Not Now, Bernard - David McKee

Masquerading as a children's book, Not Now Bernard might perhaps be seen by many as one for the parents who read it aloud as a bedtime story to their little babes. The front cover acts as an introduction to the story, setting the scene. We see a small boy whom we presume to be Bernard, gazing wide eyed at what is obviously a monster, and a fearsome one at that, baring his teeth from on top of a mound. The monster is about as broad as he is tall and is almost all face, with short limbs attached. Opening the cover, we see the monster again, but this time he has his index finger on his mouth and looks as though he thinks he has done something wrong. On the title ...  Read the complete review

I like to try and take my boys to the library every week or two as I feel that books are a really important part of life. They not only encourage speech at a young age but as you get older it can become an enjoyable past time. Last week we went our local Rhyme Time and Noah ran up to me at the end of the session with this one. I nearly wet my pants with excitement when I saw it as the memories from my childhood came flooding back. 'Not now Bernard' is a children's book written by David Mckee and was first published in 1980. It is available from all good book stores and costs £4.99 although I am sure you could get it a little cheaper from Amazon or Ebay or you ...  Read the complete review

This children's book is written by the famous 'David McKee', and I was quite excited about reading it when we got it home from the library, on the strength of the author alone: oh how disappointed was I? The book tells the story of Bernard, a young lad who is ignored by his all too busy parents, and who is then eaten by a monster, who like-wise is ignored by Bernard's mum and dad. OK, as a kids' book, this works. The story is imaginative and unpredictable, and the illustrations that adorn each page are simple but entertaining, using almost full page colour paintings on each page. The language is repetitive and basic, making it a good book to learn ...  Read the complete review

I find this picture book about a little boy trying to get attention from his parents very funny and rather sad and disturbing at the same time. The story is very short with just one sentence below an illustration on each page - the longest sentence is 14 words and most are a lot shorter. This review is probably longer than the book. Bernard goes to talk to each of his parents in turn but they are preoccupied with other activities and don't seem to have much time for him, and everything he says gets the same response, "Not now, Bernard". He tells his mum he is going to be eaten by a monster and she apparently doesn't listen or look, just says, ...  Read the complete review