Bertie's War {Book Review}

"In the fall of 1961, the world goes crazy-and takes a young girl with it. Bertie wants to be a good kid, but her fear keeps tripping her up and she finds herself tumbling into embarrassing, and sometimes dangerous, situations. By the time Bertie enters seventh grade in the fall of 1961, it seems like the whole world has gone crazy-and taken Bertie along with it. As news of the Cuban Missile Crisis throws the nation into a panic, Bertie will be forced to confront her fears face-to-face, both at school and at home."
Bertie's War by Barbara Blakey is published by Kregal Publications and sells for $7.99.
My Thoughts:
I liked it. At times my heart ached for her. I thought her insecurities were irrational, but I rationalized that a child thinks and acts as a child does. Her imagination gets away from her often, but it just makes you feel compassion for her when she messes up because of it. During the book, you are led to think that her perceptions are real and I wondered how much of it all along was from her lack of understanding, rather than what it seemed, but it was hard for me to tell. It really has you going and feeling sorry for her at times, but in the end you are relieved.
I enjoyed it as I related to some of her insecurities from my own childhood, and because many of them are unfounded, it makes me wonder how many of mine really were.
This book would be great for a pre-teen who is insecure and struggles with fear ~ they would be able to relate and in the end see that they have nothing to really fear at all and sometimes you just need to trust.
Check out Kregel's selection of other books as well as their best seller list to see what else they have to offer.
You can see other Crew member reviews to see what they think of Bertie's War, or click on the banner below to visit the Crew blog.
I received this product for free in exchange for my review as a member of the Crew. No further compensation was received and I offer my honest opinion. See my Disclosure Policy for more information.

4 comments

  1. Nice review. Thanks for posting.
    However, I clicked the link to the Kregel Best Sellers list, and I assure you, this book is not there. There are 11 books shown on the page.
    Where did you go that you saw it on such a list? Perhaps you should double-check that and revise. If I were the author and read this review I would be jumping for joy to hear my book was on the publisher's best-seller list and then I would be down in the dumps when I saw that it was not.
    ~ Blessings!

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  2. Thank you, Susan. My mistake has been corrected and I thank you for pointing that out! I meant to only list their best sellers for a reference of what else they have to offer. :-)

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  3. LOL! OK, that explains it. I know about Kregel because they are the publishers of my kids' series, as well. And I happened to be looking at the Best Seller list the other day and found an author friend's adult book on the list and was so excited for him! Otherwise I would probably not have even noticed your remark. :-)
    Here are my books on the Kregel site:
    http://store.kregel.com/searchproducts.cfm

    I asked Heidi (the Homeschool Crew "captain") if she knew if Kregel was going to send out my new release next spring to the "crew", but she didn't know. *sigh*
    (Heidi's little adopted girl is on the cover of one of my books. She is the little Chinese girl).

    OK, I'm rambling. Sorry about that . . .

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  4. Hi, this is Barbara Blakey, the author of Bertie's War. I'm so glad you enjoyed the story. It was my first attempt at fiction and I've been eagerly awaiting reviews. Your comments encouraged me.

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