Bertha Fights Back

Bertha and Tillie

by Fran Lewis

Bertha is back and she is fighting back against all of those kids that downloaded pictures of her on face book and my space and other sites. She is angry at being the brunt of the jokes and criticism of the kids in her school. She is angry that she is blamed for doing many things because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. But, she fights back in the wrong ways and she does get herself mixed up with the wrong kids and the wrong gang members. She soon learns that the way to get her message across is not the way she is going about it. She even learns what the true meaning of hate and injustice is and she forms her own tolerance and understanding team to combat the hate crimes and graffiti in her school and more. When several children enter her school with weapons watch and see how Bertha uses her intelligence and smarts to help save some of the people and how she enlists the help of the police and more. Bertha Fights Back is a groundbreaking first chapter book that deals with issues faced in the schools throughout the world today.

92 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Biography: Fran Lewis

Born in the South Bronx, I grew up with people from many ethnic backgrounds. I learned to play and work with children in my school that came from other countries and different places.
I was always over weight as a child and got picked on a lot by the other children in my class and even my teachers. I found it hard to do many of the sporting activities that my sister and cousins could do. I learned at an early age that kids can be mean and I promised myself that I would never retaliate or do mean things to other kids in return.


When I decided to write my short stories I realized that I had a lot to say about my youth and in both of my books I tell about a ten year old girl named Bertha who learns to deal with real life issues kids face today at home and in school. I write reviews for other sites and I wrote three children’s books and currently writing one on Alzheimer’s Disease.

As an educator I the New York City Public Schools for over 36 years, I realized just how unique and precious our children are. I was the reading and writing staff developer in my school and the dean. I loved the children and had the respect of my fellow teachers and parents.

Teaching children to read was really very rewarding and introducing them to writing and creating their own stories was exciting for the students. I am a member of WhosWho of America’s Executives and Professionals as well as a member of WhosWho of America’s Teachers. I am the author of three children’s books and my fourth entitled Memories Are Precious: Alzheimer’s Journey: Ruth’s Story will be out next month. I am currently writing my fourth Bertha Book and a second on cognitive ways to keep your brain alert. The tentative title is Sharp as a Tack or Scrambled Eggs: Which Describes Your Brain. This book will deal with how we should help those who are seniors keep their minds and bodies active as well as ways to help delay dementia and Alzheimer’s.


I review books for Manic Readers, I justfinished.com and BookPleasures.com. I review books for authors upon request and would love to get paid for doing my reviews. There are publicists that send me books to review and that get paid for my reviews. I wrote five books that are self-published and I am going to complete one book children’s book and one based on a true story.

I host two radio shows on Red River Radio. The first is a book discussion where I interview or ask authors questions about their writing and books along with a book club panel to ask additional questions. I am going to host a show for children’s and Ya authors starting in August. I have been interviewed many times. I will be interviewed on D’s Roundtable on August 19th at and page Page Readers on Sept. 27th at three. My book discussion show is the third Wed. of every month at one eastern and my children’s author’s show will be four times a year. I am also going to interview Dr. Kenneth Weene on Sept. 21st at four. I had to reschedule the interview due to personal reasons. We will discuss the inside scoop about insane asylums and his career working in one plus his book Memoirs from an Asylum.

I hope this gives you a picture of what I do. Fran

I am a reading and writing staff developer and I worked with children with reading and writing disabilities.
https://profiles.google.com/gabina49

Reviews

[Martha Cheves · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bertha Fights Back - Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat

'Walking into my homeroom class, I realized that something was definitely going on and I was beginning to think that I might not want to know what it was. One of the boys, Dan, looked at me and then at his cell phone and burst out laughing and almost fell off of his chair. Since the teacher was not there, which seemed odd, no one stopped what was going to happen next.'

'As I was just about to sit down, I turned around and saw that all of the kids in the class were using the internet on their phones. Some were sharing the information they found with other kids. Some were on Facebook, My Space or YouTube. Others were looking at pictures sent from one phone to the next. Everyone was staring at me.'

Someone had posted pictures of Bertha in the girl's bathroom changing into her gym uniform on Facebook, My Space and YouTube. Other pictures showed her throwing spitballs and wads of toilet paper all over the walls and floor of the girl's bathroom. On the door someone had written "Bertha Rules." Not a very nice thing to do to a 13 year old who has always been overweight, not very good in sports nor dancing and has definitely never been very popular with kids her own age. But she is smart and always makes her parents proud with her grades.

In Bertha Fights Back, Bertha decides to find out who put these pictures out there in cyberspace and to get her revenge. No more nice girl Bertha. But revenge doesn't come without a price. Bertha decides to join a gang but finds out that being a gang member gets her into more trouble than she expected and trouble comes with a price. In Bertha's case, community service.

When the school band room is broken into, Bertha is called upon by her principal to do a little detective work. She and a group of other students start looking into the destruction and theft of the musical instruments. Along the way the group encounters students who are upset about foreign students attending their school to the point of not only writing graffiti on the walls but also physically harm some of the students.

Bertha Fights Back brings to life what all young people need to be taught. One of the lessons Bertha learns through her experiences is that being a gang member is not the answer. She also learns that being a Bully is not the answer. I thoroughly enjoyed reading as Bertha grew up and took on the responsibility for the things she did whether they were right or wrong. To me, this is a good book for both young people as well as adults to read.

[Fran · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great first chapter book for three time author Fran Lewis. Breakthrough book that will help all middle school and high school students learn what happens when a good kid gets angry and decides to fight back but in the wrong way.
Bertha is smart and sassy and learns to deal with hate crimes and kids that are in gangs and commit crimes in schools. Bertha forms a committee and detective team to help solve crimes in her school and more. She is angry that kids downloaded pictures of her on the internet and she learns the hard way that doing the wrong is will not work for her.