Growing up is hard. Kindergarten during a pandemic is hard, but so far there are no books about that. Gertie’s Leap to Greatness (middle-grade fiction) is a great reminder of just how much kids are trying to piece together about the world they live in while dealing with kids in school, family and all of the joys of changes while growing up.

Why Gertie is Leaping

Gertie is just starting 5th grade, and she has a mission – to be the best! Coming back from summer break, everyone is to share their stories of the best thing that happened to them over the summer. She will have the best story! And once she has established how great she is, she will show her mom that she can be great without her.

This isn’t just a 5th grader boasting about needing attention from everyone. Gertie’s mom abandoned her family, and is about to move away from their town to begin a new life with a new family. But along the way, her plan doesn’t work out quite as she wanted it to. There’s a new girl in town who is ruining everything – she gets everything Gertie wants, and is threatening Gertie’s dad’s job (he works on an oil rig). Gertie also finds herself at odds with one of her best friends.

The Greatness

Oh Gertie. Growing up is hard! I think there are many that would be able to relate to Gertie and everything she is going through. Someone at odds with her friends. Someone who is experiencing a new kid coming into the class and disturbing the status quo. And even more importantly, someone who may not have a mom or a dad living with them, and they don’t understand why.

When you look at Gertie from her classmate’s POV, it can seem that she just needs a bit of maturity. Knowing exactly what she is going through changes that lens, and shows a lot of motivation for why Gertie creates these missions for herself, and that behind the craziness, she really did mean well. This can be a great lesson for a kid who may not have ever experienced anything Gertie has, to show them that not everyone is so lucky, and how other families live.

The Not-So Greatness

There were times that the book sounds a little old-fashioned. I think I have become so accustomed to today’s digital age and kids growing up too fast, that I forget that kids still experience the same issues we did as kids, just with a digital slant. That digital slant really isn’t seen here, and I think that was a missed opportunity. The new girl in the class had a cell phone, but that was really the only modern technology that was really mentioned.

My Final Leap…Errr…Thoughts

Missing technology aside, I still think this story can resonate with kids around 4th/5th grade (around 9 and 10 years old). At the heart of the story lies a girl looking for missing acceptance, trying to find her place, and prove to others how great she is, while not realizing that she is also proving it to herself.

Have you read Gertie’s story, or another story that sounds similar to Gertie’s? Let us know in the comments below!