Bertha Books

This book is such a treasure...don't rush through it. Be patient with the few "dry" places and savor the riches of "knowing" people who walked where Jesus walked!!
Note that Horatio and Anna Spafford (He authored "It Is Well With My Soul);and thier daughter, who wrote this book, helped WHOEVER came to them in need. Like Mother Teresa, they never asked what church they belonged to or what they believed...they just helped!!

I love this book. The Spafford family lived in an interesting time in American history, in Christian history, and in the Holy Land. On top of that, their own lives were full of personal tragedies and triumphs, yet their faith was amazing. I feel convicted and inspired when I think of the small complaints I have versus my fellow man of only 50 years ago. I love the hymn "It Is Well With My Soul" but after reading this book the hymn has much, much more meaning to me. This is a great read.

Many people are familiar with the old hymn "It is Well With My Soul" and the circumtances that prompted Horatio Spafford to pen the words. This book was written by one of the Spafford's daughters and chronicles her family's life post Chicago Fire/shipwreck. Fascinating read.

This book helped me immensly while I was in need of African recipes. The authors did an impeccible job and I congradulate them.

Not only are the recipes great tasting but also fun for parents and children to enjoy cooking together.

I defer to Fran Lewis's thirty years of teaching in New York Public Schools. She certainly knows better than I what would be interesting and exciting for young readers. And I think the subject matter she chooses and Bertha's unique perspective (a clumsy overweight pre-teen with a sister who is pretty much successful at everything) would generate empathy from young readers as well as good classroom or family discussion. But there are problems.

For one, the illustrations by the author's niece are childlike. They have an open-faced charm but seem to me way too young for the audience of this book. And the stories themselves, though melodramatic in content, are told in narrative summary, rather than dramatized. Put simply, there is too much telling and not enough showing. I want to hear dialogue and see characters act and react to one another. "After 10 more minutes and ten more falls the (ice-skating) instructor went over to my Dad and told him he could not go on any more."--Give us the instructor's words, show the expressions on their faces, describe what people look like, relive each fall (the elemental drawings do not provide these images either). The questions at the end of this "Bertha Goes Ice Skating" chapter are excellent as are the learning points at the end of the bowling chapter. But if fully fleshed out each one of the six segments could be an entire book.

On the other hand, I think some of the aggressive violence of "Bertha Saves the Day" would be relished by a young audience accustomed to such things being sanitized or made overly cute in the Disney tradition. And Bertha herself is a raucous, sarcastic, very funny little girl. She's the one never picked for a team who accidentally becomes hero of the day. Who gets a baby brother instead of an iPod for her birthday. I can imagine Ms Lewis reading Bertha's escapades to kids howling in delight as Bertha tries to scrounge up a date for the Saturday dance or beat her tall, thin younger sister at something (anything). If the form needs a little work, the author has her subject right. And like the 160 pound, ten-year old in a polka dot dress, this book may not be able to ice skate, dance or break zero bowling, but in the end it will win your heart.

This book is a must read for all children of every age. It sends a positive message to everyone that who you are on the inside is more important than outer beauty. It does not matter if you are a good dancer, singer or even great in sports as long as you do your best and try hard at what you like doing. Bertha is a ten year old girl who deals with many issues that children have to face today. She is overweight, uncoordinated and not very pretty. Her sister sometimes calls her a troll. She is very smart and has a great sense of humor. She uses her intelligence and wit to get to let everyone know that they can go just so far and then she will speak out. Being very quiet and shy and told by her mom not to make waves Bertha is learnign to find her inner voice and speaking out.

I found this book in my grandmother's house and handed it down to my little cousin. It might teach youngsters some new words, however readers should realize that this book was written in 1972 and some of the details are out of date, such as records, typewriters, rotary dial phones and other outdated technology and illustrations. This might have been why the book went out of print-because some of the details are so outdated that the youngsters of today's world probably wouldn't be able to understand what any of that stuff is.

