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am the author of three children's books. The first two are on Barnes and Noble and Goodreads.com as well as on Booksamillion and other on line sites. My Name is Bertha is the first book and Bertha Speaks Out is the second. I have submiited my third book Bertha Fights Back for publication. The three books are about a young girl named Bertha who is over weight, not very pretty and has to deal with real life issues children face today in school. She is sassy, she is smart and she uses her intelligence and sense of humor when dealing with a mother who insists that she participates in athletic activities even though she is a klutz. She insists that Bertha always gets 100 on every test she takes in school putting excessive pressure on her. The third book Bertha Fights Back shows what happens when a good kid can't take the heat any more and she rebels.

Description

Emerging from the long shadow cast by his formidable father, Harold Godwineson showed himself to be a worthy successor to the Earldom of Wessex. In the following twelve years, he became the King's most trusted advisor, practically taking the reins of government into his own hands. And on Edward the Confessor's death, Harold Godwineson mounted the throne—the first king of England not of royal blood. Yet Harold was only a man, and his rise in fortune was not blameless. Like any person aspiring to power, he made choices he wasn't particularly proud of. Unfortunately, those closest to him sometimes paid the price of his fame. This is a story of Godwine's family as told from the viewpoint of Harold and his younger brothers. Queen Editha, known for her Vita Ædwardi Regis, originally commissioned a work to memorialize the deeds of her family, but after the Conquest historians tell us she abandoned this project and concentrated on her husband, the less dangerous subject. In THE SONS OF GODWINE and FATAL RIVALRY, I am telling the story as it might have survived had she collected and passed on the memoirs of her tragic brothers. This book is part two of The Last Great Saxon Earls series. Book one, GODWINE KINGMAKER, depicted the rise and fall of the first Earl of Wessex who came to power under Canute and rose to preeminence at the beginning of Edward the Confessor's reign. Unfortunately, Godwine's misguided efforts to champion his eldest son Swegn recoiled on the whole family, contributing to their outlawry and Queen Editha's disgrace. Their exile only lasted one year and they returned victorious to London, though it was obvious that Harold's career was just beginning as his father's journey was coming to an end. Harold's siblings were all overshadowed by their famous brother; in their memoirs we see remarks tinged sometimes with admiration, sometimes with skepticism, and in Tostig's case, with jealousy. We see a Harold who is ambitious, self-assured, sometimes egocentric, imperfect, yet heroic. His own story is all about Harold, but his brothers see things a little differently. Throughout, their observations are purely subjective, and witnessing events through their eyes gives us an insider’s perspective. Harold was his mother's favorite, confident enough to rise above petty sibling rivalry but Tostig, next in line, was not so lucky. Harold would have been surprised by Tostig's vindictiveness, if he had ever given his brother a second thought. And that was the problem. Tostig's love/hate relationship with Harold would eventually destroy everything they worked for, leaving the country open to foreign conquest. This subplot comes to a crisis in book three of the series, FATAL RIVALRY.

Story Behind The Book

Writing these stories and my third book Bertha Fights Back was a challenge for me. The first two books are true stories about growing up and feeling left out of many things my sister and cousins were capable of doing. In My Name Is Bertha, which was inspired by my aunt Tova Ross who was ill at the time, I decided to write about my life as a child telling other kids that it is okay to be a klutz, it is okay to not be pretty on the outside and it is okay to speak up for yourself and not allow anyone to bully you. The title came from a funny incident that happened at lunch with my nephews. My nephew Jake knew that I had just started a diet plan of my own to lose weight. I just lost 75 pounds and have kept it off for four years. He looked at me at lunch and said I looked so sad it reminded him of a picture of my grandmother Bertha who never smiled. My sister added to the fun by saying I was even sitting like her, which was a real rub. I told her she was spoiled like my grandmothers sister our Aunt Tillie. My nephew started calling me Bertha and her Tillie-hence the characters Bertha and Tillie. The third book which is now on Xlibris.com is Bertha Fights Back and it was co-authored with my niece Dani Nicole Miller and illustrated again by my niece Jamie Miller. It deals with Face Book, My Space and UTube and real life issues that kids face in middle school today. It deals with hate crimes and teaching kids to understand their differences and embrace them. Some of the stories really happened to my niece and we added things to make the book really more realistic. Fran Lewis

Reviews

<a href="http://reviewabook.ning.com/xn/detail/2758875:Note:22947?xg_source=activity">Features</a> <a href="http://reviewabook.ning.com/notes/Notes_Home">Book Reviews Home</a> <a href="http://reviewabook.ning.com/notes/index/allNotes">All Book Reviews</a> Bertha Fights Back - Fran Lewis, Author Added by <a href="http://reviewabook.ning.com/profile/AnnBKeller">Ann B. Keller</a> on June 25, 2009 at 8:35pm There are several elements of truth in this story and Bertha Fights Back will grow on you as it gains momentum. What begins as a narration of the cruelties inflicted upon an overweight teenager by her cousin, Penelope Mia, quickly changes into a statement of our modern society. Unfortunately, this is a time in which teenagers somehow manage to threaten teachers and school officials with guns and knives, where fellow students are held hostage by the whims of a few overeager street toughs and learning often takes a backseat to sheer survival. Bertha herself is plunged into the midst of this conflict and is forced to prove herself, despite prejudice, other people's lack of faith and the doublts of many of those around her. Indeed, Bertha comes of age in this story, being transformed from a wounded young girl into a crusader for all that is good and honorable. Last updated by <a href="http://reviewabook.ning.com/profile/AnnBKeller">Ann B. Keller</a> 9 hours ago.

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The Sons of Godwine: Part Two of The Last Great Saxon Earls

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