It's a very simple story for the very young and I think would be ideal for reading aloud to a reception or KS1 class. Yes I agree the story may not be the nicest with the parents ignoring their child, but my toddler focuses more on the monster doing human funny things like laying in the bed and saying night night. She loves it, she likes to look at it herself and point out the monster and tell me what he's doing.

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". One thing to bear in mind is it may be sensitive to some children so it is important to know your class before reading it together. Loved by children, monsters and adults alike for almost 40 years, David McKee's iconic picture book is available for the first time ever as board book. Britain’s self-exclusion from continental markets is not the biggest cause of present economic pain but it will be hard to imagine remedies in the absence of any rational audit of that decision or any reexamination of the ideological fixations that provoked it. For his contribution as a children's illustrator he was UK nominee for the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2006.I was reminded of it by Rafael Behr's opinion piece in today's Guardian, 31 August 2022, six days before Johnson actually resigned as Prime Minister and Liz Truss took over, "Brexit is the monster under the bed Liz Truss is desperately trying to ignore" - see below. Bernard's got a problem: he's found a monster in the back garden but his mum and dad are just too busy to notice. Bernard wants attention from his mum, but she just won't believe him or even acknowledge him so much so, that mum doesn't realise Bernard isn't there anymore.

Conservative readiness to indulge Johnson is no measure of his reputation in the country, but the leadership contest is not a national election. This would be a useful story to get children to open up and discuss feelings, perhaps things that could be happening at home. If you require any changes to this format please indicate in 'special requirements' box at checkout.

For young children, however, (who the book is aimed at due to its simplistic nature) I feel that the book could be quite upsetting if understood, especially for children in a similar situation. Foreign secretaries and wannabe prime ministers used to avoid imbecilities of that kind before Boris Johnson contaminated both offices with his marauding insouciance. In a brilliant twist, the monster then enters the house and moves into the boy’s room, breaking his toys and eating his dinner. By 2019, she was arguing in private that Britain could safely walk away from the EU without a comprehensive deal. 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.