Dirty Bertie 31 – Spider!

Alan MacDonald's Dirty Bertie - Spider is a collection of three stories for 6 year olds, starring a hairy house spider, a hideous jumper and a hunt for buried treasure.

What happens

It comes well into the Dirty Bertie series. If your reader already knows Bertie, his dog Whiffer, Miss Boot and Know-All Nick, they'll feel right at home.

The first story starts with a scream. There's a spider in the bath, dark and hairy and almost as big as Bertie's hand. Mum and Dad won't go near it. So Bertie catches it in his lunch box, names it Tickler and asks to keep it. Can you guess the answer?

So Tickler goes to school instead. Word gets round that Bertie has a tarantula. Soon there's a queue of classmates paying in sweets for a peek (Royston hands over a whole fudge bar). Bertie invents terrifying spider facts on the spot. Then he checks the box, and Tickler has gone.

In the second, Gran knits Bertie a present. It's custard yellow, with fluffy lambs skipping across the front, and it hangs down to his knees. Bertie tries to lose it at the swimming baths and on the coach. And Know-All Nick hands it back every single time.

The third story is a treasure hunt with Eugene's dad's metal detector. Is there Roman gold under Bertie's lawn? Or under the park-keeper's prize roses?

These are SO easy to love. Bertie's plans always sound brilliant for about five minutes. You can see the trouble coming a mile off, and that's half the fun. Anyone who has ever been given a jumper they hated will feel for him.

The grown-ups are great too. Gran is kind and completely unstoppable with her knitting needles. Mum clearly knows exactly where Bertie hid that jumper.

Each story comes in four short chapters, full of big shouty words in capitals. They're brilliant for reading aloud, especially if you do your best Miss Boot voice.

What to read next

Loved the chaos at Bertie's school? The girl next door has her own series too. Angela Nicely opens with Angela certain that her head teacher has come to assembly in a wig (and Bertie is there, being told to wipe his nose).