I wrote these stories for a reason: Not everyone is graceful, not everyone is pretty, not everyone can be a figure skater or a prima ballerina: But everyone can and does excel at something= whether you can make a model airplane- or paint a picture or can use your hands to create something or even write a poem- you are special. In Bertha Speaks Out she learns that it is okay to voice your opinion and let everyone know that who you are is okay and what you see is what you get.
All of my life I was told that I had to give in and not argue or rock the boat if I disagreed with someone /or if someone did something to me that I did not like. I was especially told never to disagree with family members even if they were mean to me and threw sand at me or made me feel awful when I could not do something. Everyone thought that it would be easier if I just said as the kids do today: Okay and Whatever: Not any more. In this book Bertha finds her voice and she lets everyone know that she has had enough and will not take it any more.
Straight from Bertha:
Everyone wants to change me. No one wants to accept me for who I am or the way I look. I am always too fat, too awkward or just plain different. Isn’t that why the world is so exciting? People are different and if everyone looked the same what a boring world it would be. What makes America and the USA so special is the people. Everyone comes from different backgrounds and how great is it to learn about other people and their cultures.
Most people want you to be a carbon copy of someone else. I think they would love to clone one person and turn everyone into that one person so that you would fit their perfect criteria for that they think you and everyone should be. I won’t have it! All this time I thought that I had the problem because I am overweight, not so pretty and quite uncoordinated. I don’t have the problem everyone else does. All this time I thought that I had to be like the other kids in my school or my friends at and family at home. I don’t. I am Bertha and I am ME! I think I finally got it, or I hope I did.
Stay the way you are and don’t change yourself for anything. If you are a good and kind person and want to be a pilot, hair dresser, teacher, secretary or lawyer or run a corporation, - just go for it. Parents are definitely there to guide you in the right direction and help you along the way. But, when you grow up you need to do something that makes you want to get up in the morning and look forward to your day. I will say this for my mom: even though I hated the dancing lessons and all the rest- I did love the piano and violin and I did win that first chair in the violin section because I decided to let my voice be heard and she finally heard it with some help from my Grandma Katie. She also did something else- At four years old I think in order to convince me to become an educator and not want it to seem that she was going to try and control everything I did, she convinced my Aunt Tova to tell me that I should be a teacher like her. Now, that was really sneaky- because other than my parents and grandparents she was the one person I respected and loved the most. So I guess I can thank her for the 36 years of love and devotion I gave to P.S. 78 I would not have missed a day of it.
I taught in the same school for 36 years. I taught every grade from first through sixth. I taught two grades at a time. I became the reading and writing staff developer and the Dean. Each new position brought along with it many new responsibilities. But, one thing never changed: My loyalty and the reason I came to work everyday was for my students and their parents. The teachers in my school were the best and the many supervisors that I had treated their staff with the utmost respect. I was proud of where I worked and the job I did every single day that I was there.
Bertha is a determined young lady. She might not be the best athlete in the world or the most graceful person. But, she is special in her own way. She cares about people and she wants to make sure that everyone is treated fairly. In My Name is Bertha she does just that. In my second book Bertha Speaks Out she will learn to deal with difficult situations in Middle School and how to let her voice be heard in other situations that children face today.
In this book Bertha has to deal with several issues in school and at home:
- The Contest: Teacher who would not enter her composition on Fire Prevention because her aunt was a teacher in the school and she thought she wrote it for her at home and she just copied her ideas when she wrote it in school
- Mistakes are for Everyone Except Bertha: Writing tests over if she did not get 100 and the pressure of getting A’s and perfect scores on tests
- Weight loss boot camp
- Burning money in the oven
- Last story dedicated to my mom
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