The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z.

by Kate Messner

Overview

On your mark . . . get set . . . go finish your science project?

All Gianna Zales wants is to compete at the cross-country finals, but there's something standing in her way—a science project. She has less than a week to collect and document twenty-five leaves, and she'll lose her spot on the team if she can't pull it off. With a forgetful grandmother, a hearse-driving father, a mean-girl running rival, and new feelings toward her best friend, Gianna wishes life would just leave her alone to finish the project. Can Gianna Z. get the stroke of brilliance she needs to make it all work out?

Winner of the 2010 E.B. White Read Aloud Award for Older Readers

Bank Street College of Education Best Books of 2009

IndieBound Fall 2009 Kids IndieNext List

Kids' IndieNext Pick

New Hampshire Great Stone Face Award Nominee

Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Award Nominee

Missouri Mark Twain Award Nominee

New York Charlotte Award Nominee

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781681195476
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	09/12/2017
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Kate Messner is a former middle-school English teacher and the author of E. B. White Read Aloud Award winner The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z. and its companion, The Exact Location of Home; Sugar and Ice; Eye of the Storm; Wake Up Missing; All the Answers; The Seventh Wish; Capture the Flag; Hide and Seek; the Marty McGuire chapter book series; the Ranger in Time chapter book series; and several picture books. She lives on Lake Champlain with her husband and two kids. When she's not reading or writing, she loves hiking, kayaking, biking, and watching thunderstorms over the lake. www.katemessner.com

@KateMessner

Editorial Reviews

Laced with humor and heart . . . an insightful and affecting read.” —Booklist

“An engaging saga.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Plot twists keep readers engaged, and Messner's warm and humorous tone will capture even reluctant readers.” —School Library Journal

“Kate [Messner] juggles a bundle of fairly heavy plotlines as if they weighed no more than a pile of leaves, managing her story with humor and grace.” —Writing and Ruminating (Online)

“An empathetic, beautiful, magical, fiercely necessary book that stares unflinchingly at the very real challenges contemporary kids face and gently assures them they are not alone. Kate Messner gives her readers a story to cherish.” —Anne Ursu, author of BREADCRUMBS on THE SEVENTH WISH

“Hopeful, empathetic, and unusually enlightening.” —starred review, Kirkus Reviews on THE SEVENTH WISH

“It's no surprise that Kate Messner's magic pen could write a charming, moving, funny, and ultimately very surprising story about a magic pencil!” —Wendy Mass, New York Times bestselling author of 11 BIRTHDAYS on ALL THE ANSWERS

From the Publisher

A beloved grandmother is failing. A school project looms-and not completing it has dire consequences (in this case, not being able to participate in an important track meet). Spoiled rich girls torment their classmates, including the narrator, while a nerdy friend who's a boy starts to look a little bit like he has boyfriend potential. None of the elements of this middle-school story is really new, but first-time author (and longtime middle-school teacher) Messner succeeds in creating an engaging saga all the same. If there's a flaw, it's that the narrative is so realistic that it's chock-full of incident and details-and occasionally predictable. But jazzing up the plot with a riddle-loving younger brother, making Gianna's family proprietors of a funeral home and sprinkling in a hearty helping of references to art and poetry keep things interesting. An ending that's hopeful without being saccharine is another big plus. (Fiction. 9-12)

Kirkus Reviews