Bertie's War

Have you ever read a fiction story that takes place during the Cubin Missile Crisis? Yeah me either. I love to teach with literature. I think it’s such a wonderful way to flesh out the facts of an historical situation. It really makes history stick in the mind of the readers. But there are some periods in history where you’d be hard-pressed to find a fiction book set; the Cubin Missile Crisis is one of those time periods. If you’re studying The Colonial Days, or World War 2 or even Ancient Rome, you have much to choose from. Modern History? Not so much.

That is why I was excited to receive Bertie’s War to review.

Here is the description of the book from the website…

Everything has been going wrong for Bertie lately.No matter how hard she tries to do and say the right thing, Bertie keeps tumbling into embarrassing--and sometimes dangerous--situations. Her stern father has too many rules, her know-it-all sister won't stop teasing her, and her mischievous younger brother keeps getting into trouble. But what makes her really afraid are those Communist missiles pointed right at the U.S. As Bertie starts seventh grade in the fall of 1962, news of these missiles throws the nation into a panic and Bertie suddenly feels completely out of control. Can Bertie confront an ugly truth about herself and face her fears--once and for all?

As usual, as soon as the book appeared in my mail box, Eve, my reader disappeared with it. When she was finished I asked her what she thought.

She liked the book but thought Bertie the main character was ‘weird’ and she also thought the dad was ‘mean’.

Now, if I’d had my homeschool mom hat on properly, I’d have had her write a proper report on it and put that in my review, but we’re still recovering from the holidays around here and my homeschool mom hat is still slightly askew.

When Eve was done with the book, I skimmed it myself. It was an interesting story, following one girl through a pretty rough age, during a rough time in history to grow up. I felt that the girl was a little more fearful than necessary and the dad a bit too stern. Overall, I think it is worth reading as it is one of the very few books that take place during this time period. I think it might be a good book to learn not only about that time in history but about how God wants us to respond to fear and adversity.

You can go here to Kregel Publishing to check out Bertie’s War and check out some of their many other offerings, and as always you can click on the icon below to see what others on The Crew had to say about Bertie’s War.

Happy Homeschooling!