There is a book that foresaw with precision this summer’s Conservative leadership contest, although it was first published in 1980. It is not clear whether the monster is real, or a figment of Bernard's imagination in his attempt to amuse himself and also in a stretch to get through to his parents. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. The format of this book is: softback cover with matt finish, tiresias font of 75pt, and Grade 1 UEB Braille. Foreign secretaries and wannabe prime ministers used to avoid imbecilities of that kind before Boris Johnson contaminated both offices with his marauding insouciance.

My favourite bit is the look on the monster's face when he realises he has doomed himself to a life of suburban maltreatment. This short, simple story tackles the issue of a young boy who tries to get the attention of his mum and dad, and yet every attempt is met with a "Not now, Bernard".Arguably the finest children’s book ever written, McKee’s clever fable is both a warning to neglectful parents and a very funny story about being ignored. Presumably this sort of beastial attack would have generated screams, Bernards monster has some business-looking sharp teeth that protrude from his mouth.

For parents, it's actually a good reminder that, if you don't give your children enough positive attention, they will soon turn into little monsters. Children get it, it's not scary, just funny, the illustrations are very clear and the characters are brilliant.This is a story about two neglectful parents who are so disinterested in the welfare and activities of their child, they fail to notice when he is savagely attacked and eaten in the garden by a monster. Drama activity: Jeremy Kyle style show- have Bernard and his mum and dad and get the audience to ask them questions. Bernard is so fed up, that he goes into the garden, gets eaten by a monster, and his mum and dad still don't notice! It is a thin volume about denial and negligence, making its point with few words and colourful illustrations.

It concerns the systematic neglect of the eponymous Bernard and his subsequent demise at the hands of a monster he meets in his garden. This activity would be an effective way for the children to get to know a text and a great way of incorporating dialogic talk into the classroom. With his dad barely there (he’s only in two parts) and his mum only offering practical support - making him dinner, making him go to bed - Bernard is pretty much on his own, nobody eats with him and he’s expected to take himself to bed. The sturdy and stylish cased board book, complete with QR code for audiobook download, makes this a must for every nursery bookshelf. Beautifully written and illustrated - David McKee also created the wonderful Mr Benn - this works really well as a picture book (the monster is quite thrilling and scary to kids) but I found it incredibly sad, as an adult, to read.And too late, because Brexit is the settled will of the people and any hint of a downside is sedition. However, because the behaviour of the parents is highlighted, it makes us feel differently about the story. At first I thought it was about a monster eating Bernard but it turned out that Bernard was the monster because of him getting angry from constantly getting ignored from his parents.

Then there is that other monster, the one that has become such a fixture in the garden that even the opposition seems not to notice it any more. This book explores a young boys struggle to gain attention from his parents as he is repeatedly told 'not now, Bernard'.

in PSHCE the children could have a group discussion on how it feels to be ignored, whilst the teacher magpies the ideas on the board. That volatility – two general elections and three changes of prime minister in six years – is a function of the struggle to turn an ideal Brexit, nurtured in the parochial Eurosceptic imagination, into a reality-based Brexit involving other countries and real people’s jobs.