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Review #15523 - Dated: 7th of January, 2016
Author: kymmage |
I've never read any Dirty Bertie stories before. I have seen him about though, in the picture book section at the library and at the book fairs. However, neither of my kids have actively sought to read a story involving him. Miss 8 is quite germ-phobic and I wondered if that might be the reason. However, when she saw this book in the review pile she was very keen and thought that her sister might enjoy it as well.
This book is set out like a kid's novel. It has a soft cover with a striking image of grubby Bertie. The bright blue of the background with the gold foiled lettering on the cover and the gold accents on the coins raining down give it a nice touch, as do the water-colour splotches here and there. I assumed that we would be reading one novel about some kind of windfall. Though, I must admit I didn't read any of the blurbs.
We started to read the story and both Miss 8 ad I agreed that Jackpot was a bit of a train wreck story-wise. We could see immediately what had happened, and watching the family make some silly choices about money was quite painful. However, it was entertaining and at the end there were smiles and a few "silly people" groans. Bertie is quite a silly boy, similar in tone to many school boys in books we read. He is clever in his own way, but doesn't think his actions through.
I was surprised to find after the Jackpot story, another started. This was good though as it gave us a change of scene. Of course, more groans and oh dears, especially with Bertie's baking. Miss 8 exclaimed at one point, "Oh no, mum! I knew it. He would mix up the salt and the sugar! Well, sugar and salt can look the same. But they sure don't taste the same. That cake is going to taste like the beach". I couldn't agree more, yuck!
The last story got a wee bit spooky for Miss 8, who generally likes a good scare. She was worried about the Demon Doll, so I needed to clue her into what was happening. I thought it was pretty creepy too. As a collection, I thought the stories worked well together. The stories increase in absurdity. I think the Demon Dolly was well placed at the end, as the thrill-filled climax of the book. I've also started reading it to Miss 3 and she is loving it, though we will skip the Dolly story for now!
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