| 9780374302610 |
| 0374302618 |
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Summary
Summary
"Meet the new Ramona Quimby!" -- Entertainment Weekly
Gertie Reece Foy is 100% Not-From-Concentrate awesome. She has a daddy who works on an oil rig, a great-aunt who always finds the lowest prices at the Piggly Wiggly, and two loyal best friends. So when her absent mother decides to move away from their small town, Gertie sets out on her greatest mission yet: becoming the best fifth grader in the universe to show her mother exactly what she'll be leaving behind. There's just one problem: Seat-stealing new girl Mary Sue Spivey wants to be the best fifth grader, too. And there is simply not enough room at the top for the two of them.
From debut author Kate Beasley, and with illustrations by Caldecott Honor artist Jillian Tamaki, comes a classic tale of hope and homecoming that will empty your heart, then fill it back up again--one laugh at a time.
Author Notes
Kate Beasley holds a Masters in Writing for Children and Young Adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. She lives with her family in Claxton, Georgia, with two dogs, one parrot, lots of cows, and a cat named Edgar. Gertie's Leap to Greatness is her first novel.
Reviews (3)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-5-Gertie Foy is on a mission to make herself the world's best fifth grader. Then she'll confront her mother, who abandoned Gertie as an infant. She also is determined to improve her grades and earn the lead in the school play. That will show everyone. Gertie is indomitable, but the plucky girl's bravado covers some insecurities. Unfortunately, a new girl, Mary Sue, upsets Gertie's big plans for success with sneaky schemes of her own. Often impulsive, Gertie battles with classmates but finds support from her loving dad, a crusty but kind great-aunt, an understanding teacher, and a loyal friend. Intrepid, despite a series of provocations, disappointments, and mistakes, in the end, Gertie puts her personal goal aside to help a needy Mary Sue. Narrator Tara Sands alternates soft, sad, and strident Southern-accented dialogue with equal ease, including moments of tongue-in-cheek humor. VERDICT With an appealing cover and useful information, plus good sound quality, this is a solid choice for elementary school libraries. A perfect companion title for readers who enjoy Beverly Cleary's Ramona Quimby, Donald Sobol's Encyclopedia Brown, and other funny, thoughtful characters. ["Sure to resonate with fans of spunky female protagonists": SLJ 5/16 review of the Farrar book.]-Barbara Wysocki, formerly at Cora J. Belden Library, Rocky Hill, CT © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Like the title character in Kate DiCamillo's Raymie Nightingale, the indefatigable Gertie Foy is determined to prove to an absent parent that leaving was a big mistake. Gertie, whose school bus passes her estranged mother's house every day, sees a For Sale sign and learns her mother intends to remarry and move. She devises a five-phase plan to become the best fifth grader ever and get her mother's attention before she departs, but Gertie's ambitions run smack into full-of-herself new student Mary Sue Spivey. First, Mary Sue steals Gertie's seat next to Jean, her best friend. Then, she steals Jean. Perhaps worst of all, Mary Sue's mother, an environmental activist, begins a campaign against offshore drilling. (Gertie's father works on an oil rig, and she lives with her Aunt Rae, who winningly sends her off each day by saying, "Give 'em hell, baby"). Given Gertie's world of hurt, debut novelist Beasley wisely interjects humor as often as possible, and Tamaki's winning illustrations add verve, perfectly capturing Gertie's indomitable spirit. Ages 8-12. Author's agent: Emily van Beek, Folio Literary Management. Illustrator's agent: Steven Malk, Writers House. (Oct.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* First, some 20 years ago, it was the YA novel that was declared dead, only for an influx of new authors and the arrival of the Michael L. Printz Award to take the genre to unexpected heights. Because the publishing world seems to feel that if one kind of book is up, another must be down, it soon was the middle-grade novel's turn to be sent to the infirmary. Now middle-grade fiction is commonly declared edgy and groundbreaking. Yet there is, and always has been, another kind of middle-grade novel, one that pushes boundaries in quieter ways. Take Maud Hart Lovelace's series about Betsy, Tacy, and Tib, which follows the three friends growing up at the turn of the last century from ages five to marriage. In Betsy and Tacy Go over the Big Hill (1942), readers are introduced to an immigrant community that lives in Little Syria. Later, Betsy struggles with religion when she decides to become an Episcopalian, even though she knows her Baptist father will be disappointed. Or take Ramona and Her Father (1977), in which Beverly Cleary touches on something many children face what it feels like to have a father out of work. And in this year's As Brave as You, author Jason Reynolds explores the tensions between fathers, sons, and grandsons affected by the legacy of Jim Crow. Gertie's Leap to Greatness is another in this line of books that takes on real-life problems while keeping its writing true to the feelings of childhood. Gertie Reece Foy is a fifth-grader with two best friends, a father who works on an oil rig, and a mother who doesn't acknowledge her existence. When she was a baby, her mother, Rachel Collins, left to live in a house on Jones Street, never to been seen again, aside from a chance encounter at the Piggly Wiggly. But now the Jones Street house has a for-sale sign on it, and Gertie learns her mother is planning to get married and move to Mobile. Determined to do something to make Rachel Collins notice her before she departs, Gertie devises a five-phase plan to make herself the greatest fifth-grader ever. The plan's glimmering possibilities are stubbed out by the arrival of Mary Sue, the daughter of a film director making a movie in town. From here the story could have gone the predictable route, and in some ways it does. Glamorous Mary Sue thwarts Gertie and her quest for greatness at every turn and subtly prods the class to turn against their former friend (and Gertie only makes things worse). While the broad outline is familiar, however, the depth of feeling makes it unique. Gertie, bossy, bouncy, and busy, counsels herself in an internal dialogue that illuminates how a kid who gets knocked down picks herself up. What should she make of a mother who wants nothing to do with her? In the smartest kind of writing, Beasley has Mr. Foy explain to his daughter, in a way a child can understand if not entirely appreciate, why Rachel Collins left them: For her, being with them was like wearing a pair of shoes that were too tight. You could limp along for awhile, but your feet would just hurt more until you were sure that if you walked one step further in those shoes, they'd squeeze your toes off. In another interesting take on contemporary life, Gertie must deal with the notion that what her father does for a living is wrong. On Career Day, Gertie plans to move her greatness plan forward by wowing everyone with a speech about life on an oil rig. But Mary Sue and her mother, an environmental activist, speak first about the horrors of offshore drilling. The book handles the issues in a way that will make readers think about not just what it means to protect the environment, but also what it means to provide a livelihood in an imperfect world. Gertie Foy is debut author Beasley's first heroine. It's exciting to think who else is waiting down the road to push or pummel boundaries. Or even just prance through a story. That would be fine, too.--Cooper, Ilene Copyright 2016 Booklist
