From Publishers Weekly
Ahlberg (The Jolly Postman) and Briggs (The Snowman) create a dialogue of words and images in these tales of a clumsy Englishman or, rather, an overgrown English boy. In Chapter One, Bert wakes up: "Meet Bert. This is him. Say hallo to Bert." The character extends a voice-bubble "Hallo!" His beaming smile, button eyes and round head suggest Briggs's Snowman reborn as a rugby player. Next, the text addresses a diminutive, dowdy Mrs. Bert and Baby Bert, who is "fast asleep. Shh! Turn the page... quietly." Inevitably, flipping the page awakens the baby, who explodes into red-faced howling. Bert himself is an infantile fellow, with an awkward body, endearing curiosity and holes in his droopy knit socks. When he tries to dress himself, he tumbles out the door ("He ends up in Scotland"); when he meets a giant sausage, he panics, unaware that it's a costumed vendor. Ahlberg's artful narrative comments on and chats with the slapsticky, colored-pencil images. Briggs's visual sequences communicate the hero's actions eloquently and add atmospheric touches (e.g., a striped tail protrudes from a margin, but readers never see the whole cat), and he alters the pacing by moving fluidly from spreads to comic strip-style panels. Both author and illustrator invite audience conversation with their amiable hero. Ages 3-6.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
reS-In five brief chapters, Ahlberg and Briggs chronicle the adventures of Bert, a large, affable, and simple fellow. The beginning and end chapters show Bert peacefully at home with wife and baby. The middle three all begin with an ordinary circumstance that quickly becomes frenetic and bizarre. Bert's struggles to put on a shirt somehow land him in Scotland. A stroll down a street finds him being chased by a giant sausage. A walk by a river features Bert both in need of being rescued and then as heroic rescuer. Ahlberg's words are almost superfluous as Briggs's endearing illustrations clearly and comically delineate the action. The humor is quirky and has a decidedly British flair, but the book could prompt some giggles when shared one-on-one with the younger set.
Grace Oliff, Ann Blanche Smith School, Hillsdale, NJ
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
