Print off the diary sheet provided so that your child can draw some of the things the monster does in the story. Draw a monster

Not Now, Bernard | Centre for Literacy in Primary Education Not Now, Bernard | Centre for Literacy in Primary Education

Having learned to despise received Treasury wisdom, Truss has graduated on to scorn for diplomacy as traditionally practised at the Foreign Office. Reports of her encounters with overseas counterparts suggest she stumbles at the subtle boundary between direct and brusque; candid and crass.

Teaching Ideas and Resources:

The titular hero is a boy who tries to alert his parents to the presence of a child-eating monster in the garden. They are busy with other things. “Not now, Bernard,” says the father, striking his own hand with a hammer. “Not now, Bernard,” says the mother, watering a plant. 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. Can we talk about Brexit? Not now, Bernard!

Not Now Bernard - Teaching Ideas Not Now Bernard - Teaching Ideas

That tendency was on display at the hustings event last week, where Truss was asked whether the French president, Emmanuel Macron, is friend or foe. “The jury’s out,” she said. It was meant in a mischievous spirit, with an eye only for the Tory activists in the room. Foreign secretaries and wannabe prime ministers used to avoid imbecilities of that kind before Boris Johnson contaminated both offices with his marauding insouciance. And even he doesn’t hesitate to call France an ally. In addition to all the problems Behr lists, on 4 September, twelve Tory MPs said they plan to submit letters of No Confidence to the internal 1922 Committee in Truss' first week as PM (they'd need 54 in total). See HERE. Print off the template provided then your child can colour the mask and wear it to act out parts of the story. Write the monster’s diary using ICT the children might design their own monster and give him/ her a story using the paint programme

Elmer

Read the story aloud to your child allowing time to look closely at the illustrations as you do. Children are often fascinated with these, particularly when Dad gets hurt with the hammer and bitten by the monster! Talk about the book