Bertram Bear and the Rivals
to Buy Now
Something more for the children!
Illustrated by Mira Homer. Bertram Bear and the Rivals is for children aged between 4 and 10 years.
New neighbours come to live in Coombes Corner with cats that have very bad attitudes namely, Pinch and Punch. Those are the rivals as far as the animals are concerned. The other rival concerns Bertram Bear, when Henry's mum buys Henry his Christmas present early and tries to hide it from Henry without success. It is Bertram Bear Lookalike that can be wound up with a key and children can learn from the toy. The toy can do most things, as well as talk it can walk. That's Bertram's nemesis and rival - so lots of adventures with a happy ending on both accounts.
Sample text from Bertram Bear and the Rivals.
All thoughts of the very large dog next door to them had disappeared from Thomas’s mind while he was eating. He couldn’t eat for ever and after he had licked his lips about thirty times he said good night to Charlie who curled up in Thomas’s bed. Thomas went off to find his Linda’s lap. She had laid down on the settee and her husband Tony was sprawled on the other chair. The television was not on but a coal fire was burning brightly and shadows appeared to be dancing around the walls and Thomas leapt effortless onto her lap and washed and washed himself to a frazzle as he was thinking of the enormous trouble that might lay ahead.
All of a sudden Thomas froze and although the lap of his owner was comfortable he had unwittingly forgot to tell Bertram of the new arrivals. He must go quickly to Henry’s room. That’s where Bertram spent most of his time now that other things had died down. Henry had to stay in bed for another three days and was awake most of the time and Bertram had that distant stare.
Thomas crept into the room and Henry had fallen asleep and Bertram and Mitch were playing cards on the shelf. Thomas looked up and sprang from the floor to Henry’s bed and then leapt from the bed to the shelf. Bertram, Mitch and Thomas looked towards the bed as Henry stirred. It would be an awkward moment if Henry woke up as Bertram and Mitch were holding playing cards in their paws. Henry made a comforting noise and turned over. Thomas related the news to Bertram and all Bertram could say was ‘Oh dear!’
Another Sample: Chapter 14 - How to get out of a difficult situation.
George and Thomas left Henry’s bedroom and made there way to the garden. Tony Glover cleared up the mess in the room and decided not to ring for the police. Linda went down to see how Henry got on at school. She was shocked to find him in the state he was in. He was covered with a good deal of mud and covered with leaves. Henry explained to his mum that to join this special fraternity at school he had to be initiated with a dare and he chose the mud bath. Henry was frog marched to his bedroom and told to strip off – she gave his school uniform to his dad and asked him to clean off the excess of mud and then put it in another machine for washing. She took him into the bathroom and ran the hot and cold taps and stayed and watched him clean himself. It was an opportune moment to switch bears.
Mitch yelled out of Henry’s bedroom window that he needed George and Thomas to switch the bears over. Mitch managed to push the lookalike off the shelf and George and Thomas came galloping up the stairs and dragged the lookalike to the other bedroom. Unbeknown to them Henry’s dad was sitting on the bed facing the wardrobe with Bertram Bear in his hands. He muttered to himself, ‘I can’t see where the key goes to wind him up.’
It was a sticky situation as Mitch, George and Thomas with this bear were stuck in the middle of the bedroom floor. Mitch took the initiative by saying if we sidle up to this side of the bed and keep still he might not notice us. The man laid down Bertram on the bed and went off with the key to the bathroom. Bertram appeared suddenly by the side of the bed and they hoisted up the lookalike and placed him where the man had left Bertram. They just managed to get to the bedroom door as the Glovers came in and picked up the bear and said, ‘The key goes in here.’ She stuck it into the bear and placed the bear back in the box and put it on the top shelf of the wardrobe and went straight to the bathroom to see how Henry was getting on. The man went downstairs and Mitch, Thomas, George and Bertram went to Henry’s room. George was escorted by Thomas downstairs and out of the house and Bertram and Mitch climbed wearily onto the shelf.
Bertram said, ‘A fat lot of good that was – we never got to see what the bear could do and if Thomas comes up with another idea, I think we’ll ignore it.’
Mitch said, ‘You must admit it was fun – all that cloak and dagger stuff we went through. What an adventure, we must do something like that again.’
Bertram just looked at Mitch but said nothing.
