Bernardo es un niño que pide un poco de atención a su mamá y su papá, quienes en repetidas ocasiones le dicen “ahora no,” fastidiado por escuchar lo mismo y aun sabiendo que afuera había un monstruo, decide salir y regresa cambiado en un monstruo, a lo cual, los padres siguen sin prestar mayor interés. ( )

Agora não, Duarte!, de David Mckee, é uma obra que se caracteriza pela simplicidade e brevidade textuais, acentuadas ainda pela repetição, pelos vários paralelismos, escondendo, ou pelo menos mascarando, a grande complexidade e seriedade do assunto tratado – a falta de atenção e de diálogo nas relações entre pais e filhos. ( )

My rating of this book is based on my initial gut reaction to it, which was that of dislike. I'm however still pondering whether there is more to the story than what I first read into it. But, my first impression was that this was more a story for parents than children, assuming that kids are not going to get the irony, and are therefore left with a story that has neither plot nor message. However, I was rather surprised to see that most of the reviewers here come away with a first degree, or naive, interpretation of the story. I'm not going to say which interpretation is the correct one, but it's obviously a very different story from the one that I read if you think there's actually a monster in the book and that it gobbles up poor Bernard and goes on to make itself at home in his house. My first (and maybe too rational) interpretation of the story was of Bernard making up a monster to try to get his parents' attention. His ruse doesn't work however, his parents continue to ignore him, but he still carries the game all the way to completely impersonating the monster. And thus ends the story, with a little nudge to us parents, always so busy, sometimes too busy to take the time to listen.

Now, there may be more to the story, and the pleasant and colorful pictures made me think of illustrators [a:José Aruego|5480|José Aruego|/assets/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66-251a730d696018971ef4a443cdeaae05.jpg] and [a:Ariane Dewey|5479|Ariane Dewey|/assets/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66-251a730d696018971ef4a443cdeaae05.jpg]. Some of them have references, such as the picture of Bernard's book case, with an [b:Elmer the Elephant|1223119|Elmer|David McKee|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347603862s/1223119.jpg|1178938] toy and I might have missed some. I didn't for instance understand what the charcoal art in the hallway was supposed to represent, although I'm sure it had some significance or the other. What else? Every room in Bernard's house is painted in a different color, and some in two. Actually, on one of the spreads, Bernard's mother is painting a green wall, in between watering the plants and making Bernard dinner. Just to say the parents are quite busy. Are they in the middle of home improvement? And they make Bernard/monster take his dinner in front of the TV, not a good choice! Otherwise, I'm not passing judgement on Bernard's parents, although plenty will ... ( )