I think that this book was one of the best books I had read when I was a little child. Now that I have to young children, I just found this book and I wanted to share it with my kids. This book thought me so much about the English language considering I came to America at a very young age. But I am sad that this book is out of print, I wanted to get a new copy for my kids. I hope that by this comment, the publisher will publish this book again. I showed this book to my son and he was very exited to start learning the vocabulary. I will try to find this book, but hope that other parents will want to order this book too.

Recipes include sprouted soybean milk, low-cal sprout drink, alfa-orange julius, alfa-peach julius, onion wheat buns, molasses wheat refrigerator rolls, golden corn sprout rolls, sprout waffles, baked eggs, hot sprout cereal, wheat and meat loaf, soy cheese pudding, lentil-potato crisp and much more. 220 recipes as well as info on how to sprout.

Found this book through Carla Emery's Encyclopedia of Country Living (highly reccomend this one also). Lots of information, easy read. Vitamin information available (what sprout provides what) and photos.

Having been an English teacher for 12 years,I've tought both adults and children of all age groups with several methods. As I was searching different methods of teaching, I focused on TPR which is not ever used in my country. I do respect and appreciate people who has put big efforts forward and contribute to the learning environment like James Asher.I also found Bertha Segal's materials online to be very useful.Having observed the amazing resemblance between the learning process and the language development of a child and the TPR method(I have a toddler of my own),I am very much willing to use this book as a basic resource for my new student group of teenagers this year.I believe the syllabus has the right logical basis and will stick to it by excluding all different materials and methods.However,I think I must purchase the supplementary materials to help me provide the transition to speaking activities.I thank in advance to the writer for this wonderful study.

I first discovered this book when Ms. Segal did a workshop for ESL teachers in my state. She demonstrated the techniques using Yiddish, which none of us knew. Several months later we returned for a follow-up seminar. With no practice in the meantime, I was still able to remember the little Yiddish she had taught us.

I purchased the English and Spanish versions of the books after the seminar. Over the years I have used the techniques to teach English to non-native speakers and Spanish to non-native speakers. I have taught it on the high school and college levels as well as the continuing education level. I have also used her teaching techniques in foreign countries.

The techniques she explains and teaches in her book can be used with people of any culture because they are based on the natural way each of us learns a first language. Because the techniques natural, the language comes alive. It is not just rote memorization, but real language learning. You can use these techniques to enhance a language program or use the lessons as presented in the book.

I found this book to be a beautiful, well-written distraction - a great rainy-day-long-weekend-nothing-better-to-do-but-relax-and-read read. I loved the characters, the unfolding story, the atmosphere and the solemn, albeit joyful ending. Uncle Joseph...and the surly Andrew Treverton, characters whom you might regard as one-dimensional give the novel dimension and feeling.

A book I have borrowed and will part with soon enough, I think it is something I would eventually like to add to my own library. It is a novel that nourishes... the pages often fly by without you noticing. I put off reading the end because I didn't want it to end. What else can one say? If you like Collins - and this is perhaps one of the better earlier novels - I'd say jump in. (I still have to read "The Moonstone" and "The Woman in White"...getting there...things to do, books to read... if there was world enough and time....).

That's that.

The story begins with Mrs. Treverton on her deathbed who charges her maid, Sarah Leeson, with revealing a castastrophic secret that they share to Mr. Treverton. But after Mrs. Trevorton dies, Sarah can not face revealing this devastating secret to her master and decides to hide the letter containing the secret in an uninhabited part of the house. After she flees, the story picks up 15 years later observing Mrs. Treverton's newly wed daughter, Rosamund, and her husband, Leonard. The Secret hidden by Sarah holds bad tidings for them, and the rest of the novel revolves around how this secret is finally revealed. The big difference between this and Collins' better novels is the lack of characterization in this one. Although Sarah attracts the interest and sympathy of the reader and Uncle Joseph provides a nice dose of innocence and heartfelt kindness, the rest of the characters fail to strike an emotional chord. The servants are also not nearly as interesting as they are in Collins' masterpiece, The Moonstone. Knowing that the secret letter would negatively affect the happy couple instills the reader with a feeling of dread and anticipation, but once the secret was revealed, the story was fairly predictable. If you've read some of Collins' other novels and enjoyed them, you'll probably like this one too. Just don't expect anything jaw-dropping compared to his better known novels like The Moonstone or The Woman in White. Collins was a fantastic writer, who's sadly now commonly neglected.

