You Can Do It, Bert!, written and illustrated by Ole Konnecke. Originally published in Germany...in 2007, this sweet, minimalist charmer finally has its first US edition...in 2015. It was worth the wait! As I have mentioned on this blog several times, I absolutely love twist endings in funny books and this title has a great one (and I wouldn't dream of spoiling it for you). Konnecke introduces us to Bert, an adorable, blobby little red bird with an expressive orange beak who faces a very big day. Walking on a branch, flapping his wing, Bert looks determined, ready to soar. Its amazing how much emotion is in the rather spare illustrations, with their white backgrounds. As Bert peeks down at the ground, we can feel his trepidation, perhaps a stirring lack of confidence, contradicting the words appearing in bold font on the opposing page: "Bert is well prepared, mentally and physically." The suspense builds--will Bert finish the task at hand? When I read this to a preschool group, I had them yell "You can do it, Bert" and the children loved encouraging our feathered hero. The book gives us a hero who starts draaaaaaging out the big moment to the point where the kids start almost exploding with impatience. Bert procrastinates all right, but it's the way he procrastinates that is unexpected and funny. It all leads to a surprise ending that is a pure delight. Wonderful.
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