The Adventures of Bert - Hardcover

Ahlberg, Allan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0374300925 ISBN 13: 9780374300920

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR), 2001

Synopsis

Meet Bert.
Say hallo to Bert.

Bert is a friendly chap who has many strange and exciting adventures. For instance, one morning as he struggles to put on a shirt, Bert falls down the stairs, out the door, and into the back of a truck, which takes him on an unplanned journey to Scotland.

Another time, Bert is chased down the street by a giant sausage.

Not to worry! Plucky, enthusiastic Bert always rises to the occasion, in this high-spirited collaboration between an internationally acclaimed author and illustrator, who are working together for the first time.

About this title

About the Author

Allan Ahlberg is the author of many books, including The Jolly Postman and its two sequels, which together have sold over five million copies. He lives in England and works in a writing hut overlooking the river Thames.

Raymond Briggs is the creator of The Snowman, which has been translated into more than ten languages, as well as Father Christmas, The Bear, and numerous other books. He lives in Sussex, England.

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.

About this edition

• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0374300925
• ISBN 13: 9780374300920
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Briggs Raymond