﻿	FIRST STEPS

	with the Mr.Men







FIRST STEPS

with the Mr.Men



A guide for young children to the

MIRRORSOFT

home computer program



by Richard Boulton



The Software for First Steps with the Mr. Men is published in

different versions for a number of computers.

The screen displays in this book are not exact representations

of the images produced on your screen; these will differ

according to which computer you have.



(C) 1983 by Roger Hargreaves and

Mirror Group Newspapers Ltd. All

rights reserved.  No part of this

publication may be reproduced, stored

in a retrieval system, or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic,

mechanical, photocopying, recording or

otherwise, without the prior permission

of the publishers.



Published by Mirrorsoft, Holborn Circus,

London EC1P 1DQ for Mirror Group Newspapers Ltd.



Printed and bound in Great Britain.



Not for sale separately from the Mirrorsoft

computer program First Steps with the Mr. Men.



A Note to Parents



  I hope you will read these stories with your

children as they play the Mr. Men computer

games for the first time.  They are intended to

introduce young children to the computer

games in an amusing and light-hearted way.

Instructions on loading the programs are

printed on the pack.  Do read these carefully to

ensure your programs load properly and you 

know of each program's features.



	Roger Hargreaves



	FIRST STEPS

	with the Mr.Men



	There are four stories in this book.  They tell

you about the adventures of Mr.Greedy, Mr.Silly

and Mr.Forgetful.



	These are special stories because with the

help of the computer you can see them

happening.  In fact, by pressing keys on the

computer's keyboard you can make them

happen.



	That makes these stories more like games-

games you can play with the Mr.Men.  As you

play the games on the computer you could

make up different stories to go with them.



	Anyway, here are my stories to start off with.  I

hope you enjoy them - and the games.



Mr Greedy's Ice-Cream Hunt



	Mr.Greedy is always thinking of what to eat.

Sometimes he thinks of hot steaming pies,

sometimes he thinks of fresh ripe fruit.  Today he

is thinking very hard about delicious ice-cream.

In fact Mr.Greedy is thinking so hard about how

good an ice-cream would taste that he falls

asleep and starts to dream.



	He is dreaming about ice-creams, of course!



	In Mr.Greedy's dream he is in a lovely room

with a yellow floor.  Each wall is different.  Can

you see a bright blue wall and a dark blue wall?

Can you see a bright red wall and a dark red

wall?



	Mr.Greedy dreams that somewhere in this

room a giant ice-cream cornet is hidden.  If only

he can find it he can eat it.  But Mr.Greedy

dreams he is going round and round and can't

even get near the ice-cream cornet.  Can you see

where it is hidden?



	You can help Mr.Greedy get to the cornet

when you play this game on the computer.  By

pressing keys you can tell him whether to go up

or down, or left or right.



	Here are the pictures which are next to the

keys you press to tell Mr.Greedy which way to

go.



	Yes, it's Mr.Clever pointing the way for you.



		  If you press this key

		Mr.Greedy will go up.



		  If you press this key

		which way do you think

		Mr.Greedy will go?



		  That's right.  He will go

		down.



		  If you press this key Mr.

		Greedy will go to one side,

		the left side.



		  And if you press this

		key which way do you

		think Mr.Greedy will go?



		  That's right.  He will go

		to the other side, the right

		side.



	Thank you Mr.Clever.



	If you look carefully you can see a different

colour behind each picture of Mr.Clever.  These

colours match the walls in Mr.Greedy's room.



	When you press the light blue key Mr.Greedy

moves towards the light blue wall.



	Now you can tell Mr.Greedy how to get to the

ice-cream by telling him which way to walk - up

or down, and left or right.



	Try it on the computer.  Can you see what

happens when Mr.Greedy is walking in one

direction and you press a key to tell him to go the

other way?  He turns round and starts walking in

the direction you told him.



	What happens when Mr.Greedy gets to his

giant ice-cream cornet?



	Yum!!



	You will find that Mr.Greedy's dream does not

end with just one ice-cream.  There are more!

