Guest Nose Kate Messner

Today it's my pleasure to welcome Kate Messner, author of the debut middle-grade novel, The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z. Kate says:

Beauty is a topic where my main character and I definitely see eye to eye. Gianna Z. is too busy with her running and her art projects to worry about makeup or fixing her hair, and she can't stand that t-shirt that her track team nemesis wears with the slogan "It's now how you play the game, it's how you look when you play the game."

I'm with Gianna, and I wish more of our tween and teen girls valued themselves for what's on the inside and worried less about appearances.

About The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z

Gianna Zales has a lot on her plate this fall – a father who drives her to school in the family hearse, a mother who’s turned into the junk food police, a little brother who thinks he’s a member of the paparazzi, and a grandmother who leaves false teeth in the refrigerator. Worst of all, she’s left her 7th grade leaf collection to do at the last minute. It’s a monster project, and Gianna will miss cross-country sectionals if she doesn’t meet the deadline. She’ll need the help of her geeky friend, Zig, and some brilliant ideas of her own to pull it off. Buy the book on Amazon!

About Kate Messner

Kate Messner grew up in Medina, New York and graduated from Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Communication with a degree in Broadcast Journalism. She worked as a television news producer and reporter in Syracuse, NY and then Burlington, VT, before going back to school to get a teaching degree. These days, Kate is a National Board Certified middle school English teacher. She has helped hundreds of kids work on leaf collection projects and likes sugar maples and catalpa leaves the best. Kate lives on Lake Champlain with her husband and kids and loves spending time in the woods. http://katemessner.com/