The more I read of Wilkie Collin's impressive body of work, I come to believe he is the greatest of the largely forgotten writers of the 19th century. While I certainly enjoy some of the Jane Austen novels being dramatized on PBS, I think this book and certainly the fantastic Woman in White would captivate modern viewers. Many of the scenes in this novel are very theatrical and I think would look translate great to television. Maybe his revival will come someday! Like his other books and stories, The Dead Secret tells the story of a "fallen woman", a favorite topic of many Victorian authors, but many of the themes here, such as the loss and transformation of identity, are strikingly modern. This is not Collin's best novel by far it is no less entertaining and a book that is very hard to put down. Plus Mozart's Don Giovanni (Collins' favorite composer) plays a small role in the novel, which is always a treat!

Mrs Treverton, who is not expected to live through the night, summons her lady's maid, Sarah Leeson, to her side. Their hushed conversation reveals that, many years ago, Sarah and Mrs Treverton conspired together to cover up a devastating family secret. With her death fast approaching, Mrs Treverton demands the expiation of that guilt and attempts to force Sarah to reveal the details of the secret to her husband by giving him the hand-written confession which they prepare and sign together that night. While the timid, brow-beaten Sarah is unable to muster the mental courage to destroy the note, she somehow pulls her thoughts together and finds the strength to hide the note in a long abandoned room in Porthgenna mansion in order to keep the secret hidden from her master. When she sees the stricken Captain Treverton weeping, mourning his wife's death by hugging their infant daughter, Rosamond, and asking the baby for her comfort in dealing with his grief, Sarah realizes that the hypocrisy necessary to stay at Porthgenna mansion while the note was hidden there is beyond her and she flees into the night!

The story resumes some fifteen years later as an adult Rosamond, newly married to her loving squire, Leonard Frankland, inherits Porthgenna mansion and they make plans to implement a program of renovations which will restore the estate to its former glory. A series of coincidences result in Sarah encountering Rosamond and coming to the horrifying realization that the secret is in imminent danger of being brought to light! At that point, the messy stuff hits the fan and the balance of this wonderful classic novel is spent unearthing the sordid details of the secret and its emotional and practical impact on each of the characters that Collins has so lovingly and skillfully constructed.

"The Dead Secret", the last of the so-called apprentice novels that Collins wrote before he vaulted to fame as an acknowledged master of English literature with the publication of "The Woman in White" and "The Moonstone" is a superb example of the stereotypical Victorian sensation novel - Sarah Leeson, the timid, socially naïve, weak-willed and fundamentally flawed female victim of a selfish conspiracy that revolves around the hidden details of Rosamond's birth and inheritance; as an actress, an occupation in Victorian England of suspect virtue and credibility, Mrs Treverton is subject to vicious contempt from the misanthropic Andrew Treverton, her brother-in-law, who shares rooms with the equally spiteful Shrowl; a well to do woman with a dark secret that may or may not involve a criminal act; an inheritance in question; tragedy, irony, drama, outrageous comic relief and even a ghost! What more delicious menu could the most discriminating reader of Victorian fiction hope for?

Paul Weiss

Wilkie Collins wrote "The Dead Secret" early in his career as a novelist, and his inexperience shows here--but the Collins aficionado will welcome the opportunity to see how his gifts first manifest themselves in this relatively simple story. He gathers together all the usual suspects: a wealthy family, an old house, a charming child, and the member of the house staff who harbors the secret in question. While Collins falls short in his effort to sketch an unrequited yearning (I can't go into more detail if you haven't read the book), he does a beautiful job of portraying the subtle class differences and behaviors in this particular house.

