We Don’t Like Bertie
Sally Anderson
Tiny Tree Books

The little girl narrator of this story has recently become a big sister and now she feels totally sidelined, invisible in fact. Her mother’s time is all taken up with the baby so the girl creates Boggle, an imaginary friend. Boggle has a number of ideas that should attract mum’s attention. They sing very loud; they make breakfast for everybody; they wash the cat and get dressed all by themselves.

None of these activities have the desired effect on mum and so they help paint the nursery walls.

At last the little girl is invisible no longer; however, she’s in serious trouble with her mum. “It wasn’t me, it was Boggle!” she insists to a puzzled parent, going on to explain when Boggle came and that like herself, Boggle is invisible. Now her mum understands, assuring her daughter that she’s not invisible, rather she is mum’s BIG girl. This is followed by an offer to show how they can all play together and so they build towers with nappies, give Bertie a ‘rocket bottle’ and share a bedtime story; they even do a bit of colouring.

After all this, big sister has decided that in fact, she and Boggle quite like Bertie, though not all the time.

This story with its theme of new sibling jealousy is just right for sharing with small children in a situation similar to the book’s young narrator. The attention-seeking antics of the narrator and friend are captured in the delightfully dramatic illustrations making the book all the more fun.