Review: Little Miss Busy Surviving Motherhood by Roger Hargreaves

I have been enjoying the Mr Men/Little Miss series for grown ups so much that even though I do not have children, I couldn't resist borrowing this particular volume when I found at at my local library. Full of the series trademark savage humour this volume turns its attention towards Little Miss Busy, who is, in fact, quite busy looking after her three children and being made to feel like an imperfect mother at every turn, whether it is through making costumes for school, her mother-in-law (none other than Little Miss Splendid,) or the annoyingly goody-goody and annoyingly perfect mother of twins, Little Miss Sunshine. Eventually thanks to some good advice and the discovery that others may not be doing quite as well as they pretend to be, Little Miss Busy finds a solution to her problems.

This was fun, funny and relatable on one very surprising level. The Little Miss Sunshine subplot almost perfectly mirrors a family (which included identical twins) that I knew for a time during my childhood and always left me feeling a bit inadequate. (To be fair, they are very nice people, though I never heard from them again after they upgraded to a better neighbourhood, or during that era when everyone was catching up with everyone on facebook, so it's doubtful that they remember me or that they're reading this or will recognise themselves. Or they already think I'm evil, who knows?) Other bits are quite funny and relatable as well and I feel certain will leave many, many mothers of primary school aged children with a smile on their face. 

Savage and funny.

Recommended.

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