I am often asked what I studied in my journey of self-discovery that led to my book, audio book and workshops, Managing Thought: How Do Your Thoughts Rule Your World?. I explain that many roads lead to Rome. On the psychological path, The Farther Reaches of Human Nature significantly influenced me. Maslow wondered why we study what we don't want, sickness, and instead studied what we do want, health. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and his teachings on self-actualization explain man's expansive nature and our genuine interest in expanding our level of consciousness and becoming fully human.

This is the book that each and every educator must have! And read! If teachers and educational administrators were competent enough to drive students toward "peak experiences", we will have a happier world!

....about the possibilities of becoming fully human. This was one of the books that inspired me to study psychology. An eminently sane look at the "higher reaches" from the psychologist who dared to wonder why we study sickness but not health.

i could not put down this book. the only vague idea i had from Maslow was the classic pyramid of needs, of which i did not think much. I could not have been more wrong! this book lifted the veil from my eyes, i just so thouroughly identify with the author's views. i wish i had read this book 10 years ago. Maslow is so honest, his style so fluid, his statements so powerful. this book is all about what it means to be human, and it gives faith again in human nature, yet we are facing so many hurdles in our world. while reading it on a train journey, i stopped for a second and looked thru the windows of the cabin. there i saw some clouds in the blue sky, and i felt tears coming up to my eyes. I felt like a follower who had just met his prophet...

Overall this is a very good book, but with some significant flaws. The first 100 pages are unbelievably good; as I began reading this book I really felt like I had hit the jackpot, and I quickly concluded I would attempt to read all of Maslow's works. As I got further into the book I was singing quite a different tune. I believe anyone with any interest in psychology whatsoever should buy this book and read the first 100 pages. This section alone is easily worth the price of the book - don't let me scare you away from exploring the ideas of this great man. However, the dropoff in quality after this first section is rather precipitous, and while pages 100-200 were OK, the final 100 pages are an absolute chore to get through and I had to force myself along to finish the book.

Keep in mind that Abraham Maslow died before he was able to make a final edit of this book, and it shows. The second half of the book is almost a verbatim repetition of the earlier sections, and Maslow tends to harp on the same concepts endlessly. Some of it comes across as a very generic self help book designed to be consumed by the masses. In other sections, he seems to start over right from square one, as if some of the essays were meant to stand alone and were not meant to follow other essays that were extremely similar. I would say nearly half of this book should have been relegated to an expanded appendix - but I guess it would be strange to have a book where full half of it consisted of an appendix. I'm sure that Maslow would have fixed these problems had he lived long enough, but we will just have to accept this book for what it is and try as best we can to extrapolate something useful from it.

To conclude, I must still vehemently stress the importance of at least the first half of this book. If you grow bored with it, just stop reading. The editors of this book obviously elected to take a throw-it-all-against-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks approach, and I suppose there is no harm in that. Just remember that the original author was not around to oversee the final editing, and the result is a large dose of disjecta and detritus towards the end of the book. Nevertheless, do not let this minor disclaimer prevent you from exploring the wonderful ideas of this brilliant man.

"Marriage and the Family" is a book every married couple should own. With chapters like Before you Say "I Do" to Raising Teens, Bertha Davis examines it all. With cute stories from her own life, Davis take a look inside the American family and deals with some of their ups and downs. With great fact throughout the book, readers will start to understand what a huge responsibility they accepted and the impact they have on their children. An insightful handbook, consider including this in your next wedding present.
Nubian Sistas Book Club www.geocities.com/nubiensistas

