So rarely is a fat boy the hero of a story that it is good to welcome back Bertie Poddle [in "Bertie Takes Care"]….

Perhaps the slapstick quality of some episodes and the serious intent of some others are not completely fused, but Bertie's admirers will take the fun and the seriousness together and unconsciously absorb some idea of how it feels to be a fat boy.

Margaret C. Scoggin, "Books for Young People: 'Bertie Takes Care'," in New York Herald Tribune Book Review (© I.H.T. Corporation; reprinted by permission), Vol. 25, No. 12, November 7, 1948, p. 12.