DIRTY BERTIE

In what amounts to a No, David! knockoff, another child with a pop-eyed, oversized head earns repeated, large-type choruses of “No, Bertie! That’s dirty, Bertie!” when he eats from the dog’s dish, plays with worms, picks his nose, pees in the garden, and such. Not only is the cautionary admonishment sometimes inappropriate, but Bertie unrealistically turns over a new leaf after the garden sprinkler catches him with his pants down, his sister dumps a bucket of worms and slugs on his head, he gets a furry tongue from licking the dog, and so on. He does, however, continue to pick his nose, and on the final page is seen about to eat the fruit of his labor. Young readers may respond with a polite “eeewww” or two, but neither the staring eyes in the cartoon illustrations, nor the rigidly judgmental approach, is likely to spark much beyond that. (Picture book. 5-8)