Unforgettable

Today

Last week I was in Paris for the day with Becky. In the Marche de St Orgueille we passed a bookshop which had a  stand outside with Mr Men and Little Miss books, all in French.

With much amusement we browsed, eventually buying M Etourdi (Mr Forgetful) because we wanted to know how the transition between "There's a sheep loose in the lane" and "there's a goose asleep in the rain" was managed in French. Not rhymingly, we found, with  "Un Mouton s'est echappe" becoming "Votre moineau s'est envole". (your sparrow has flown away). I guess you have to be a French child to see the connection.

In My Day

As a small child Becky absolutely loved her Mr Men books which started with the innocuous Mr Happy. Special favourites were Mr Noisy (when Becky brought her play-school volume voice into the kitchen all we had to yell was "Speak up, I can't hear you!" and she would immediately quieten down), Mr Messy, Mr Fussy (nephew Mark would read this to Becky, guffawing over Mr Fussy's cutting the lawn with nail scissors), and Mr Worry. Mr Bump was always useful when she'd had a tumble or knock (you can buy Mr Bump sticking plasters) and we all laughed at the solution to Mr Small's problem - lead boots.

But the incorrigible Mr Forgetful was far and away the favourite. We never tired of "There's a goose asleep in the rain" and it's got into our lexicon of daily phrases when messages are mis-heard or wrongly delivered. Becky would tuck Mr Forgetful under her pillow at night and was always happy to have it read to her.

Actually, Etourdi really means scatterbrained or feather-brained which isn't quite the same thing as being forgetful, but I hope to have the chance to enjoy these books in French or English with the next generation of young 'uns.