Reviewed by: Gertie’s Leap to Greatness by Kate Beasley Elizabeth Bush Beasley, Kate Gertie’s Leap to Greatness; illus. by Jillian Tamaki. Farrar, 2016 [256p] ISBN 978-0-374-30261-0 $16.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 3-5 Mary Sue Spivey’s arrival in Ms. Simms’ fifth-grade class has disturbed the social order in general and Gertie Foy’s current life mission in particular. Gertie has decided to up her academic game, become the star student of the fifth grade, and thus send the mother who abandoned Gertie years ago a final stinging message that she’s missing out on one fabulous daughter. Mary Sue, however, promptly insinuates herself into that star student slot, inching past hardworking Gertie on assignments and tests. The new girl is sly and catty, not above dropping her father’s career as a movie producer into conversations, mentioning her own close acquaintance with a teen movie star, and slipping effortlessly into alpha mode among her classmates. Things get worse when the slimy newcomer uses her mother’s credentials as an environmental lobbyist to organize an anti-oil-drilling campaign, a harsh slap at Gertie, whose father works on a gulf rig off the Alabama coast. Gertie’s now battling on too many fronts, and although the struggle for her mother’s recognition doesn’t play out the way she hoped, she does come away with a new appreciation for the family she has, an understanding of how teachers’ brains work, and grudging but heartfelt insight into what makes the class tyrant tick. Tamaki’s black and white illustrations focus on the humorous side of Gertie’s drama queen antics, while Beasley balances the humor of classroom situation comedy with raw realism about how much change smarts for kids entering their double digits, how herculean effort sometimes comes up short, and how lonely and utterly normal it is to feel passed over. Copyright © 2016 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois