Bert, Get off the Crane!

Tjibbe Veldkamp & Alice Hoogstad

Bert causes mayhem on the building site but surprisingly he’s also the hero of the day!

Every day, Bert stands behind the fence of the building site and watches the steamroller, the cement truck and the crane in action. Bert would really like to drive the big machines himself. One day, he does and flattens a car with the steamroller, pours concrete on the road and even hoists a police car up by the crane! But surprisingly Bert is the hero of the day and deserves a reward. This is a picture book with a clever visual sub-plot. As soon as you reach the end, go back to the beginning to find all the picture clues and see Bert foil a bank robbery.

There’s so much for children to enjoy – the detailed illustrations of the machines in action, the chaos and of course the clever back-to-front solving of the mystery.

Bert, Get off the Crane!

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Teacher’s Guide

Reviews

‘Hopman conveys all the energy of imaginative children creating havoc left and right. They build forts under tables, hang from the orphanage balconies and ride a cart down the stairwell.’
– Publishers Weekly, starred review

‘… a sturdily constructed, beautifully crafted work of children’s literature … Hopman’s colour-washed, squiggly line drawings convey a gravity-defying zest and sense of adventure completely in tune with the narrative. The pandemonium of creative play is captured in the many small drawn details (such as 22 different expressions on falling orphan’s faces), which a child is free to explore during successive readings of the story.’
– Foreword