Alan MacDonald’s Dirty Bertie – Germs is three very silly stories for 6 year olds about a boy who’d love to catch chickenpox and can’t.<\/p>\n
Bertie’s sister Suzy droops into the kitchen with spots. It’s chickenpox, so no school for a week! Bertie thinks that’s very unfair (he hardly ever washes his hands, so if anyone has earned an illness it’s him).<\/p>\n
Worse, it’s Friday. Friday is homework day and Bertie hasn’t done his.<\/p>\n
So he goes hunting for germs. He cleans his teeth with Suzy’s pink toothbrush. He finishes off her lemonade. Mum isn’t fooled for a second and says what he’s really got is “homework-itus”.<\/p>\n
Then he spots Angela Nicely from next door at the school gates, sucking a stick of liquorice. What can a desperate boy do with someone else’s soggy liquorice?<\/p>\n
In the second story Gran needs a partner for a ballroom dancing competition. Bertie would rather eat dog food. Then he hears the prize is a cruise to New York, and by the end of the week he’s stomping about like a matador with Mum’s best scarf.<\/p>\n
The third is the babysitter story. Gran has toothache, so Kevin from over the road comes instead. He’s a teenager in a long black coat and he doesn’t seem to care what Bertie does.<\/p>\n
A snack? Whatever. Staying up late? Whatever. You can probably guess what the lounge looks like by the time Mum and Dad’s car pulls up.<\/p>\n
This is book nine in the series but you can start anywhere. Each story stands on its own and comes in four short chapters, which suits a reader who’s just getting going alone.<\/p>\n
The jokes are germs, burps and nose-picking, and the book isn’t a bit sorry about it. Bertie’s no angel either. There’s itching powder in the dancing story and he completely gets away with it.<\/p>\n
Worth knowing before you hand it over. Bertie and Kevin end up watching a zombie film, and for a minute you get the film itself. A hand smashes through a window and the zombies start up the stairs.<\/p>\n
It’s over quickly and Bertie ends up behind the sofa. A child who gets jumpy about monsters at bedtime might want that story in daylight. One who likes a little shiver with their giggles will love it.<\/p>\n
If Gran turned out to be their favourite, she picks Bertie again in the three stories in Fetch. This time he’s her guest at a garden party at the palace, and the whole family’s worried about his manners.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Alan MacDonald’s Dirty Bertie – Germs is three very silly stories for 6 year olds about a boy who’d love to catch chickenpox and can’t. Bertie’s sister Suzy droops into the kitchen with spots. It’s chickenpox, so no school for a week! Bertie thinks that’s very unfair (he hardly ever washes his hands, so if […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":14151,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"lr_next_read_post_id":7222,"lr_next_read_anchor":"the three stories in Fetch","lr_seo_hook":"Chasing chickenpox, ballroom dancing with Gran and a babysitter in black.","lr_series_id":13,"lr_series_name":"Dirty Bertie","lr_series_position":9,"lr_series_label":""},"book_tag":[23],"age_group":[31],"book_type":[1044],"book_author":[57],"class_list":["post-14152","our-books","type-our-books","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","book_tag-funny-books","age_group-books-for-6-year-olds","book_type-paid","book_author-alan-macdonald"],"yoast_title":"Dirty Bertie 9 – Germs! by Alan MacDonald | Little Reads","yoast_metadesc":"Chasing chickenpox, ballroom dancing with Gran and a babysitter in black. For ages 6+. 3,000+ books in the Little Reads app. 7-day free trial.","acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n