Bertie and the Bear

This week I chose to read ‘Bertie and the Bear’ by Pamela Allen. This popular and enduring picture  book (written in 1983), tells of a dramatic chase involving a boy named Bertie, a bear and a host of other colourful and noisy characters. The story builds gradually as new characters are added to the chase; each adding their own element of noise. This eventually culminates in a spectacular double page spread where Allen depicts the outlandish procession, listing each character and the particular sound they are contributing.

Allen makes use of the visual, graphophonic, semantic and grammatical cue systems to make the story fun and engaging for young readers (or listeners). An example is Allen’s inclusion of ‘onomatopoeia’ (the use of words which are pronounced in a way that imitates the sound they describe), for example; the ‘bom bomming’ of a drum. This helps to make the text particularly engaging for children as it enhances their ability to imagine (or ‘hear’) the sounds. Allen also uses font size as a device for adding emphasis (for example loud sounds have been written in large, capitalised font). The illustrations accompanying the story add another layer of meaning; particularly through the expressions depicted on the faces of the characters.

I think ‘Bertie and the Bear’ would be an excellent text to use in lower primary classrooms – particularly as it provides opportunities for students to really become involved in story-telling. The focus on ‘sound’ makes the book extremely suited to drama/music activities and encourages student participation. This is something which I see as very valuable – as children who are participating actively in texts are likely to be gaining more meaning from their experiences and will learn to attach positive feelings to books and reading.