Bertha Books

Bertha Balestra is a rising novel star in Mexico... Her books are filled with a rare mixture of realism, fantasy and historical context.

This novel explores a more human side of the Jesus Christ story, with an amazing down-to-earth passion. A must read!!

A man with deep reflection may be lonely among common people. A man with thoughts needs someone who understands him. Though he is always finding his position in friends' eyes, he often mislocated himself and lost many chances. One of the best things in the world is to meet someone who understands you,and always waiting for you.

Even though this book is 37 years old, my three year old son loves it. I still have my copy from my childhood and he asks me to read it frequently. Like most books in this series (Britannica's Pre-School Library) it is filled with activities and questions to encourage children to think. This particular book is all about animals, plants, and seasons.

What a great American story, if you are interested in life during the depresion, you will love this book. Bertha tells her story of growing up and includes tons of pictures of family members. Not only do you read about her family but you can visualize who they are. This book is worth the price and should be required reading for students on the 20's and 30's in America or at least in central california.

This book will encourage and edify anyone seeking to walk in holiness before the Lord. Miss Bertha's account of God's amazing work in China is sure to bless anyone seeking the Lord Jesus with all their heart. Miss Bertha's life and simple faith in "Holy God", as she followed and obeyed Jesus is convicting and strengthening for any true believer. The book is a "must have" for a Christian's library. I plan to read this book many times over!

I grew up with this classic 16 volume children's encyclopedia. I remember sitting for hours as a child reading through volume after volume of the 1959 edition. The articles were only written for grade school age children and ranged from a quarter of a page to a couple of pages in length (aardvark to zoos.) The real strength however were the many, many full color illustrations- the bright glossy "shadow box" covers were especially beautiful. Oh yes, there was a full index of subjects in the last volume.

While the information may be quite dated by today's standards the set still serves as a fascinating time capsule into the world of the 1950's. I don't know of many baby boomers who don't remember these books. Not many homes could afford a set of Britannicas, but because this set was sold a volume at a time in supermarkets a great many homes could afford the Golden Book.

I think it was early summer in 1960. I was eight and facing a long, boring summer, no friends around, nothing to do. Then the Golden Book Encyclopedia appeared in our local Safeway, one new volume a week. My mom would buy the next installment each Friday, and by the following week I'd have read it cover to cover, twice. By summer's end I'd devoured the entire set, and knew a whole lot more about more subjects than most kids my age. I've always felt that those encyclopedias were the most important single event in my education.

I was introduced to this book by Hilde Huppert herself more than 8 years ago. I was taken to meet her by one of the children mentioned in the book, Lili, as we were researching more of Lili Cohen's (now spelled Lily Cohen) history. If it had not been for Hilde, Lily would never have been brought to Israel. They had both survived Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp, and in the final hours of Liberation by the Allies there unfolded the story of how Hilde and her son, Tommy (Schmuel), met up with Lili.
We still have almost no information about Lily's past, but this book shed light on her eventual transfer to Israel, and the time between the Liberation and that transfer.
Hilde Huppert was a hero for so many children, no doubt about it. And this is an almost unknown book about her experiences.

Following the infamous Kristallnacht pogrom of 9-10 November 1938, the
British government allowed 10 000 unaccompanied Jewish children, from
Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia and Danzig, into the United Kingdom.
This action, known as the Kindertransports project, certainly saved the lives of these children, who would otherwise have suffered the horrors of the concentration camps, and subsequent extermination. Arriving in Britain destitute and alone , these children, from infants teenagers, to housed in foster homes, hostels and schools.

In this volume, Bertha Leverton and Shmuel Lowerton, compiles the individual stories of some of these children, in a range of interviews, letters, and documents, of survivors of the Kindertransports, now living in The United
Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia and Israel. They tell of their moving experiences, of their pain and joy, of different experiences in different homes across the United Kingdom, this is a testament to this courageous project of kindness and hope.

Gideon Behrendt, born in Berlin and living in Netanya, Israel states that after the war he decided that once the war was over he would not be a refugee any more, and that what he needed most was a homeland: "So I got myself a homeland, Israel". The testimony of Melissa Hacker, which forms the synopsis of the film, 'My
Knees Were Jumping' is also included. Paul Kohn, born in Vienna, now in
Herzliya, Israel, speaks of his guardian at the time, Mr Morton, a righteous gentile, who was also an ardent Zionist: "G-D gave the Holy Land to the
Jews, he would declare, quoting chapter and verse. Every Allied victory in the Western desert, in Italy, and after D-Day was followed by jubilation, with Mr Morton dsaying "I told you so".
Indeed the miracle that the Holy Land was never captured by the Nazis, was followed by the miracle of Israel's victories in 1948, 1967, 1973 and her continued survival, against the odds, today.

Kurt Landes, born in Vienna, now in Jerusalem, Israel tells of his joy after being a refugee, in being welcomed to Israel: "The sadness that my parents could never join us, and had to die, together with most of our families, had not diminished over the years, and I turned towards the religious side of
Jewishness together with the need and duty to live in our Jewish country. My children shout at each other in Hebrew and take it for granted that they belong somewhere, and could fight for their rights as equal human being in their own land." Manfred Lindenbaum asks whether the holocaust can happen again, and concludes that sadly, it can happen again, and we must hope and pray that our vigilance, and our remembrance can prevent a repetition, so that we can affirm. 'No it is not inevitable. No! It must not be!'

With all the hatred today directed at Jews and Israel, and the danger of a second holocaust should Israel be destroyed, we need to hold on to these words.
Irene Liron writes how the ardent anti-Semite and anti-Zionist, Ernest
Bevin, turned her into a believing Jew and Zionist.

Shmuel Lowensohn explains that he decided to devote his life to Israel and the Jewish people so that what happened to his parents would never happen to his children.

Fred Rosner writes "The light of Judaism shines for ever. It's brightness may at times be dimmed as it was fifty years ago, but the flickering flame is never extinguished. The Third Reich has come and gone and the miracle of our generation is that the Jewish people are still here as they have been for thousands of years. The Nazis were unsuccesful in their attempt to blot out the light of the Jews".

The front page of the book features two pictures, that of a frightened little Jewish girl of about 10 years old, clutching a doll and a suitcase.
The other photo is of a pretty child on her passport cover, that of Inge
Sadan.

This astonishing book should be read by anyone with an interest in the history of lesbians and sexual practices in the United States in the last few decades of the 20th century. While it is about lesbian sex, WHAT is written and illustrated, and HOW it is written, make this book uniquely interesting -- more interesting by far than most similar books published today. The illustrations are breathtakingly explicit -- certainly more graphic than most other publications of the period. The writer is frank, outspoken, detailed to a fault, and very humorous! This must have been a most welcome indepth guide for women-who-love-women living in the 80's who were seeking information on "what to do"! A must-read!