Rasco From RIF

WEEK’S END: To Kate Messner: Merci, merci for Gianna Z!

October 31st, 2009

From the day I first laid my eyes upon the cover of The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z by Kate Messner, I knew it was a book I would read; and the more I heard about the story of Gianna as I tried desperately to get through some “have to read” work-related material, the more I wanted to read about this special young lady.  She was worth the wait, oh, was she worth the wait!

I am a fall or autumn freak, I am a tree freak;  put the two together and it spells my favorite season.  My daughter at age 29 continues to roll her eyes when she hears the words “Oh, look at the leaves!” come from my mouth as she knows there is a car-ride-long monologue forthcoming on the wonders of fall.   Our rides each morning years ago to her elementary school took us each fall past a hillside blanketed with mixed yellows, reds and oranges that was the best lift a soul could experience in the early morning.  But certain eyes have been rolling since.

There are many things with which I personally identified throughout the book, situations which brought wonderful and not-so-wonderful childhood/adolescent memories to me as I romped through Gianna’s story:

• The hearse rides to school:  no, my parents didn’t own the local funeral home like Gianna’s but close friends of our family did own a funeral home; and while I was never embarrassed like Gianna, I did take some rides in the hearse and spent hours playing at the funeral home which many friends found weird, not me.
• The parent in me desperately wanting to help my children complete assignments: will Gianna ever finish the leaf collection on
  time which in turn is vital to keeping her coveted spot on the cross-country team?  Such a familiar dilemma parents regularly face in one form or another.
• Above all, the leaf book…..in my small hometown everyone did a leaf book in Mrs. Satchfield’s fall semester seventh grade science class.  Without fail, leaf books were done, they were legend and if your family was from the area, Mrs. Satchfield could tell you about your relatives’ leaf books from the beginning of time or so it seemed.  I remember the leaf book experience with fondness.  Various special trips with my parents to find leaves not yet located with a standout memory being the fishing trip on a small reservoir that had a special cypress growing in its middle, standing in the boat trying to grab leaves, sisters shrieking, cookies to eat, what a trip!  I’m not sure if we caught fish that trip, but I got the missing tree leaves!   World Book Encyclopedias all over the house “pressing” the leaves, the market advent of double-sided tape which simplified the process from previous class’ experiences (the talk  of the town) and the desperate notes to my grandparents on an extended trip to Canada (pre-email and texting of course) to please send birch bark and fir tree samples not found in Arkansas…which they successfully sent for my precious extra credit!  I realize now the whole leaf collection experience is when the wonder of nature and science truly opened to me; this book of Gianna’s and Zig’s experiences brought it all back to me.
• Female adolescent rivalries.  I did not have to read the bio on Messner to know clearly she is around middle grade students a great deal and/or has incredible memories from her own adolescence as her portrayal of the female interactions on the track team are  so true, so painfully true.
• ZIG:  Gianna’s best friend.  A guy friend.  A calming, equalizing force.  Organized where Gianna is not.  Great guy. Always there at the right time.
• Family, real family.  Gianna’s grandmother, her other “best friend” who lives with the family is experiencing the onset of Alzheimer’s and the portrayal of the family absorbing the reality is sensitive and convincing.  As Gianna’s mother says to her:

 ”…She’s going to keep slipping away from us, Gee.  The writer Elie Wiesel says Alzheimer’s disease is like taking a book and ripping out the pages one at a time until all that’s  left is a cover…It hurts to think about it.”   Gianna replies “She’s going to need lot of help, isn’t she?”    Mom’s response?  “She has the best helper anyone’s  ever known.  You two are kindred spirits.  I know you’ll be there for her.  And we’ll be here for you….”

Thank you, indeed, Kate Messner, for a great story that is carried out in a book wrapped in a cover doing justice to the story as well as having pages that even show the falling leaves to further set the mood;  thank you for invoking special memories of my childhood and my family; thank you for a new book to share with young adolescent friends and a new name to couple with my favorite season…it’s Gianna Z Fall going forward!

Happy reading!
Carol

WEEK’S END closes the work week with some thoughts, comments, feelings about some book and/or event recently experienced.  If a book, it may be a children’s book or an adult book or both.  If an event, it may be literacy-related or not.  But it comes at week’s end.

Twitter: @RascofromRIF

Filed under: Children's Books, Week's End

Tags: Kate Messner, The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z