The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z.

10 best books like The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z. (Kate Messner): Shouting at the Rain, Just Like Jackie, Ms. Bixby's Last Day, Love, Aubrey, Cornelia and the Audacious Escapades of the Somerset Sisters, Spy School, The Year of the Book, Faith, Hope, and Ivy June, Hound Dog True, Full of Beans

Shouting at the Rain

Author

Lynda Mullaly Hunt

Delsie loves tracking the weather--lately, though, it seems the squalls are in her own life. She's always lived with her kindhearted Grammy, but now she's looking at their life with new eyes and wishing she could have a "regular family." Delsie observes other changes in the air, too--the most painful...

Just Like Jackie

Author	Lindsey Stoddard
ISBN	0062652915

For as long as Robinson Hart can remember, it’s just been her and Grandpa. Robbie knows they look like an odd pair, because her blond hair and pale skin don’t match his dark complexion—but those differences don’t mean anything to her. And though she wishes Grandpa would tell her more about the...

Ms. Bixby's Last Day

Author

John David Anderson

Everyone knows there are different kinds of teachers. The good ones. The not-so-good ones. The boring ones, the mean ones, the ones who try too hard. The ones you’ll never remember, and the ones you want to forget. But Ms. Bixby is none of these. She’s the sort of teacher who makes you feel like the indignity...

Love, Aubrey

Author	Suzanne LaFleur
ISBN	0385737742

"I had everything I needed to run a household: a house, food, and a new family. From now on it would just be me and Sammy–the two of us, and no one else."
A tragic accident has turned eleven-year-old Aubrey’s world upside down. Starting a new life all alone, Aubrey has everything she thinks she needs:...

Cornelia and the Audacious Escapades of the Somerset Sisters

Author	Lesley M.M. Blume
ISBN	0375835237

Eleven-year-old Cornelia is the daughter of two world-famous pianists—a legacy that should feel fabulous, but instead feels just plain lonely. She surrounds herself with dictionaries and other books to isolate herself from the outside world. But when a glamorous neighbor named Virginia Somerset...

Spy School

Author	Stuart Gibbs
ISBN	1442421827

Can a normal, average kid become a superstar secret agent? Maybe not, but it’ll be fun to watch him try!

Ben Ripley may only be in middle school, but he’s already pegged his dream job: C.I.A. or bust. Unfortunately for him, his personality doesn’t exactly scream “secret agent.” In...

The Year of the Book

Author	Andrea Cheng
ISBN	0547684630

In Chinese, peng you means friend. But in any language, all Anna knows for certain is that friendship is complicated.

When Anna needs company, she turns to her books. Whether traveling through A Wrinkle in Time, or peering over My Side of the Mountain, books provide what real life cannot—constant...

Faith, Hope, and Ivy June

Author	Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
ISBN	0385905882

When push comes to shove, two Kentucky girls find strength in each other.

Ivy June Mosely and Catherine Combs, two girls from different parts of Kentucky, are participating in the first seventh-grade student exchange program between their schools. The girls will stay at each other’s homes,...

Hound Dog True

Author	Linda Urban
ISBN	0547558694

A story about small acts of courage from the author of A Crooked Kind of Perfect.

Do not let a mop sit overnight in water. Fix things before they get too big for fixing. Custodial wisdom: Mattie Breen writes it all down. She has just one week to convince Uncle Potluck to take her on as his custodial...

Full of Beans

Author	Jennifer L. Holm
ISBN	0553510398

Newbery Honor Book Turtle in Paradise is beloved by readers, and now they can return to this wonderful world through the eyes of Turtle’s cousin Beans.
 
Grown-ups lie. That’s one truth Beans knows for sure. He and his gang know how to spot a whopper a mile away, because they are the savviest...

Sweeping Up the Heart

Author	Kevin Henkes
ISBN	0062852574

A novel about loss, loneliness, and friendship that tells the story of the spring break that changes seventh-grader Amelia Albright's life forever.

Amelia Albright dreams about going to Florida for spring break like everyone else in her class, but her father--a cranky and stubborn English...

Eight Keys

Author	Suzanne LaFleur
ISBN	0385740301

Elise and Franklin have always been best friends. Elise has always lived in the big house with her loving Uncle and Aunt, because Elise's parents died when she was too young to remember them.  There's always been a barn behind the house with eight locked doors on the second floor.
When Elise and Franklin...

All Four Stars

Author	Tara Dairman
ISBN	0399162526

Meet Gladys Gatsby: New York’s toughest restaurant critic. (Just don’t tell anyone that she’s in sixth grade.)
 
Gladys Gatsby has been cooking gourmet dishes since the age of seven, only her fast-food-loving parents have no idea! Now she’s eleven, and after a crème brûlée accident...

Curveball: The Year I Lost My Grip

Author	Jordan Sonnenblick
ISBN	0545320690

Sometimes, the greatest comebacks take place far away from the ball field.

Meet Peter Friedman, high school freshman. Talented photographer. Former baseball star. When a freakish injury ends his pitching career, Peter has some major things to figure out. Is there life after sports? Why...