Bertie Stewart Is Perfectly Imperfect

Bertha Mae Stewart—otherwise known as Bertie—is ready for anything grade 6 can throw at her. She spends every day with her best friend Kevin, enjoys delicious cookies at her grandmother’s, and has an adorable baby half-brother to dote on. But then her teacher announces a public speaking assignment, she’s paired up with her worst enemy for the project, and her inside voice won’t stop telling her that everything is going to go wrong.

And of course, there’s that nagging little secret Bertie can’t tell anyone about.
Most days, a trip to her favourite tree or a hug from Grammy are enough to make Bertie’s anxiety go away for a short while. But as life grows more complicated, and Bertie pushes the noisy feelings further down, the pressure inside of her starts to build. And someday soon, she won’t be able to hold it all in.

From the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award–shortlisted author of A Beginner’s Guide to Goodbye, Bertie Stewart is Perfectly Imperfect is a heartfelt tale about learning to cope with anxiety amid life changes both big and small.

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Bertie Stewart is Perfectly Imperfect Book Review

“There are fewer worries when your hands are creating” ~ Grammy Stewart (Page 87)
“Life isn’t easy and it isn’t always fair. Changing focus helps. Think of what you have done already, not what you haven’t. Be a warrior, not a worrier.” ~ Grammy Stewart (Page 114)

I wanted to read this story this month because April 2 is International Children’s Book Day, so I wanted to read a children’s book! This one is middle grade, and I read “A Beginners Guide to Goodbye” by the author of this one, so I went into this book with some decent expectations. A Beginners Guide to Goodbye was a book that dealt with a heavy topic like grief but broke it down so that it was easier for a kid understand. It was a sweet and touching story that I found quite meaningful. I rated it 5 stars when I read it 2yrs ago. Bertie Stewart is Perfectly Imperfect takes the same tone and spirit, and also has that same purpose of taking an important topic and breaking it down. This book tackles anxiety, what that can feel like, and how it can be dealt with.

As someone who doesn’t have anxiety, I can’t really comment on whether or not this is a good portrayal of it, but I do think it provides some understanding of what goes on in people’s heads, how they might overthink things, or feel a sense of panic. I think this book does well in presenting it in a kid friendly way, and I think it can be easy for kids to read this book and be able to identify some of the signs and indicators.

That being said, this book isn’t just about learning to deal with the inner voices in your head, there are also a lot of different subplots that I think this book could have cut out. There are too many characters that have different functions, Karla is the bully, Denise is the “evil” stepmom, Kevin is the best friend, Sally is the annoying sister, Grammy is the wise old mentor figure—there are so many people Bertie has met and frequently interacted with in such a short book, which is surprising since the main settings are just, home, school, and Grammy’s house. I think one of the drawbacks of my enjoyment of this book was that I thought it was going to be a fun, whimsy, maybe even cozy story about a girl going through life, but this book wants to be a lot of different things at all once? It wants to be that cozy and fun story, but it also wants to be a commentary about self acceptance, and dealing with these more heavy themes? Sure they can fit into the story, but I didn’t feel as if they were well developed enough. I understand writing a book with a message, but I would have liked this book better if it was more of Bertie vs Bertie and her having to overcome everything she’s going through by herself. This short and tiny book also wants to throw in Bertie vs the world and Bertie vs bullies at the same time, and it didn’t quite land as well as I thought it could.

The ending of this book is short and sweet. I think this book captures a childlike charm and wonder that’s since been lost from children as a whole. The characters are a bit underdeveloped, but they’re still fun to read about. They feel like kids in the sense that they don’t like how adults do things, and how they just want to be themselves. Bertie as a character is decent to read about, I didn’t find myself relating to her in a lot of ways, even if I was still younger. Bertie is snappy, but only a normal amount of snappy. She’s curious and quirky, and she isn’t liked by very many people at school. She only has one best friend, and they are friends because they both don’t follow any sort of mold.

I will say that sometimes the writing was a little bit strange, which I didn’t recall it being like this from “A Beginners Guide to Goodbye”, but some sentences just didn’t make sense? I understand that it’s a middle grade novel, but having strange sentences isn’t a stylistic choice. Maybe that’s too nitpicky, but that’s just a bit jarring to read a sentence that’s not fully edited halfway through your book.

Ooookay I think I actually found a lot to say about this book, but that’s not really even all of it. That’s okay though. I’ll leave it at this. Overall I think the book has a good heart of providing a new perspective on people who might have anxiety, and it might help a lot of young readers to actually identify what they are feeling. I think this book can serve as an aid for kids that have their own inner voices in their head. But I felt like the story element of this story was a bit lacking in some aspects, in my opinion. And I don’t think that books should be rated just because I can see the vision and the potential.

I recommend this book.