-Ups or the Enid Blyton for adults, the gag is over-extended and I can't help but feel there's an element of cynicism in that.

And I do feel bad for feeling like that because... well... it's the Mr Men isn't it? I don't want to think of the Mr Men as cynical (much as I love Doctor Who we're 10 years past Martha Jones Frubes now so nothing surprises me on that front anymore).

I'm probably coming at it from the wrong angle. These aren't to be engaged with as books or even children's literature. They're objet novelité (as the French wouldn't say); the pleasure to be derived from them lies in the novelty of their existence.

Put them on a shelf, show them to your friends, but don't get them out of a library. ( )