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Dirty Bertie #18
Scream!
Dirty Bertie - the boy with nose-pickingly disgusting habits - is back for another helping of comic chaos! Join Bertie as he builds his very own haunted house, livens up a weekend in the country and is put under the spotlight at a spelling contest!
98 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 1, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 10, 2024
Really good
March 14, 2026
We just finished Dirty Bertie: Scream!, which I read with my nine-year-old at bedtime. It’s a collection of three short Dirty Bertie stories, and because they’re so short it didn’t take us long to get through, we usually read about ten minutes a night before bed.
The first story, Scream, was my daughter’s absolute favourite. Bertie’s parents go out to a concert with his sister and leave his grandma in charge, who basically just sits on the sofa and ignores him (which I did find a bit odd, my kids’ grandparents are a lot more involved than that!). Bertie has been banned from trick-or-treating because he’s misbehaved, so he and his friends decide to turn the house into a haunted house and charge people to come in. One of his friends even ends up being used as a mummy. My daughter thought this was hilarious. It was probably my least favourite of the three, but she was absolutely giggling through it.
The second story is about the family going away to the countryside for the weekend. This one really made my daughter laugh because she related to it, the rest of our family loves countryside walks, but she is not a country girl and hates walking. Bertie decides he’s already bored before they even leave, discovers there’s no TV where they’re going, and “helpfully” unpacks all the sensible things his mum packed (like waterproofs and walking boots) and replaces them with games. As a mum I was just sitting there thinking about all the effort his mum probably put into organising that trip, only for him to undo it! Of course they arrive at the cottage and things go a bit wrong.
The third story, Spelling Bee, was probably the one that sparked the most conversation between us. Bertie cheats off another boy’s spelling test and ends up in the school spelling bee. My daughter was very shocked by this, she’s a real rule-follower at school (if only that carried over at home!). What was quite cute is that while we were reading it she would cover the words in the book and try to spell them herself before Bertie did.
My biggest issue with the stories, as a parent, is that they sort of just… end. Bertie does something pretty bad, it eventually gets revealed, and then the story stops without really showing any consequences or resolution. I found that a bit frustrating, especially for the age group it’s aimed at (my daughter is nine and right in the target audience). It would have been nice to see a bit more of a moral wrap-up or some sort of lesson at the end.
That said, my daughter absolutely loved it. She found all the stories really funny and said it’s one of her favourite books we’ve read together. She would happily read more Bertie books and gave it five stars.
For me, it’s more of a three-star read. It’s very one-dimensional and quite short, but it is engaging for kids and it definitely kept my daughter entertained, which is the most important thing. As a bedtime read for this age group, it works really well, lots of silly humour and quick stories that keep them interested.
The first story, Scream, was my daughter’s absolute favourite. Bertie’s parents go out to a concert with his sister and leave his grandma in charge, who basically just sits on the sofa and ignores him (which I did find a bit odd, my kids’ grandparents are a lot more involved than that!). Bertie has been banned from trick-or-treating because he’s misbehaved, so he and his friends decide to turn the house into a haunted house and charge people to come in. One of his friends even ends up being used as a mummy. My daughter thought this was hilarious. It was probably my least favourite of the three, but she was absolutely giggling through it.
The second story is about the family going away to the countryside for the weekend. This one really made my daughter laugh because she related to it, the rest of our family loves countryside walks, but she is not a country girl and hates walking. Bertie decides he’s already bored before they even leave, discovers there’s no TV where they’re going, and “helpfully” unpacks all the sensible things his mum packed (like waterproofs and walking boots) and replaces them with games. As a mum I was just sitting there thinking about all the effort his mum probably put into organising that trip, only for him to undo it! Of course they arrive at the cottage and things go a bit wrong.
The third story, Spelling Bee, was probably the one that sparked the most conversation between us. Bertie cheats off another boy’s spelling test and ends up in the school spelling bee. My daughter was very shocked by this, she’s a real rule-follower at school (if only that carried over at home!). What was quite cute is that while we were reading it she would cover the words in the book and try to spell them herself before Bertie did.
My biggest issue with the stories, as a parent, is that they sort of just… end. Bertie does something pretty bad, it eventually gets revealed, and then the story stops without really showing any consequences or resolution. I found that a bit frustrating, especially for the age group it’s aimed at (my daughter is nine and right in the target audience). It would have been nice to see a bit more of a moral wrap-up or some sort of lesson at the end.
That said, my daughter absolutely loved it. She found all the stories really funny and said it’s one of her favourite books we’ve read together. She would happily read more Bertie books and gave it five stars.
For me, it’s more of a three-star read. It’s very one-dimensional and quite short, but it is engaging for kids and it definitely kept my daughter entertained, which is the most important thing. As a bedtime read for this age group, it works really well, lots of silly humour and quick stories that keep them interested.
November 12, 2023
Three quick stories of Bertie in scary situations.
Cute to read with the litte ones
Cute to read with the litte ones
January 12, 2024
Just a cute and short read to start my reading journey of 2024.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews