![]() However, the reactions soon turned cold as they witnessed the mother’s tired tone and closed eyes. Initially, they also laughed as the mother and father kept referring to the monster as Bernard, saying ‘Not now, Bernard.’ ![]() They laughed as the monster ate up all of Bernard except for his shoe, laughed when the monster went to bite the father’s leg, and laughed as the father’s face turned green and purple in pain and rage. ![]() As the monster appears on the cover and has a light purple color, it is clearly not meant to scare children, and indeed the children I read to were in no way scared of the monster, but were rather amused by him. The illustrations in this picturebook are clear and simple, drawn in a style similar to that of cartoons, shortening characters in a comic, familiar, and non-threatening way for children. The story ends on the quote of the monster saying, ‘But, I’m a monster,’ to which Bernard’s mother replies, ‘Not now, Bernard.’ They keep telling him ‘Not Now, Bernard’ up until he is asked to go to bed after eating alone in front of the television. Halfway through the story, he gets eaten by a monster in his garden and the monster goes into his house, but the parents never notice. ![]() ![]() Not Now, Bernard deals with a neglected child at home who vies for his parents attention. After a vote, it seems Not Now, Bernard’s cover appealed to them more. This week, I read Not Now, Bernard (David McKee) and Angry Arthur (Hiawyn Oram & Satoshi Kitamura) to my second graders. ![]()
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