This insightful passage forms just one part of the treasure of information found inside Marriage and the Family, by Indianapolis author Bertha Davis. The 106-page, 15 chapter book contains a wealth of advice about the lifelong journey known as marriage, along with issues surrounding it including proper perparations before marriage, loving your mate along with their strengths and flaws, raising children, guiding teens and the proper role of the extended family. All of the counsel comes from the experiences Davis has shared with her husband Mr. Davis of 42 years. From cover to cover she speaks to the reader in a practical, but articulate style that triggers an individual's "common sense mechanism." Davis wisely avoids any attempt to appear as a "know it all" or even as someone who's an expert on marriage. Instead, she warmly shares what she has learned to help others prevent mistakes in their own marriages. But most prominently, she ties all of her points into the importance of having God's presence througout one's marriage. Mr. Dickey, a 22-year-old single parent who had cold feet about getting married before reading Davis' book, but after reading it have developed a different outlook on marriage and plans to marry and have no doubt about it. Mrs. Smith, a young married woman who also lives in Indianapolis. "I felt the book was very well put together, and very well organized in its content. I also feel that all marriages would benefit whether they are one year into marriage or 50 years into marriage. Rusty of Phoenix, writes: I'm a thirty-year old eligible bachelor who takes much pride in being single. I've been in some serious relationships before, but they have never mounted too much. Before I read this book, I often thought to myself: what are the key elements to a successful marriage? I was one of those people who felt marriage wasn't for me, but after reading Marriage and the Family, I can honestly say this book changed my opinion. I really enjoyed reading Marriage and the Family. I read it through a second time highlighting some key points that were important to me. I would highly recommend this book to newlyweds, married couples, young men and women, and anyone else who is thinking about marriage. I no longer have those negative views about marriage. The knowledge that I have gained from this book, I feel confident that I will only have to walk down that aisle once. From doenetwork.com the Editors Book Notes Writes: Men and women blissfully marry and bitterly divorce at an alarming rate. Divorce rates are just as high in the Christian community. People become easily discourage, call it quits and write the marriage off as "irreconcilable differences." This book Marriage and the Family is a refreshing read! So many people get married without godly advice from parents, pastors or married couples. Bertha takes the time to combine her experience with advice about: Things to consider before marriage, the differences between men and women, the importance of spending time together as a couple, raising children and the difficult teenage years, and the role of grandparents. This is a great book for single and married people to read. There is a wealth of information that people go through life NOT knowing until it is too late! Bertha's advice is solid, insightful, motherly, but not preachy! Finally, Ms. C.R., a local receptionist, said, "I very much enjoyed reading Bertha's book. It is so refreshing to hear the story of a successful relationship in this day and age. Her book inspires me to work on having a marriage full of as much love and togetherness as she and Mr. Davis have."

Men and women blissfully marry and bitterly divorce at an alarming rate. Divorce rates are just as high in the Christian community. People become easily discouraged, call it quits and write the marriage off as "irreconcilable differences."

The book "Marriage and the Family" is a refreshing read! So many people get married without godly advice from parents, pastors or married couples. Bertha takes the time to combine her experience with advice about:

--Things to consider before marriage
--The differences between men and women
--The importance of spending time together as a couple
--Raising children and the difficult teenage years
--The role of grandparents

This is a great book for single and married people to read. There is a wealth of information that people go through life NOT knowing until it is too late! Bertha's advice is solid, insightful, motherly, but not preachy!

This book provides an excellent, coherant and up-to-date summary of the research in autism. There are chapters relating to diagnosis, etiology, treatment and working with families that truly synthesis the plethora of information available. These researchers have managed to use language that is useful to parents and practitioners to help them sift through recent information. If you work with children who have autism spectrum disorders this book is a "must read".

This is an interesting book - the main thing to know about is the variability of the chapters. Some are really excellent, others, at best, so-so. Although the book jacket says the authors are world leaders or some such this is only really true for a few of the authors - others you've never heard of. The chapters which are excellent are really good. The inconsistent chapters probably have to do with the fact that all authors are pulled from the same place - Am. Psychiatric Publishing is also not known for high quality!