Summary[]
For a little boy my brother Bernard has some big ideas. On Summer Project he was only interested in doing one thing - Clothes Design! Even though the other kids would call him Bernadette forever...
Plot[]
Warning: this section contains spoilers!
The story begins at breakfast one morning, with Bernard saying he doesn't want to go to Summer Project, but his father makes him and his mother assures him that his big sister, Sara, will look after him.
Once Bernard and Sara arrive at Summer Project, Sara chooses football and a helper suggests model car making for Bernard, which he agrees to. Once Bernard has finished making his car, he goes for a ride on it, but one of the older boys, Big Dan, crashes his car into Bernard and he falls to the ground. A helper comes to pick him up, and Big Dan teases Bernard and says his long hair makes him look like a girl, and calls him Bernadette.
By the end of the day, everyone at Summer Project was calling Bernard Bernadette. When he and Sara went home, they told their mother, who then said Bernard wasn't going back, much to Bernard's relief. However, his father says he needs to cope with 'a bit of rough stuff', and makes him go back. Sara promises Bernard she'll look after him.
The next day, at Summer Project, a helper asks them what they would like to do. Bernard says he doesn't want to do model car making again. Sara wants to do drama, but Bernard wanted to do sewing, so they both did sewing. Upon entering the classroom, one of the girls recognises Bernard and calls him Bernadette, causing one of the helpers to mistake Sara's name for Bernadette. Sara corrects her, and says that she will beat up anyone who calls her brother names. Bernard and Sara start practising sewing on some felt, and then they begin designing. One of the girls jokes that Bernadette is going to design a dress, and Bernard elbows her.
Sara cuts the legs off a pair of jeans to make shorts, but she cuts them too short by mistake. Meanwhile, Bernard is learning how to sew lazy daisies, then decides he wants a dragon on his jacket. His helper cuts out a dragon from a Japanese kimono and Bernard sews it onto his jacket. The girls are impressed and ask Bernard(calling him Bernadette) if he will sew things onto their clothes for them. Bernard says he might, and asks what his name is, to which everyone replies 'Bernard'. Bernard then agrees to help them sew things onto their clothes, while Sara plays football.
Characters Sara Bernard Big Dan girls