ANNOTATION

Bert receives a disastrous haircut, loses his dog, and discovers that there are many other Berts in the world.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The bumbling, child-friendly hero of The Adventures of Bert returns to transform mundane moments and everyday tasks into "adventures" that are now even more ridiculous. We meet Bert's mother (and learn Bert's secret regarding her boiled cabbage). We help Bert get a haircut (with uneven results). And we cheer Bert on as he searches for his lost dog (also named Bert, as are a number of people along the way to whom Bert turns for help). In the end, after a happy reunion between man and dog, there are all sorts of Berts to say good night to.

In a starred review, The Horn Book predicted that Bert's first book "will score a direct hit on five-year-old funnybones." In their second collaboration, author and artist have amplified the visual and verbal fun with even more artful, absurd results.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Collaborators on The Adventures of Bert, Allan Ahlberg and Raymond Briggs team up for a second round of silliness in A Bit More Bert. Cheeky chapters introduce absurd scenarios (in "Bert's Dog," Bert takes his dog, also named Bert, for a walk; in "Bert's Chips," the boy shares his snack with Grandma Bert, Baby Bert and Bert the dog); the unadulterated text and comic strip-style illustrations play up the slapstick humor.

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 1-Say "hallo" again to the hapless yet humorous star of The Adventures of Bert (Farrar, 2001). In this delightful sequel, the man-child again charms readers in his oh-so-British way, beginning with an introduction to his waggly dog named- Bert! As in the first book, this one is divided into short chapters that vividly capture the quirky aspects of Bert's mundane life. When his mother serves soggy cooked cabbage, he furtively grabs it up, squeezes out the excess water, tosses it into his napkin, and hides it in his pocket while thanking Mum for the lovely dinner. And when Bert the dog gets lost, there are lots more Berts around to help. Greatly contributing to the merriment are Briggs's colored-pencil and watercolor illustrations and effective layout, which perfectly complement the understated jocular tone of the limited text. Deceptively simple yet full of fun, this is another fine go-round with our friend Bert.-Teri Markson, Stephen S. Wise Temple Elementary School, Los Angeles Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Bert, our hero of the simple pleasures and deadpan circumstances (The Adventures of Bert, 2001), returns. Here, in a series of short, bordering-the-surreal, chapters, Bert goes for a walk with his pooch, Bert; gets a haircut from the reader (a chainsaw could have done a better job; shame on the reader); shares a bag of chips with Mrs. Bert and Grandma Bert and Baby Bert; and in a note of high drama, loses Bert the dog while out on a walk. At the police station, where he has gone for help in finding Bert the dog, he learns that everybody and their goldfish are also named Bert. Bert the dog is waiting for Bert when he gets home. Lastly, all the Berts go to bed-except for Bert the policeman, who is on his beat-so, "Good night, Bert!" Ahlberg's poker-faced text is ready with wit and Briggs's drawings are wonderfully bonhomous and droll: when Bert scans the options on the grocery shelf for a bag of chips, there are boiled-liver-flavored chips and jellied-eel-flavored chips and turnip-and-onion-flavored chips, and a "New!" flavor: potato. Bert is quite simply cheering in the extreme. Readers will walk away with a grin on the faces as big as the one that graces Bert's great pumpkin noggin. (Picture book. 3-6)