I received a free copy of the book, Bertie’s War by Barbara Tifft Blakey, which is a new title from Kregel Publications, in order to review for the TOS Homeschool Crew.

From the back cover of Bertie’s War, the description of the book is as follows:
“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? ”

The book itself is a historical fiction set in the era of the Cuban Missile Crisis in the early 60s. It was a time of uncertainty and one in which the main character finds herself having to confront and realize her many fears.

I found the characters to be refreshingly real and true to the setting of the time period. As the story unfolds we get a glimpse into what a teen, Bertie, would be thinking and how her emotions and reactions to events reflect the emotional state of the time in which she lived. We also get to see how others handle the situations that Bertie has experienced and how they all differ. For a historical novel, I admit I would have liked to see the setting developed more than it was in this book. We get small glimpses of what is happening during the story and in my opinion that story would be improved by adding more historical content. It would also add to its educational value as a work of fiction. Also, the ending has a moral and lesson which is Christian by nature however not enough of that is brought out in the rest of the story so the ending is not tied into the rest of the story as much because of that. As a result the ending seems a bit out of place and does not flow as well.

However, despite a few minor issues that I had with this book, I would recommend this to other homeschoolers for their tweens/teens. When my children are old enough and we are studying modern history, I plan to have them read Bertie’s War so that they can evaluate how this novel reflects the time period and to further discuss the events that occurred.

This paperback, Bertie’s War, can be purchased here on the Kregel Publications website for $7.99. You can also explore their website for other titles for kids and tweens.

Also explore the TOS Homeschool Blog in order to read what my fellow Crew members had to say about this book.

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