Well, Mr.Greedy has very greedy dreams!



	But the second ice-cream is more difficult to

reach than the first.  You will have to help

Mr.Greedy get round some walls which have

appeared in Mr.Greedy's dream room.



	In fact the more ice-creams Mr.Greedy eats

the more difficult it is for him to reach the next

one.



	You can play this game until Mr.Greedy has

found all the ice-creams.



	Happy ice-cream hunting!



Mr Silly's Hat Game



	Mr.Silly is being sensible today.  He has gone

to a hat shop to buy a hat.  He says that the

weather is so cold he needs a hat to keep the

sun off his head!



	Here he is inside the hat shop.  There are lots

of shelves of hats.



	If you look carefully you can see there are

three different hat shapes and four different hat

colours.



	Mr.Silly is not sure which

hat will suit him best.  Here he

is asking for a hat so he can

try it on.



	He is saying a picture!

	What a funny way to ask for

	a hat.  You can help Mr.Silly

get the hat he wants when you play this game on

the computer.  He says which hat he wants and

you can find it for him on the shelves.



	But wait a moment.  Mr.Silly is wearing a hat

already!  Oh well, I expect he will take it off when

he gets the hat he wants.



	The way you choose the hat Mr.Silly wants is

by pressing keys on the computer's keyboard.



	   Each time you press

	this key a marker moves

	along a shelf pointing at

	each hat in turn.  When

	the marker reaches the

	end of a shelf it moves

	down to the next shelf.

Try it on the computer.  Press the key and see

what happens.  Did you see the marker move

down to the next shelf when it reached the end?



	When you have got the marker pointing at the

hat Mr.Silly wants you can give that hat to

Mr.Silly by pressing the key marked with *



	Make sure it is the hat Mr.Silly asked for.  Is it

the shape he wants?  Is it the colour he wants? If

it is not the shape Mr.Silly wants and the colour

Mr.Silly wants he won't take the hat.  Mr.Silly

may be silly, but he knows which hat he wants!



	You can see what Mr.Silly does with the hats

you choose for him when you play the game on

the computer.  All I will tell you now is that it is

very silly!  In fact Mr.Silly keeps on asking for

hats until you have given him every hat in the

shop!



	Sometimes you will want to choose a hat on a

shelf above the one where your marker is.  You 

can make the marker move up one shelf at a 

	time by pressing this key.

	Try it on the computer and

	see if you can move the

	marker up to a higher

	shelf.



	  Jumping up a shelf will

	help you get the hat Mr.

Silly wants more quickly.



	Well I have been telling you a lot about finding

Mr.Silly's hat for him.  You better get on and find

them for him before he gets too hot from the

wind, or was it too cold from the sun?  I forget.



	Oh, by the way, if you like finding Mr.Silly's

hats for him you can go on looking for them after

you have emptied the shelf.  The shelves fill up

all by themselves.  But the next time you take a

hat from the shelves to give to Mr.Silly, there is

something left on the shelf.



	And if you take all the hats from the shelves for

the second time, the shelves fill up again all by

themselves.  This is the last time the shelves

fill up in the game and you can see what is left on

the shelf this time when you play it!



Mr Forgetful's Wardrobe Game



	Poor Mr.Forgetful...he tries very hard to be a 

tidy person but when he puts something away

he usually forgets where he put it.  Sometimes

he goes out for walks wearing only one sock

because he forgot where he put the other one!



	Mr.Forgetful has though of a special way to

remember where he puts things.  He has bought

a lot of wardrobes and he has left one thing in

each wardrobe.



He has put away a pair of socks, a pair of

shoes, a pair of roller skates,

a pair of boots, a pair of ice skates, a pair

of mittens and a pair of slippers.



	But to be extra tidy Mr.Forgetful has put one

sock in one wardrobe and the other sock in

another wardrobe on the other side of the room.

He has also done that with his shoes, roller

skates, boots, slippers, ice skates and mittens!



	It seemed a very good idea when he did it but

now Mr.Forgetful can't find a pair of anything!



