Gertie's Leap to Greatness by Kate Beasley

Gertie's parents are divorced.  She lives with her father and her aunt (great aunt to be exact) and she can see her mother's house when she goes by on the school bus.  Her mother wants nothing to do with her but she's not willing to give up yet.  So when a for sale sign comes up on the house, she's determined to be the best student in the school so she can tell her Mom that and then she won't go away.  However, it's not easy to be the smartest...

Macmillan Children's Publishing Group and Net Galley gave me the opportunity to read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published October 4th.

Gertie begins by studying a lot.  She stays up late, does schoolwork all weekend, and soon she has answers during class and she's doing better on tests.  When she shows her smart girlfriend that she got a higher score, the other girl is upset.  All she's got is her brains and she wants to be the smart one.  Gertie is the attention seeker, she shouldn't be smart, too.  

Gertie has three good friends but her goal is the most important thing to her.  It would also be nice to beat Mary Sue at something.  She's from California, has a father who directs movies, and she's doing well at school.  Gertie doesn't like her because she had to give up her seat to the new girl.  She likes to sit up front.  Then the California girl started getting 100's on her tests.  Gertie has to show her she's the best so her mother won't move.

As the story goes on, Gertie learns some life lessons.  She loses a friend and gets her back again.  She gets in an ecological war with Mary Sue who's mother is an environmentalist because her father works on an oil rig.  She wants the lead in the play and gets it, but then loses it.  She gets another chance to take it over but she makes a big decision that shows she growing up.

Gertie is a good kid and she's maturing.  Life will be good for her even with the ups and downs.