The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z.

by Kate Messner

Overview

In the mountains of rural Vermont, fall is a season of beauty and transformation . . . but not for Gianna Z. With less than one week to collect twenty-five leaves for a science project, her spot at cross-country sectionals is in serious peril. Plus with a dad who runs a funeral parlor out of the basement, a grandma who keeps losing her teeth, and a rival trying to steal her spot on the team, Gee just wishes life could leave her alone to finish her project. But when Nonna disappears one afternoon, suddenly some things seem more important than projects and races.

Gianna Z. will have readers rooting for her-and maybe even for science projects-from the very first page of this funny and poignant novel about family, friendship, and being true to yourself.

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
Sales rank:	683,096
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Kate Messner is passionately curious and writes books that encourage kids to wonder, too. Her titles include award-winning picture books like Over and Under the Snow, Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt, and How to Read a Story; novels like Capture the Flag, All the Answers, The Seventh Wish, and Breakout; the Fergus and Zeke easy reader series, and the Ranger in Time historical chapter book series. Kate lives on Lake Champlain with her family and is trying to summit all forty-six Adirondack High Peaks in between book deadlines.
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

Gr 5–8—Seventh-grader Gianna Zales loves art and cross-country running. She is not so crazy about research projects or anything involving time-management skills, and has somehow gotten to within a week of the due date of a huge science assignment with no work to show. But how hard can it be to find and catalog 25 different varieties of leaves—especially in Vermont, where Robert Frost was inspired to write "Birches" and countless other poems about nature. However, family obligations keep interfering. Her father runs the town's funeral home, but even a close proximity to death can't prepare her for her own grandmother's decline. Suddenly, Nonna is forgetting everything. Also, Coach Napper has told Gianna that she must bring her science grade up to participate in sectionals, and beautiful, arrogant Bianca would love to take her place as the team's star runner. Gianna's mother means well, but is struggling with Nonna's failing health. Youngsters will find much to relate to in this likable protagonist's struggle to balance family and academic commitments. While it is no surprise when it all comes together in the end, plot twists keep readers engaged, and Messner's warm and humorous tone will capture even reluctant readers.—Kim Dare, Fairfax County Public Schools, VA

School Library Journal

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