He wants to go out for a walk but he can't find his

shoes or his boots or his mittens or his socks or

anything!  He has forgotten which wardrobe he

put them in and now he is trying to remember.



	You can help Mr.Forgetful find his socks and

shoes and all the other things when you play this

game on the computer.



	Mr.Forgetful has lined all his wardrobes up in

one room, some on one side and an equal

number on the other side.



	He can go to a wardrobe and open the door to

see what is inside.  You can show him which

wardrobe to go to by pressing special keys.



	They are the same keys which you use for Mr.

Greedy's Ice-cream Hunt.



By telling Mr.Forgetful which way to go you

can send him to a wardrobe.

When he is touching the

wardrobe like this you can open

the wardrobe door to look inside

by pressing the 

key marked with *



	Let's see what's inside.  Press

the keys to send Mr.Forgetful

to a wardrobe and open the

door.  What can you see?



	Is it a , or a ? Maybe

it's a, or an ,

or even a, a, or a !



	Whichever it is, there's only one of them!  Mr.

Forgetful needs two so you must help him find

the other one.



	Let's get Mr.Forgetful to look inside another

wardrobe, but don't forget to choose one over

the other side of the room.



	What did you find in the second wardrobe?

Does it make a pair with that was in the first

wardrobe?  If it does, you can send Mr.Forgetful

off to open another wardrobe.  The doors on the

first two wardrobes will stay open.



	If what is in the first two wardrobes does not

make a pair the doors will shut when you move

Mr.Forgetful away to look in another wardrobe.



	Make sure you take a good look while the

doors are open.



	Remember what is in each wardrobe so you

can help Mr.Forgetful to remember where

everything is.



	As you look inside more wardrobes with

Mr.Forgetful you will learn where everything is.

But remember you can only open two doors at

once.  The doors only stay open if you have found

two things which are the same.



	Once you have got all the doors to stay open

Mr.Forgetful can see exactly what he is looking

for.



	If you want to play this again you will see

that all the things Mr.Forgetful keeps in his

wardrobes have got muddled up.  They are not at

all in the same place!  You have to help

Mr.Forgetful all over again.



	No wonder Mr.Forgetful sometimes goes out

wearing only one sock.



Mr Forgetful's Letter Game



	My last story is also about Mr.Forgetful.  He so

enjoyed looking for his shoes and socks in his

wardrobes that he sat down at this table to think

of another game he could play with all his

wardrobes.



	It was so nice sitting down that after a minute

Mr.Forgetful couldn't remember why he had sat

down!  Well, he does forget things so easily.



	He saw his box of letters lying on the table.  Do

you have a box of alphabet letters?  In Mr.

Forgetful's box there are lots and lots of letters.

He laid them out on the table trying to remember

if he had got them all.  When he counted up he

found he had two whole sets of letters.



	Suddenly Mr.Forgetful remembered why he

had sat down.  Have you remembered why?



	"My wardrobes", he said, "I shall hide my

letters in my wardrobes to make a new game".



	Mr.Forgetful put one letter from one alphabet

in one row of wardrobes and the same letter

from the other alphabet in one of the wardrobes

in the other row.  In this way he filled all his

wardrobes with letters.



	"There, looking for these letters should be a 

good game; just like looking for my socks", said

Mr.Forgetful.



	Mr.Forgetful is right, it is a good game and

you can help Mr.Forgetful play it on the

computer.  It is just like looking for his socks in his

Wardrobe Game.  When you look inside the

wardrobes with Mr.Forgetful you must

remember each letter because he won't 

remember them.



	Saying the sound of the letter out loud is a

good way of remembering-for example, for 'a'

say 'a' as it sounds in apple.  Perhaps a grown-up

can help you do this.



	There is another way a grown-up can help you

in this game.  You can make a special request to

the computer to hide letters you choose.  Ask a 

grown-up to show you how.



	Perhaps you might choose some of the letters

from your name.  But remember, the number of

letters Mr.Forgetful can hide is only the same as

the number of wardrobes in one row.



	Have a happy letter game!











